XM Inactivity Fee $10/Month After 90 Days — How It Works, What Resets the Clock & 3 Ways to Avoid It
XM charges a $10 monthly inactivity fee on real accounts with no trades for 90+ consecutive days. This guide explains exactly how the fee works, what does and does not reset the 90-day clock, and how to avoid the fee with minimal effort.
Inactivity fee applies to real accounts only · Demo accounts are permanently exempt
XM Inactivity Fee — Exactly How It Works
XM's inactivity fee is a $10 monthly maintenance charge applied to real trading accounts that have had no trading activity for 90 or more consecutive calendar days. This policy exists across most regulated brokers — it is not XM-specific — and reflects the administrative cost of maintaining dormant accounts with regulatory compliance requirements.
"Trading activity" has a specific meaning for XM's inactivity calculation. It means opening or closing at least one position on any instrument. Actions that seem account-related but do not count as trading activity include logging in to your Members Area or MT4, depositing or withdrawing funds, updating your profile or contact details, and viewing your trading history.
The 90-day inactivity clock starts from this exact moment. Your account is fully active — no fee will apply as long as you trade again within 90 days.
You can log in, deposit, check your balance, or do anything else with your account. None of these actions reset the clock. Only placing a trade resets the 90-day counter.
XM classifies the account as inactive at this point. The $10 monthly inactivity fee is now active. Your balance starts being reduced by $10 each calendar month.
Continues until you place a trade (which stops the fee immediately) or until your balance reaches zero. XM will not create a negative balance from inactivity fees.
No further fees are charged. If you want to trade again, you need to open a new XM account and deposit. The new registration process takes 5 minutes.
Example: What happens to a $50 account left dormant for 7 months
If you open an XM account, deposit $50, make no trades, and leave the account for 7 months:
- Month 1–3: No fee (within 90-day grace period)
- Month 4: $10 deducted → balance $40
- Month 5: $10 deducted → balance $30
- Month 6: $10 deducted → balance $20
- Month 7: $10 deducted → balance $10
- Month 8: $10 deducted → balance $0 → account closed
Total loss from inactivity fees: $50 — your entire deposit — with no trading having taken place. This is why understanding the fee matters even for small accounts.
What Resets the XM Inactivity Clock — and What Does Not
Many traders assume that any account interaction resets the dormancy period. This is incorrect. XM's inactivity policy is specifically tied to trading activity — not account access or administrative actions.
- ✓Opening any position (buy or sell) on any instrument
- ✓Closing any open position (partial or full close)
- ✓Placing a pending order that subsequently triggers
- ✓Any trade on any account type: Micro, Standard, Ultra Low, Zero
- ✗Logging in to Members Area, MT4, MT5, or WebTrader
- ✗Making a deposit
- ✗Submitting a withdrawal request
- ✗Updating personal information or settings
- ✗Contacting XM customer support
- ✗Viewing trade history or account statements
- ✗Activating or claiming a bonus
- ✗Opening a pending order that has not yet triggered
"We have seen traders assume that depositing fresh funds into a dormant account resets the inactivity clock. It does not. If your account has been inactive for 88 days and you deposit $200, the fee will still activate 2 days later. The deposit is sitting in the account but the inactivity clock continues. The only action that resets the clock is placing a trade — open any position, even 0.01 micro-lots on EUR/USD for 30 seconds, and close it. That single trade resets the counter to zero."
— XEM Signup Editorial Team3 Ways to Avoid the XM Inactivity Fee
✓ The Real Cost of the Quarterly Trade Method
To avoid a $10/month fee with Method 1, you spend approximately $0.13 every 80 days (one 0.01 lot EUR/USD round trip on Ultra Low). That is $0.13 per quarter in spread cost vs $30/quarter in inactivity fees — a saving of $29.87 per quarter for under 60 seconds of work. Set the 80-day reminder now if you have an account you do not trade regularly.
XM Inactivity Fee vs Other Brokers
XM's $10/month after 90 days is standard industry practice among regulated brokers. Here is how it compares to major alternatives, particularly relevant if you are deciding between brokers based on inactivity policy alone.
| Broker | Inactivity Fee | Dormancy Period | Max Yearly Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XM | $10/month | 90 days | $120/year | Stops at zero balance |
| Exness | None | — | $0 | No inactivity fee at all |
| IC Markets | $10/month | 90 days | $120/year | Same as XM |
| Pepperstone | $15/month | 1 year | $180/year | Much longer grace period |
| AvaTrade | $50/quarter | 3 months | $200/year | Most expensive |
| IG | $18/month | 2 years | $216/year | Long grace period |
Exness is the clear standout with no inactivity fee whatsoever — if holding a funded backup account with no planned trading is important to you, Exness has a structural advantage here. Pepperstone's 1-year grace period is also generous for occasional traders. See our XM vs Exness comparison for the full broker analysis.
XM Demo Account — No Inactivity Fee, No Expiry
XM's demo account is permanently exempt from inactivity fees and has no expiry date. This makes it a genuinely useful tool for traders who want to maintain platform access and strategy testing capability during periods when they are not ready to trade live.
The demo account runs on the same MT4, MT5, and WebTrader platforms as the live account. It provides $100,000 of virtual funds and the same real-time market data including live spreads and prices. You can request an additional virtual funds top-up from XM support if your demo balance runs low.
⚠ Demo Funds Cannot Be Withdrawn
Demo account profits are virtual — they cannot be withdrawn or converted to real money. The demo is for practice and strategy testing only. To trade with real capital, you need a live account. See our XM demo account guide for full setup instructions, or open a live account from $5 on the Micro account.
Frequently Asked Questions — XM Inactivity Fee
Open XM Account — Trade Actively, No Fee
One trade every 90 days is all it takes to avoid the inactivity fee permanently. Start from $5 on a Micro account — or test risk-free on a demo account with no fees and no expiry.
$5 minimum · Demo accounts exempt from all fees · CySEC & ASIC regulated