⚠ A Platform Is a Product, Not a PositionHigh threat

XTB (XTB) — threat to the moat

Everything XTB shipped this year is visible to rivals on launch day and copyable within twelve months.

Owning your own software is a genuine operating advantage and a weak competitive one, because software is the most reproducible thing a financial firm can build.

Growth at rivals running different platforms, 2025+72 pcTrading 212revenue+69 pcT212 fundedaccounts+84 pcT212 monthlyactives+46 pcRevolut revenue+10 pceToro revenue+15 pcXTB operatingincomeNone of them runs xStation, and eToro owns copy trading that nobody has replicated
Platform quality is real. It is not what separates these growth rates.

Consider the list from the first half of 2026: extended trading hours, spot cryptocurrency, a Cash ISA, position selection instead of automatic first-in-first-out, an artificial-intelligence sentiment module, desktop retirement accounts.1 Every one is visible to every competitor the day it launches, and none is protected by anything but the work of building it. Trading 212 grew revenue 72 per cent in 2025 and funded accounts 69 per cent with a different platform.2 Revolut serves seventy million people with an application that does trading among a dozen other things.3 eToro built CopyTrader, a feature XTB's own report singles out, and still grew revenue only 10 per cent.4

The honest test of a platform moat is whether clients pay more to use it, and XTB's answer is the opposite: it charges no commission on shares up to 100 000 euros of turnover and advertises spreads among the lowest available.5 The platform is being used to win price-sensitive customers, not to charge a premium to loyal ones.

What owning the code really provides is speed and independence — the ability to enter a market or launch a wrapper without a vendor's roadmap in the way. That is worth a great deal operationally and does not stop anybody from following.

A platform moat would show up as somebody paying for the platform. The only place anybody does is the institutional segment, and it fell 48 per cent in 2025.6

References
  1. ReportedConsider the list from the first half of 2026: extended trading hours, spot cryptocurrency, a Cash ISA, position selection instead of automatic first-in-first-out, an artificial-intelligence sentiment module, desktop retirement accounts.
    XTB results presentation for the first half of 2026, operational data - quarterly series for Q2 2026, Q1 2026, Q4 2025, Q3 2025, Q2 2025, Q1 2025, Q4 2024 and Q3 2024 in that order: total operating income 992 558, 1 094 018, 609 344, 375 821, 580 597, 580 294, 465 416 and 470 234 thousand złoty; transaction volume in CFD instruments in nominal value 1 029 179, 1 333 410, 1 605 005, 1 118 278, 1 144 554, 937 867, 727 854 and 695 315 million dollars; profitability for USD 1 million of transaction volume 238, 216, 93, 84, 128, 144, 147 and 167 dollars; transaction volume in CFD instruments 1 831 627, 2 323 204, 2 542 526, 2 094 296, 2 321 584, 1 907 974, 1 657 390 and 1 627 978 lots; profitability per lot 484, 439, 208, 152, 229, 277, 253 and 272 złoty; marketing expenses 200 081, 235 429, 179 195, 141 495, 123 322, 141 034, 116 855 and 71 613 thousand złoty with client acquisition cost 0,7, 0,9, 0,7, 0,7, 0,7, 0,7, 0,7 and 0,6 thousand złoty; structure of the gross result in H1 2026 Commodity CFDs 75,3%, Index CFDs 13,9%, Currency CFDs 5,0% and other 5,8%, against H1 2025 Index CFDs 46,3%, Commodity CFDs 33,1%, Currency CFDs 15,6% and other 5,0%; share of CFD turnover by trading platform for the same eight quarters: xStation 30, 29, 29, 27, 35, 37, 36 and 38 per cent, xStation Mobile 61, 60, 64, 62, 59, 56, 56 and 57 per cent and MT4 9, 11, 7, 11, 6, 7, 9 and 8 per cent; own cash 2 934 090 at 30 June 2026 against 1 994 027 at 31 December 2025, up 47,1%, with no bonds; dividend per share of 1,5 for 2021, 4,86 for 2022, 5,02 for 2023, 5,45 for 2024 and 4,07 for 2025, the 2025 dividend being PLN 478,5 million or 75% of standalone net profit with a record date of 15 June 2026 and payment on 24 June 2026 — Q3 2024 - Q2 2026 · publ. 28 August 2026 · source ↗
  2. Third-party estimateTrading 212 grew revenue 72 per cent in 2025 and funded accounts 69 per cent with a different platform.
    Trading 212 UK Limited results for the year ended 31 December 2025 as reported by FinanceFeeds - revenue of 277,6 million pounds against 161,7 million, an increase of 72%, of which trading revenues were 256,9 million and net client interest income 20,6 million; profit before tax of 123,1 million pounds against 52,8 million and net profit of 92,2 million; around 4,5 million funded customer accounts of which 3 million in the United Kingdom, and roughly 25 billion pounds of client assets under administration; funded accounts up 69% and the average number of monthly active users up 84% — FY2025 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedRevolut serves seventy million people with an application that does trading among a dozen other things.
    Revolut Group Holdings Ltd annual report 2025 - group revenues up 46% to 6,0 billion US dollars from 4,0 billion, with profit before tax of 2,3 billion, up 57%; more than 70 million retail customers and around 0,8 million businesses, up 30% and 33% respectively; Wealth revenue, which includes equities and cryptocurrency trading, up 31% to 876 million dollars from 647 million and 14,7% of total revenue; total customer balances up 66% to 67,5 billion dollars from 38 billion; eleven product lines each exceeding approximately 135 million dollars of revenue, with subscriptions turnover of 936 million, card payments up 45% to 1,3 billion and foreign exchange up 43% to 800 million — FY2025 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
  4. Third-party estimateeToro built CopyTrader, a feature XTB's own report singles out, and still grew revenue only 10 per cent.
    eToro Group Ltd fourth quarter and full year 2025 results as reported by FX News Group - revenue of 869 million US dollars, up 10,2%; net contribution of 868 million against 788 million, up 10%; GAAP net income of 216 million against 192 million, up 12%; funded accounts of 3,81 million against 3,48 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, up 9%; eToro listed in New York in May 2025 at 52 dollars a share — FY2025 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedThe honest test of a platform moat is whether clients pay more to use it, and XTB's answer is the opposite: it charges no commission on shares up to 100 000 euros of turnover and advertises spreads among the lowest available.
    XTB results presentation for the first half of 2026, operational data - quarterly series for Q2 2026, Q1 2026, Q4 2025, Q3 2025, Q2 2025, Q1 2025, Q4 2024 and Q3 2024 in that order: total operating income 992 558, 1 094 018, 609 344, 375 821, 580 597, 580 294, 465 416 and 470 234 thousand złoty; transaction volume in CFD instruments in nominal value 1 029 179, 1 333 410, 1 605 005, 1 118 278, 1 144 554, 937 867, 727 854 and 695 315 million dollars; profitability for USD 1 million of transaction volume 238, 216, 93, 84, 128, 144, 147 and 167 dollars; transaction volume in CFD instruments 1 831 627, 2 323 204, 2 542 526, 2 094 296, 2 321 584, 1 907 974, 1 657 390 and 1 627 978 lots; profitability per lot 484, 439, 208, 152, 229, 277, 253 and 272 złoty; marketing expenses 200 081, 235 429, 179 195, 141 495, 123 322, 141 034, 116 855 and 71 613 thousand złoty with client acquisition cost 0,7, 0,9, 0,7, 0,7, 0,7, 0,7, 0,7 and 0,6 thousand złoty; structure of the gross result in H1 2026 Commodity CFDs 75,3%, Index CFDs 13,9%, Currency CFDs 5,0% and other 5,8%, against H1 2025 Index CFDs 46,3%, Commodity CFDs 33,1%, Currency CFDs 15,6% and other 5,0%; share of CFD turnover by trading platform for the same eight quarters: xStation 30, 29, 29, 27, 35, 37, 36 and 38 per cent, xStation Mobile 61, 60, 64, 62, 59, 56, 56 and 57 per cent and MT4 9, 11, 7, 11, 6, 7, 9 and 8 per cent; own cash 2 934 090 at 30 June 2026 against 1 994 027 at 31 December 2025, up 47,1%, with no bonds; dividend per share of 1,5 for 2021, 4,86 for 2022, 5,02 for 2023, 5,45 for 2024 and 4,07 for 2025, the 2025 dividend being PLN 478,5 million or 75% of standalone net profit with a record date of 15 June 2026 and payment on 24 June 2026 — Q3 2024 - Q2 2026 · publ. 28 August 2026 · source ↗
  6. ReportedThe only place anybody does is the institutional segment, and it fell 48 per cent in 2025.
    XTB Group half-year report for the first half of 2026, notes - nominal value of derivative financial instruments at 30 June 2026 and 31 December 2025: Index CFDs 3 642 905 and 3 933 252; Commodity CFDs 3 967 775 and 6 216 958; Currency CFDs 2 204 780 and 3 284 496; Stock and ETF CFDs 1 767 315 and 1 615 397; Bond CFDs 4 118 and 1 553; Options 125 478 and nil; total 11 712 371 and 15 051 656, and as at 30 June 2026 transactions with brokers represent 8% of the total nominal value of instruments against 16% at 31 December 2025; clients' financial instruments at 30 June 2026 and 31 December 2025: listed stocks and rights to stocks 23 345 382 and 15 138 542; ETFs 20 018 050 and 12 144 808; other securities 207 and 207; total 43 363 639 and 27 283 557; amounts due to clients: retail 7 023 586 and 6 428 875, institutional 100 955 and 99 348, total 7 124 541 and 6 528 223; contributions to the compensation scheme with a closing balance of 28 338 against 23 981; total employment at 30 June 2026 of 1 548 people against 1 516 at 31 December 2025; XXZW Investment Group S.A. holding 42 067 329 shares or 35,78% at 30 June 2026; XTB Lithuania UAB incorporated with no operations yet; dividends of 478 507 thousand złoty paid in the period — H1 2026 · publ. 28 August 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 24, 2026