FXTM (ForexTime) Review

Overview

FXTM, short for ForexTime, was established in 2011 in Cyprus with a clear focus on emerging-market traders in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The brand is now part of the Exinity Group, which also runs Alpari, and its international business is operated by Exinity Limited, a company registered in Mauritius. Over the past few years FXTM has moved away from European retail clients and towards offshore and African licences, so the broker today looks quite different from the CySEC-regulated firm many traders remember. The official FXTM website lists the entity that applies to each country.

The wider Exinity Group also controls the Alpari, Nemo and Pulse brands and keeps hubs in Limassol, Dubai, London and Hong Kong. Its small UK arm, Exinity UK Ltd, reported revenue of about £1.78 million for 2024, down from £2.07 million a year earlier, which illustrates how little of the business now sits in Europe.

Regulation and safety

According to the official accounts page footer, FXTM currently operates through these entities:

• Exinity Limited – Investment Dealer licence C113012295 from the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius, and an OTC derivatives provider authorisation from South Africa's FSCA (FSP 50320).
• Exinity Capital East Africa Ltd – licensed by the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya as a non-dealing online forex broker, licence 135.
• Exinity Global Financial Services L.L.C. (UAE) – licence 20200000270 for promotion and introduction activities, not for dealing.

The European story matters for anyone assessing safety. FXTM stopped onboarding EU retail clients in February 2021, renounced the CySEC licence of ForexTime Ltd (CIF 185/12) with effect from 31 December 2023, and CySEC formally withdrew that authorisation in May 2024. A UK company, Exinity UK Ltd, still held an FCA licence in 2025 but was reported to onboard professional clients only, and the main Exinity Limited entity does not accept UK residents. In practice, most retail clients are served by the Mauritius entity, which offers less investor protection than a top-tier regulator. We found no record of regulatory fines in the sources reviewed, but the shift away from stricter jurisdictions lowers the regulation score.

Exinity Limited does not accept residents of the US, Canada, Japan, India, Russia, the United Kingdom, Mauritius and several sanctioned countries.

Accounts and fees

FXTM's current line-up on its official accounts page is built around five account types:

The raw-spread Advantage account is the most cost-efficient for active forex traders. On commission-free accounts, costs are built into the spread; DayTrading.com reported typical EUR/USD spreads of around 1.9 pips on the older Advantage Plus account, which is above average. Reviewers also mention an inactivity fee after three months without activity and a flat fee on very small transactions, so check the fee schedule for your entity.

Products and leverage

FXTM offers CFDs on forex, metals, indices, commodities and cryptocurrencies, plus futures CFDs and US, Hong Kong and UAE stocks and ETFs on MT5. Third-party reviews put the range at roughly 50 currency pairs and several hundred share CFDs. Leverage is floating, meaning the ratio drops as position size grows. The headline maximum of 1:5000 on Rewards accounts is among the highest in the industry, but such levels magnify losses as quickly as gains and are only available through the offshore entity. Swap-free versions of the main accounts are offered for traders who cannot pay or receive overnight interest.

Platforms and tools

Trading runs on MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, available on desktop, web and mobile, alongside the FXTM Trader mobile app for account management and trading. Stock and ETF CFDs are only on MT5. Expert advisors are supported on both MetaTrader platforms. FXTM previously ran a copy-trading service called FXTM Invest, but DayTrading.com reports it was discontinued in 2024, and the current accounts pages do not list it. There is no proprietary desktop platform and no public API. FXTM does not appear to publish its own EUR/USD feed on TradingView, so the generic FX:EURUSD chart is the closest reference.

Deposits and withdrawals

A strength for FXTM is local payment coverage in its core markets. Depending on country, clients can use Visa and Mastercard, bank wire, Skrill, Neteller, cryptocurrencies, M-Pesa in Kenya and local bank transfers in Nigeria and Ghana. Accounts can be held in USD, EUR or GBP, with AED for UAE clients and NGN for Nigerian clients. The low $30 entry point on the Micro cent account makes it accessible for small-balance traders.

Who FXTM suits

• Traders in Africa, the Middle East and Asia who want local payment methods and naira or dirham accounts.
• Small-balance traders who want a cent account.
• MetaTrader users who need swap-free trading.

It is less suitable for traders who require top-tier regulation, UK or EU retail clients, US residents, or anyone wanting a built-in copy-trading service.

Verdict

FXTM has more than a decade of operating history and genuinely useful local payment options, plus a competitive raw-spread Advantage account. However, the group gave up its CySEC licence, restricts its UK entity to professional clients, and now serves retail clients mainly from Mauritius with very high offshore leverage. That combination makes it a broker to approach with care: suitable for informed traders in its focus regions, but not the safest choice for those who place regulation first. Leveraged CFDs carry a high risk of losing money quickly.