When exchanging between currencies, there is always some loss. However, the extent of this loss can be minimized relatively easily. Let’s look at how the whole process works, what to watch out for, and whether it’s worth dealing with the Revolut app at all.
Currency conversion fees at XTB
XTB allows you to maintain a trading account in various currencies – for example, in GBP, USD, or EUR. However, if you deposit money in a different currency than the one your account is maintained in, an automatic conversion will occur, resulting in a certain exchange rate loss.
XTB quotes its own forex rate, which typically deviates from the mid-market (interbank) rate by approximately 0.5%. In other words, if you deposit pounds into a USD or EUR account, XTB will convert them without additional fees, but will use a less favorable rate.
Therefore, it’s always more advantageous to have a trading account in the currency you’ll actually be trading in. If you plan to trade American stocks or ETFs that are traded in US dollars, for instance, it makes sense to maintain your account directly in dollars and deposit dollars.
This approach can lead to repeated exchange rate losses, especially if you trade assets whose underlying currency (USD, EUR) differs from your trading account currency (typically GBP).
Let’s take as an example an investor who maintains their trading account in pounds and actively trades American stocks. These stocks are traded in US dollars. With each purchase of American stocks, XTB must convert pounds to dollars at its own rate. Similarly, when selling these stocks and converting the dollars earned back to the pound account, another conversion occurs at a less favorable rate. If the investor conducts a large number of trades with US stocks (which are traded in USD), these operations can reduce their overall investment return due to all the exchange rate losses that occur “along the way.”
Similar losses will occur in this situation: If, as an investor, you open a trading account maintained in US dollars and decide to deposit funds in pounds, XTB will in this case perform a one-time exchange from GBP to USD. Here too, a less favorable rate will be used by XTB, which will lead to an initial exchange rate loss at the deposit itself. However, once the funds have been converted and credited to the USD account, any subsequent trading with assets traded in US dollars will no longer be directly burdened by additional currency conversions by XTB. In this scenario, it would be most advantageous for the investor if they could deposit dollars directly into their USD account, thus avoiding the described exchange rate loss altogether.
Use the XTB promo code during account registration and receive benefits directly from us.
How to deposit money to XTB via Revolut
Revolut is a popular tool for currency exchange, particularly due to its very favorable spread—the difference between buying and selling rates for currencies. On weekdays, currencies are exchanged at the interbank rate without a markup, up to a limit of £1,000 per month (with the free tier).
So if you want to send dollars to XTB, you can top up your Revolut account in pounds, exchange them for dollars, and send them via transfer directly to the USD account maintained at XTB. In practice, this works by selecting Payments in the Revolut app menu, then Bank transfer, and entering the details that XTB provides for deposits in the given currency. The money usually arrives within one business day. It is very important that the transfer currency matches the currency of your account at XTB. Otherwise, the conversion will happen directly on XTB’s side. Thus, you wouldn’t save as expected. Always verify that you have an active account in the correct currency in Revolut. In some cases, it may be necessary to manually activate the currency, e.g., USD.
Is it worth it?
Is it more advantageous to send money through Revolut in the described way? Or should you not bother with this and simply send pounds, leaving the conversion to XTB?
If you exchange in Revolut on a weekday and don’t exceed the monthly limit of £1,000, you’ll get a rate very close to the interbank rate. It will therefore be approximately 0.5% more favorable than at XTB.
When exchanging £1,000, the difference can be about 5 to 6 USD (approximately £4-5). This money thus essentially goes in your favor.
Conversely, if you exchange on the weekend, Revolut applies a surcharge of approximately 0.5%, so the advantage essentially disappears. Moreover, for higher amounts, if you still have the free tier, Revolut will start charging you a fee even on weekdays. This is usually a fee of about 0.5 to 1% of the amount over the monthly limit.
Another important consideration is the fee for the money transfer itself on Revolut’s side. SEPA payments in euros are typically free. However, if you’ll be sending dollars (USD), a variable fee of 0.15% of the transferred amount is charged. This fee has established limits, namely a minimum of £3 and a maximum of £600. This means that even if the calculated amount of 0.15% would be less than £3, you will pay at least £3. Conversely, if the calculated amount would exceed £600, your fee will always be a maximum of £600.
Keep in mind that the stated fees may change. It is therefore important to check the current rates directly on the Revolut website before making a transaction. Or you can check the exact amount directly in the app, where the specific fee for your transfer should be displayed before sending the payment.
It’s also necessary to take into account that additional fees may be charged for incoming USD payments to the recipient’s bank (in this case, the XTB account). These fees for receiving payment vary depending on the sender’s bank (Revolut) and the recipient’s bank (XTB), as well as the correspondent banks that may be involved in the transaction.
Unfortunately, it’s not really possible to determine the exact amount of these fees in advance without knowing the exact conditions of both banks or any intermediary banks. Alternatively, you can ask XTB or Revolut using the contact details in the support chat, etc. But there’s no guarantee they will provide you with this information.
Besides the currency exchange fees, XTB also charges other fees, which are transparently listed on their website or with us clearly in the review.
How much do you typically invest?
In practice, it therefore depends on when (how often or at what intervals) and how much money you exchange. For smaller amounts and one-time deposits, the difference might be a few dollars (a few pounds), which may not be worth it. And this, especially considering the time you’ll spend on the overall setup and routing of payments through Revolut.
On the other hand, if you deposit higher sums or plan to repeat deposits more frequently, this “optimization” of fees using Revolut may pay off. In such a case, it’s also worth considering switching to one of Revolut’s paid tiers (Premium, Metal). The tiers, while representing a certain monthly cost, also bring more favorable exchange rates even for higher amounts that would otherwise exceed the fee-free limit of the free tier.
Thanks to this, with larger or more frequent transfers, you can save not only on fees but also on the exchange rate itself, which tends to be more stable and favorable within the higher tiers, especially outside normal trading hours. This approach can also make good sense for those users who use Revolut for other purposes as well and would be paying for a higher, paid tier anyway.
Summary
Depositing money to XTB via Revolut makes sense if you keep an eye on the right timing for the exchange and the monthly limit. However, the advantages may disappear if you exchange money over the weekend or exceed the monthly free limit.
It’s important to have the currencies correctly set up in Revolut and to send money to the correct currency account at XTB. But if you set everything up correctly, Revolut can help you reduce costs and get a better rate than the one XTB offers with automatic conversion.