This article will explain how to win against stop hunting in XMTrading. In order to provide a highly safe and reliable trading environment, XMTrading strives to avoid any problematic behavior. However, there are rumors on the street that he is being stopped. Is this information true?
- XMtrading
- XM Overview and Features
- What is Stop Hunting? Overview and Characteristics
- How Stop Hunting Occurs
- Does XM engage in stop hunting?
- Typical Patterns Where You Feel “Hunted” on XM
- 1) When you place your stop-loss order exactly outside the recent high or low.
- 2) When you place your stop-loss just outside a round number
- 3) Entering a position immediately before or after an economic indicator announcement
- 4) Trading during “thin hours” such as late night, early morning, or the start of the week
- 5) Overlooking spread widening
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Q1. Does XM really engage in stop hunting?
- Q2. Why was I stopped out even though I didn’t touch the chart?
- Q3. Why do XM’s price wicks sometimes look strange?
- Q4. Where are the stop-loss positions most susceptible to stop-hunting?
- Q5. Is it safer to avoid stop-loss hunting by not placing a stop-loss?
- Q6. Which time zones are the most dangerous on XM?
- Q7. Is stop-hunting more likely with high leverage?
- Related
XMtrading
| Operating company | Tradexfin Limited Fintrade Limited |
| Head office location | Unit E, F28, Eden Plaza, Eden Island, Republic of Seychelles |
| Founding year | 2009 |
| Financial License | （FSA）SD010：Tradexfin Mauritius Financial Services Commission (FSC：)：Fintrade Limited Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC)：Trading Point of Financial Instruments Ltd |
| Language support | English、日本語、Malay、Thai |
| Platform | MetaTrader 4 (MT4)／MetaTrader 5 (MT5) |
| Service Countries | Over 190 countries |
| Number of users | Over 1 million accounts |
| Max Leverage | 1000x |
| Eligible products | Forex、Metal、Stocks、Equity Indices / Index CFD、Energy CFD、Commodities、Cryptocurrency |
XM Overview and Features
XMTrading is an overseas broker offering FX and CFDs (Contracts for Difference). It’s popular among individual traders in Japan, often praised for its ease of starting with small amounts, high leverage, and diverse account options. According to official information, it offers over 1,400 tradable instruments, including FX, gold, crude oil, stock indices, and stock derivatives.
1) Easy to Start with Small Amounts
According to official information, XM’s minimum deposit is equivalent to $5, making it relatively easy for beginners to start.
It also offers accounts that allow small trades starting from 0.01 lots, making it easy to practice without immediately investing large sums of money.
2) High Leverage
XM offers high leverage settings, up to 1000:1 depending on the account type (may vary for some accounts and instruments).
While this allows for large trades with small margins, it also increases the potential for both profits and losses, making lot management crucial, especially for beginners.
3) Multiple Account Types
XM offers a variety of account types to suit different needs. Typical types include:
Micro Account: Ideal for very small amounts, practice, and beginners
Standard Account: A general and easy-to-use standard type
KIWAMI Account: Popular with those who prioritize cost-effectiveness
Zero Account: Emphasizes low spreads and is suitable for short-term trading
In short, XM’s strength lies in its ability to cater to both those who want to start small and those who prioritize low spreads.
4) MT4/MT5 Compatibility
XM supports the globally renowned trading platforms, MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5.
Therefore, it facilitates:
Chart analysis
Automated trading (EA)
Indicator usage
Smartphone trading
and is easy to use, making it suitable for both discretionary and automated trading.
5) Wide Range of Trading Instruments
XM handles not only FX but also the following products:
Foreign Exchange (FX)
Gold & Silver
Crude Oil
Stock Indices
Stock CFDs
Cryptocurrency CFDs
In short, the convenience lies in being able to easily access multiple markets with a single account.
6) Relatively Comprehensive Japanese Support
XM offers the following services for Japan:
Japanese Member Page
Japanese Support
Japanese Guides & Help
It is among the easiest-to-use overseas FX brokers for Japanese users.
Even those unfamiliar with overseas services will find it relatively easy to get started.
What is Stop Hunting? Overview and Characteristics
Stop hunting is a phenomenon where the price moves in a way that triggers many stop-loss orders placed by other traders, resulting in a chain reaction of executions.
In FX trading, when the price reaches a level where many stop orders are concentrated, the price movement tends to accelerate rapidly due to market execution, creating situations where traders feel they have been “hunted.” OANDA’s explanation also describes stop hunting as “an act of intentionally triggering other investors’ stop-loss orders to profit,” and states that when stop orders are concentrated, short-term volatility tends to increase.
In simple terms:
For example, suppose you
buy USD/JPY at 150.00 yen
place your stop-loss at 149.80 yen
If a large number of other people’s stop-loss orders are concentrated around this 149.80 yen level, the moment the price touches that level,
a chain reaction of sell stop orders
causes a rapid downward movement
Then, it quickly recovers
This kind of movement can occur.
This “movement where the price briefly triggers a stop-loss before rebounding” is often called “stop hunting” among individual traders.
1) Often occurs at round numbers
Many people tend to place their stop-losses in easily identifiable locations.
Examples:
150.000
149.500
Slightly outside highs and lows
Just below/above recent support/resistance levels
Therefore, lines that are “visible to everyone” tend to be targeted (easily triggered).
2) Often ends with only a wick
In stop-hunting-like movements, the chart often shows:
A large upward movement for just a moment
A quick pullback
A long wick appears on the candlestick
In other words, it’s characterized by a frustrating scenario where “only the stop-loss is triggered, and then the price reverses in the expected direction.”
3) Often occurs before and after economic indicator announcements and in low-volume trading
It is particularly likely to occur in the following situations:
US Employment Statistics
CPI (Consumer Price Index)
FOMC
Bank of Japan/FRB-related statements
Early mornings and holidays: periods of low liquidity
In these situations, because orders are thin yet prices tend to jump, stop orders are more likely to trigger in a chain reaction. Since stop orders are usually executed at market price after being triggered, slippage—where the execution price is less favorable than expected—can occur during sudden market changes.
4) It’s difficult to distinguish between “being truly targeted” and “a natural chain reaction of orders.”
This is quite important.
Not everything is “malicious manipulation by someone.”
In actual markets,
Large-scale trading
Option-related hedging
Sudden changes in indicators
Simple order imbalances
Even these alone can commonly cause movements that appear to be stop hunting.
In other words, a common misconception for beginners is assuming that
“being stopped out = being targeted by a broker or large investor.”
In reality, there are many cases where the price moved to a certain point simply because “everyone had placed their stop-loss orders at the same location.”
How Stop Hunting Occurs
The process is simple.
① Many people place stop-loss orders at the same location.
Example:
Slightly below the low
Slightly above the high
② The price approaches that level
Large orders or news events cause the price to approach that level.
③ Stop orders are triggered
Stop-limit orders are executed when the price reaches that level. As explained by IG, a stop-limit order is triggered when the price reaches a certain level in an unfavorable direction from the current price.
④ A chain reaction occurs, causing a rapid movement
One stop triggers another, accelerating the price movement.
⑤ Afterwards, the price may return to its original trend.
This is where you often feel “hunted.”
The difference between stop hunting and normal stop-loss orders
The difference lies in this feeling.
A normal stop-loss
The market moved in the opposite direction to what I expected
It continued to move in the opposite direction
It feels reasonable
A stop-loss that seems like a stop-hunting trigger
It moved in the opposite direction for just a moment
The stop-loss was triggered
It immediately returned in the original direction
In other words,
“The stop-loss level was too shallow/too obvious”
This is likely to happen.
Does XM engage in stop hunting?
To put it simply, there is no evidence, at least based on official and publicly available information, to definitively conclude that “XM intentionally engages in stop hunting.”
However, movements that “look like stop hunting” can certainly occur with XM. It’s more accurate to consider these two things separately.
To answer in a nutshell:
It’s not possible to definitively say that “XM absolutely does not engage in stop hunting,” nor is it easy to say that “XM intentionally hunts.”
That’s the realistic answer.
In most cases, when users feel they’ve been “hunted by XM,” it’s actually one of the following:
Spread widening
Sudden fluctuations during economic indicator releases
Wicks during periods of low trading volume
Stop-loss orders were placed too shallowly
Chain of stop orders
In other words, a significant number of cases are due to “market structure” rather than “broker misconduct.”
Why is it often said that “XM engages in stop hunting”?
1) Because sometimes only the stop-loss is triggered and the price recovers.
This is a common pattern in FX trading.
Enter a trade
Only stop-loss orders are triggered
Then the price returns in the expected direction
When this happens, anyone can easily feel
“Was I being targeted?”
But in reality, everyone’s stop-loss orders tend to concentrate just outside recent highs and lows, round numbers, and support/resistance levels.
When the price touches those levels, orders naturally chain together, causing a brief breakout.
This is a typical phenomenon that occurs with any FX broker, not just XM.
2) XM is an overseas FX broker, making it more susceptible to suspicion
Because XM is an overseas broker, users tend to feel more uneasy than with domestic FX brokers.
Therefore,
Experiences such as:
“The wicks were strange”
“Only stop-loss orders were triggered”
“The price widened only for that moment”
These experiences easily lead to the question:
“Is XM hunting me?”
However, XM’s official execution policy states that there are no requotes, no order rejections, 100% execution, and 99.35% execution in less than one second, and that orders are processed according to market conditions.
XM acknowledges the possibility of unfavorable execution during “news events, high volatility, and liquidity shortages.”
The XM Group’s order execution policy clearly states that
stop-loss, limit, and stop-limit orders may be executed at the “first available price” rather than the specified price.
Specific examples given include:
Immediately after the start of trading
During news events
When price fluctuations are high
When there are rapid price movements
When liquidity shortages
In other words,
XM operates under the assumption that “stop-loss slippage” and “orders being closed at a worse position than expected” can occur.
Conversely, this also means that even if a phenomenon that “looks like stop-hunting” occurs, it is not necessarily proof of fraud.
Typical Patterns Where You Feel “Hunted” on XM
The situations where you feel “hunted” on XM can actually be quite patterned.
Moreover, these are not so much due to XM’s unique fraudulent practices, but rather to the combination of overseas forex trading, market structure, and order placement.
1) When you place your stop-loss order exactly outside the recent high or low.
This is the most common and typical example.
For example,
Placing your stop-loss order 2-5 pips below the recent low
2-5 pips above the recent high
Just below the lower limit of the range
Just outside the breakout line
These positions are quite likely to trigger your stop-loss.
This is because everyone is looking at these same points.
The market tends to move while drawing in orders placed on these “obvious lines.”
Therefore,
The price briefly breaks through
Stop-losses are triggered in a chain reaction
The price then quickly reverses
This is a common pattern.
Reasons for feeling “hunted”
“That line wasn’t broken after all…”
“It only took my stop-loss and went back up…”
This pattern is very common.
2) When you place your stop-loss just outside a round number
This is also quite dangerous.
Examples:
150.000
149.500
1.10000
1.09500
Orders tend to concentrate around these round numbers.
Especially likely to concentrate:
Profit-taking orders
New entries
Stop-loss orders
Large-scale adjustment orders
Therefore, when you place your stop-loss just outside a round number,
“It’s easy to get “punished just once and then lose.”
Common Mistakes
Buy at 150.00
Cut stop-loss at 149.98
The price falls to 149.97 and then rebounds
At this point, the trader might feel that
“XM only targeted 149.98”
However, it’s highly likely that the order was placed in a location where orders tend to concentrate.
3) Entering a position immediately before or after an economic indicator announcement
This is a pattern that beginners are particularly susceptible to.
Examples of dangerous events:
US employment statistics
CPI
PPI
FOMC
Policy interest rate announcement
Statements by key figures
Bank of Japan-related news
In these situations, not just with XM,
The spread widens
The price jumps for a moment
Stop-losses slip
Wicks become abnormally long
These things happen regularly. XM’s execution policy also explains that during news events, sudden price changes, or liquidity shortages, stop-loss orders may be executed at the “first available price” rather than the specified price.
Reasons for feeling “hunted”
“I was stopped out even though I didn’t touch the chart.”
“I was stopped out by just a brief wick.”
In these cases, the real reason is often “market volatility” rather than “broker hunting.”
4) Trading during “thin hours” such as late night, early morning, or the start of the week
XM is more likely to exhibit “strange wicks” and “sudden jumps” during periods of low liquidity.
Particular attention should be paid to:
Early morning Japan time
Around the NY close
The start of the week (Monday morning)
Holidays and New Year’s holidays
Times with few market participants
During these times, even small orders can easily cause price jumps.
This can lead to:
The price briefly reaching a position it wouldn’t normally touch
Only the stop-loss being triggered
The price quickly returning
Reasons for feeling “hunted”
“It definitely wouldn’t have gone that far during the day…”
This is quite common.
5) Overlooking spread widening
This is the point where beginners are most likely to misunderstand.
In FX trading, stop-loss orders aren’t determined solely by the price visible on the chart.
Important
Stop-loss on a buy position → Closed on the Bid side
Stop-loss on a sell position → Closed on the Ask side
In other words, even if the price doesn’t appear to have reached the stop-loss, it’s common for only one side of the spread to have touched it due to the widening spread.
XM’s help section also explains that stop-loss orders, including trailing stops, are standard risk management orders and are more likely to be triggered if the settings are too close.
A typical scenario where you feel you’ve been “hunted”
You hold a sell position
The Ask price jumps up for a moment
Only the stop-loss is triggered
The price then falls
This happens very often.
From the trader’s perspective,
“I looked at the chart and it didn’t reach the stop-loss!”
But in reality, the price on the opposite side had touched it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here, we’ve compiled a clear and easy-to-understand FAQ about “XM’s stop hunting,” addressing common questions that beginners often have.
Q1. Does XM really engage in stop hunting?
A. We cannot say for certain.
At least based on publicly available information, there is no evidence to definitively say that “XM intentionally engages in stop hunting.”
However, with overseas forex brokers like XM,
Spread widening
Sudden price fluctuations during economic indicators
Decreased liquidity
Breakouts of order concentration zones
These factors can commonly cause “movements that appear to be stop hunting.” XM’s execution policy also explains that during news events or sudden price changes, stop orders may be executed at the “first available price” rather than the specified price.
Q2. Why was I stopped out even though I didn’t touch the chart?
A. This is likely due to a difference between Bid and Ask prices, or a widening spread.
In forex trading, it’s not always possible to judge solely from the visible chart.
Mechanism
Stop-loss on a buy position → Closed at the Bid price
Stop-loss on a sell position → Closed at the Ask price
In other words, even if the price doesn’t appear to reach the stop-loss line,
it’s common for only the price on one side of the widened spread to touch the stop-loss line.
This is a common misconception in FX in general, not just with XM.
Q3. Why do XM’s price wicks sometimes look strange?
A. This is likely due to the influence of the price feed, liquidity, and time of day.
Because each FX broker has different price feed sources and liquidity supply conditions,
the length of the wicks and momentary discrepancies may not perfectly match those of other companies.
Particularly likely to be inaccurate are:
During economic indicator announcements
Early morning
Beginning of the week
Times with few market participants
However, if XM consistently shows abnormal discrepancies, it’s advisable to compare and verify.
Q4. Where are the stop-loss positions most susceptible to stop-hunting?
A. “The places anyone would think of.”
Particularly dangerous areas are:
Just below the recent low
Just above the recent high
Just outside round numbers
Exactly outside the edge of a range
Just outside the trend line
These areas are prone to concentrated stop-loss orders from individual traders,
making them susceptible to being wiped out by a single wick.
Q5. Is it safer to avoid stop-loss hunting by not placing a stop-loss?
A. That’s dangerous. I don’t recommend it.
Certainly, if you don’t place a stop-loss, you won’t be “hunted.”
However, you’ll be more vulnerable to fatal losses if the price moves significantly against you.
The important thing in preventing stop-loss hunting is not to eliminate stop-losses,
but to improve your stop-loss placement.
In other words, it’s more realistic to “minimize losses if you are hunted” than to “avoid being hunted.”
Q6. Which time zones are the most dangerous on XM?
A. The following time zones are particularly dangerous:
Time when trading is more likely to be risky
Immediately before and after important economic indicators are released
Early morning Japan time
Around the NY close
Beginning of the week (Monday morning)
Holidays and New Year’s holidays
During these times,
spreads widen
liquidity thins
brief wicks are more likely to appear
Therefore, stop-hunting-like movements are more likely.
Q7. Is stop-hunting more likely with high leverage?
A. Yes, it’s much more likely.
The reason is simple: with high leverage,
lot sizes increase
you want to minimize losses
you tend to narrow your stop-loss range
That’s why.
However, the actual market can fluctuate with noise of
5 pips
10 pips
15 pips
Therefore, too narrow a stop-loss is more susceptible to this noise.
In other words,
the reason why you’re “more likely to be stopped out” is because you’re using high leverage and setting your stop-loss too narrowly.
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