Here's why we recommend each of these, and what it actually costs to get started — real numbers where we have them, our own honest suggestion where we don't.
SabioTrade isn't a traditional broker you deposit your money with: it's a prop trading firm. You pay a one-off fee for an assessment on a simulated account, and if you meet the targets and risk rules you get a "funded account" with the firm's capital, keeping a share of the profits you generate. Useful if you want to test your strategy with more capital than your own without risking it, as long as you understand the rules (max drawdown, targets, profit split) before paying for the assessment.
This isn't a deposit — SabioTrade never touches money you'd trade with. You pay a one-off assessment fee: Essential 119€ (1 assessment) · Pro 3 259€ (3 assessments, 3 months) · Pro 12 829€ (12 assessments, 12 months). If you pass, you get a funded account with $20,000+ of the firm's simulated capital, not your own.
FNmarkets is a CFD broker regulated by the Mauritius Financial Services Commission (FSC, license GB25204149), offering trading across 100+ instruments — forex, indices, metals and crypto — through the MetaTrader 5 platform. It's built around speed: the site advertises account opening in under 60 seconds and claims average trade execution under 50ms. Two account types are available (Standard, zero-commission with spreads from 0.8 pips; Raw, spreads from 0.0 pips plus a $7 commission), both with a $50 minimum deposit and leverage up to 1:500. Worth knowing: Mauritius FSC is a real, licensed regulator, but it's a lighter-touch regime than FCA/CySEC/ASIC, and 1:500 leverage is far higher than the 1:30 cap EU-regulated brokers must apply to retail clients — higher leverage magnifies both gains and losses faster.
FNmarkets publishes a clear minimum deposit: $50, the same for both account types. That's lower than what we'd suggest as a sensible starting point given the 1:500 leverage on offer — we'd personally start with more than the bare minimum (e.g. 100–150€), precisely because higher leverage means a small account can hit a margin call faster. Brokers sometimes run promotions (e.g. a deposit credit) — check their site for current offers, if any.
XTB is one of Europe's largest publicly listed forex/CFD brokers (listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange), which means its financials are public and audited — a level of transparency most brokers don't have. It's regulated by multiple authorities depending on region (including the FCA, CySEC and Poland's KNF), and is known for its award-winning proprietary platform, xStation, plus strong educational and market-research tools — a solid choice if you want an established, publicly-accountable broker with a polished platform.
XTB doesn't publish one universal minimum deposit either — it can vary by region, so check the exact figure on their site. Our own suggestion, not XTB's: the same 200–250€ starting range applies here too.
77% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.