Plus500 Broker Review

Written by Emmanuel Ifeanyi

Emmanuel Ifeanyi

Emmanuel Ifeanyi Ekwomadu is a financial content writer specialised in Forex, Stock and Crypto trading. He is the person behind most of the brokers reviews that you will find on BestBrokers.com

, | Updated: December 16, 2024

Headquartered in Israel, Plus500 is an online Futures (USA only) and CFD broker that strives to promote optimal transparency and professionalism in online trading. The broker offers traders around the world access to various financial markets via CFDs, including the stock, forex, commodity, cryptocurrency, ETF, options, and indices markets, using an innovative trading technology.

In this broker review, we will pay attention to the critical aspects of Plus500, which you need to consider before deciding whether to trade with this online broker. Plus500 boasts a solid rating of 4.1 stars, resulting from 13,940 customer reviews on Trustpilot. Feedback for this broker is predominantly positive, with 59% of all traders rating it with 5 stars compared to 15% for 1-star reviews.

Key Pros and Cons

First, let us take a brief look at Plus500’s advantages and disadvantages.

Company Information

Plus500 Group is comprised of the following corporate entities with their respective regulated offices:

• Plus500 UK Ltd, regulated by the FCA: office address: South Quay Plaza, 183, Marsh Wall, London E14 9SR, the United Kingdom.
• Plus500CY Ltd, regulated by the CySEC: office address: Cyprus
• Plus500AU Pty Ltd, regulated by the ASIC: office address: Australia
• Plus500AU Pty Ltd, regulated by the FMA: office address: New Zealand
• Plus500AU Pty Ltd, regulated by the FSP: office address: South Africa
• Plus500SG Pte Ltd, regulated by the MAS: office address: Singapore
• Plus500SEY, regulated by the FSA: office address: Seychelles
• Plus500IL, regulated by the ISA: office address: Israel

Plus500 does not offer its services to residents of certain countries, such as Canada, due to strict regulatory requirements.

Why Trade with Plus500?

Now, let us provide a quick list of the key features that we like about Plus500.

Regulation

With regulations in almost all jurisdictions where the broker’s services are available, it is safe to say that Plus500 is one of the most regulated brokerage firms across the globe.

In the United Kingdom, where it has its headquarters, Plus500 is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with license number: (FRN 509909). This is a tier-1 regulation that is regarded as one of the strictest regulatory authorities in the world. With the FCA regulation, clients’ funds are protected under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), up to £85,000, in the event of bankruptcy.

In the EU, Plus500 operates a subsidiary that is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC Licence No. 250/14). As a result, EU traders’ funds are protected, in the event of insolvency, by the Investor Compensation Fund (CIF), up to maximum coverage of €20,000 as stipulated by the EU Directive 2014/49/EU.

Plus500’s international operations are handled by Plus500SEY, which is regulated by the Financial Services Authority of Seychelles with license number: SD039.

In addition, the broker also serves traders through regulated entities in their regions as follows:

• In Australia, it is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) with AFSL number: 417727
• In New Zealand, it operates under the supervision of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) with the FSP No.: 486026
• In South Africa, the broker is authorized by the Financial Services Board (FSB) with the registration number: 47546
• In Singapore, the broker is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) with license number: CMS100648-1, while the Israel Securities Administration regulates the Israeli branch.

A breakdown of the various regulatory regimes is presented below.

The regulation from the FCA, ASIC, and CySEC provides the broker with a solid regulatory status.

The FCA regulation means that UK-based retail clients will be able to receive compensation of up to GBP 85,000 from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) if Plus500 UK Ltd becomes insolvent or cease trading.

The CySEC regulation offers ICF Investor Compensation of up to EUR 20,000

However, the lack of CFTC regulation means that Plus500 cannot provide online trading services to US citizens and residents.

We should also note that the broker does not offer its products and services to clients from several other countries, including Nigeria.

KYC Procedure for Account Creation and Depositing

Creating an account with Plus500 is free of charge and can be completed fully online in a few minutes. However, it may take up to 24 hours to get your trading account verified. Generally, the entire account creation process complies with the industry-standard procedure and follows these steps:

1. Setting up your login details: You enter a valid email and choose a password.
2. Filling the account creation form: You input your names, date of birth, city of residence, address, postcode, and phone number in the registration form.
3. Choosing your preferred account type: Choose your preferred trading platform and account type (Retail, Professional, or Demo account).
4. Carrying out the suitability status: As per industry standards, you will be required to disclose information about your employment status and sources of income, as well as your trading experience. If you are approved based on your answers, you can proceed to the next step of the process, but if any of your answers do not meet up to the broker’s internal requirements, your application will be rejected;
5. Read and accepts the terms: You need to tick the box at the bottom of the account registration form to indicate that you agree to Plus500’s Terms and Conditions
6. Upload your verification documents: You provide your proof of ID (Passport, national ID card, or Driver’s License) and proof of residency (utility bill or bank account statement that is less than three months) for Plus500 to verify your account.

While the account creation process can be completed in few minutes, it may take up to 24 hours to verify your KYC documents and approve your account. When your account has been approved, you will need to fund your account using any available payment methods before starting a trade.

Account Types

The broker offers two main live account types: Retail Account and Professional Account. Traders can select the account they qualify for.

If you are new to Plus500, you will need to first complete the account registration process before applying for Plus500 Pro. But, if you already have an account and are eligible for Plus500 Pro, all you need to do is submit a certificate that is signed by a Qualified Accountant to pro.au@plus500.com. Moreover, Professional account holders who are looking to downgrade to the Retail account can do so seamlessly by contacting the customer support team.

Demo Account

The broker also offers a demo account, which comes preloaded with virtual funds for practice purposes. It is beneficial for amateur and experienced traders alike. For example, experienced traders can use the demo account to test their trading strategies before implementing them on live trading accounts, while beginners can use it to familiarize themselves with the broker’s platform before going live.

Trading fees and other costs

It is important for every trader to always consider a broker’s trading fees and other costs before making a trading decision. Just like every other CFD and forex broker, Plus500 offers two types of trading fees, namely:

• Trading costs – spreads, commissions, and overnight financing rates;
• Non-trading costs – account management fees, deposit and withdrawal fees, non-activity fees.

Let us take a quick look at the trading fees that are available at Plus500.

Spreads

Plus500’ spreads are fair. There is no significant difference between the spreads offered on the Retail account and that of the Professional account. Generally, the broker offers two spread types for its instruments: fixed and variable spreads.

The variable spread is always adjusted according to the market spread during the period that a position is open. On the other hand, the fixed spread does not typically change with general market fluctuations while a position is open. Still, it may change to a new level when the market is volatile to reflect the underlying market conditions better.

Let us take a look at the average spreads offered by the Retail Account on the major forex pairs:

Since the broker does not charge trading commissions, it makes its money from the spreads alone, so it must have marked them up.

Now, let us estimate the trading costs for the Retail account. Let use a 1 Lot trade on EUR/USD (one pip movement equals $10) and assume that the trade is opened and closed at the same price. By using the average spreads, the trading costs for the Retail account will be:

Retail Account

• Spread – 1.1 pip
• TOTAL COST – 1.1 x $10 = $11 per side and $22 per round turn

The broker also charges $16 per round turn on the Professional Account. A trading cost of $16 per round turn is higher than what is obtainable in their competitors. For instance, an equivalent trade on a zero spread account with Fusion Markets will incur a $4.50 commission per round turn, which is, at present, among the most competitive offers within the industry.

Finally, let us compare Plus500 Standard Account spreads with those that other major brokerages offer on the most actively traded Forex pairs.

It is easy to see from the above table that the spreads offered by Plus500 Standard STP Account are a bit higher than those offered by the big names in the industry, such as Admirals and FP Markets.

Commissions

Plus500 does not charge any commission on trades. The broker only marks money through the “market spread.”
When trading EUR/USD, for example, at Plus500, you will notice a difference between the buy rate and the sell rate: if the buy rate is 1.12080, then the sell rate would be 1.12072, respectively, giving rise to a market spread of 0.8 pips, in this example. This is how the broker is compensated for their services.

Financing charges

The overnight funding amount is either added to or subtracted from your account when holding a position after a certain time.

At Plus500, you can see the overnight funding time and the daily overnight funding percentage in the “Details” link next to the instrument’s name on the main screen of the platform.

In addition, the broker charges a currency conversion fee for all trades on instruments denominated in a currency that is different from the currency of your account. This fee will currently be up to 0.7% of the trade’s realized net profit and loss and reflected in real-time into the unrealized net profit and loss of an open position.

Deposit fees

Plus500 will not charge any deposit fees, just like most online brokerage firms. This is standard practice for brokers.

Withdrawal fees

Plus500 will also not charge any withdrawal fees on all payment options available. However, payments to and from overseas banking institutions may attract intermediary transfer fees from either party, which are independent of Plus500.

Overall on Fees

Plus500 offers marked-up spreads on both the Retail and Professional accounts and charges zero dealing commission on both accounts. The inactivity fee of $10 per month is relatively high.

Overall, while Plus500 offers zero commission fees, their spreads are higher than their competitors, such as IC Markets and Fusion Markets.

Trading Platforms

Plus500 does not offer third-party trading platforms, such as the MT4, MT5, or cTrader trading platforms. Instead, they provide traders with a proprietary trading platform:

WebTrader

The Plus500 trading platform is developed in-house by the broker’s team of fintech experts. It is a web-based trading platform that runs directly on modern web browsers, including Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge, without the need to first download and install an application before using it.

The Plus500 WebTrader is built with an intuitive interface, allowing clients to trade on over 2,000 instruments across multiple markets with competitive spreads and zero commissions. In addition, the platform allows users to create watchlists, analyze charts, and place and monitor trades. The technical analysis charts offer more than 100 technical indicators that can be applied to many different time frames, from tick charts to weekly charts. However, the Plus500 Webtrader does not support automated trading and is only suitable for manual trading.

The Plus500 will grant you access to the following useful trading tools:

• Economic Calendar: This tool can be accessed from the platform’s main menu. It allows users to plan their trades as it shows upcoming market events, such as national interest rates, inflation levels, trade balances, oil and natural gas stockpiles, monthly jobs reports, and more.
• Risk Management: This helps you to manage your risk using several simple yet powerful tools — Stop Limit/Stop Loss, Guaranteed Stop, and Trailing Stop.

Copy-trading with Plus500

Unfortunately, Plus500 does not offer any copy-trading tools on their website.

Mobile Trading Platforms

Interestingly, the Plus500 trading platform is also available as a mobile app for Android and iOS devices. The mobile apps have the same functionality as the web platform, so there is nothing to miss out on when you trade with your smartphone device. For example, traders can access all of the broker’s trading instruments, trading accounts, conditional orders, and charting along with over 100 technical indicators from their Android, iPhone, or iPad mobile apps.

Also, the charts on the mobile platform can be expanded to full-screen mode to provide more clarity during the analytical process. Deposits and withdrawals are also possible via the mobile app.

Traders can download the mobile app from the relevant app stores and use it to place trades and check trading positions anytime and from anywhere in the world, provided there is an internet connection.

Trading Instruments

Plus500 offers zero commission CFDs trading on over 2000 financial instruments, including Shares, Forex, Indices, Cryptocurrencies, Commodities, ETFs, and Options. This is comparable to what its competitors, such as IC Markets and Fusion Markets, offer.

Let us now take a closer look at the product list.

Futures

With Plus500 USA, you can access a diverse range of financial instruments for futures trading, including shares, indices, forex, cryptocurrencies, metals, and energy. As a regulated platform under the National Futures Association (NFA) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Plus500 provides a secure and reliable trading environment. The platform is specifically designed for retail traders, offering demo live quotes to help you refine your strategy before transitioning to real-money trading. To get started, you can deposit a minimum of $100 using a variety of payment methods, including Debit Visa/Mastercard, Wire transfer, Apple Pay, Google Pay. Additionally, the platform adheres to NFA and CFTC regulations, with variable leverage and 0.89 Standard contract commission (0.49 Micro contract commission).

Forex CFDs

Plus500 offers access to the most liquid global FX markets, allowing traders to trade over 70 forex pairs with leverage of up to 1:300 (FSA). This means that with as little as $100, you can gain the effect of $30,000 capital. However, EU retail traders are limited to only 1:30 leverage.

The broker offers other mixed trading conditions: there are zero commission charges, but the spreads are marked up. For example, on the Retail account, you can trade major forex pairs — EUR/USD, GBP/USD, and EUR/GBP — with spreads that start from 1.0 pips, which is high compared to some of the broker’s competitors, such as IC Markets and FP Markets.

Index CFDs

Plus500 allows traders to trade the most popular Indices worldwide, including USA 500, US-TECH 100, and France 40, with leverage of up to 1:150.

To trade CFDs on Indices with Plus500, you can open the instrument and view the relevant instrument information, such as charts, spread information, rollover details, and others. Choose whether to open a ‘buy’ order if you believe the index will rise or a ‘sell’ order if you believe it will fall. Trading CFDs means you are not buying or selling the underlying asset, but rather you are opening a contract in the direction you predict the market will move.

Interestingly, the Plus500 platform offers some trader-focused features to help you manage your trades. These include the ‘close at profit’ option, which closes your trades automatically at a specific level set by you to protect your profit, and ‘close at a loss’ (stop loss) if you want to set a limit for the amount you are willing to lose.

Share CFDs

Plus500’s trading platform allows you to trade shares from popular markets like the USA, UK, Germany, and more, with leverage. You can even day trade U. S stocks without bothering about the pattern day trading rule that applies to U.S. stock brokers.

Plus500 offers an alternative way to trade stocks — through Contracts for Difference (CFDs). Traders can use leverage of up to 1:20. So, they can speculate on price movements of leading stocks without investing large sums in the underlying stock. While the use of leverage increases the potential profits, it also means that losses are amplified. But, the broker has advanced trading tools to help you to control your profits and losses. Also, Plus500 offers negative balance protection, which means that the maximum sum you risk at any one time is your account balance.

Commodities

The world’s key commodities are available for trading through CFDs at Plus500. The broker offers an intuitive trading platform for trading CFDs over commodities such as Gasoline, Gold, Heating Oil, Natural Gas, Oil, Brent Oil, Palladium, Wheat, Soybeans and more. You can use leverage of up to 1:20 to trade your preferred commodities; this also means that you can start trading with as little as £100 to gain the effect of £2,000 capital.

You can also use the available tools, such as ‘Close at Profit’ (Stop Limit) or ‘Close at Loss’ (Stop loss), to manage your trades. And to avoid slippage, you can also set a Guaranteed Stop.

Cryptocurrency

At Plus500, you can trade CFDs on some of the world’s most popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Stellar, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, NEO, EOS, and IOTA. This means that you speculate on their price movements without actually owning them.

In addition to zero commissions and leverage of up to up to 1:2 (1:5 via FSA), offers competitive spreads to keep trading fees at a minimum.

Options CFDs

At Plus500, you can trade Options CFDs at various strike prices that are the most relevant to the underlying index rate.

The broker allows traders to trade two types of CFDs options: Call option and Put option. Opening a trade position on a Call/Put option means that you are entering a contract on the price an underlying instrument will reach or exceed at the expiry date. With a leverage of up to 1:5, you can trade call and put options on Germany 40, Oil, Facebook, and more.

ETFs

Exchange-traded funds, ETFs for short, are funds that track indices and commodities like the NASDAQ-100 Index, S&P 500, Dow Jones, Gold and more.

Plus500 allows clients to trade over 86 ETFs, including VXX Volatility and SPDRUSA500 with leverage of up to 1:100. This is to say that if you start trading ETFs with $100, you can gain the effect of $10,000 capital. The platform also offers various tools to help you to control your profits and losses, such as the Stop Loss and ‘close at profit’ orders.

Trade Execution

Plus500 is a market maker, so it uses a dealing desk execution and acts as the counterparty to your trades. They charge zero commission on trades. This means that the spreads are marked-up, which is why they are wider than those of ECN brokers.

However, Plus500’s market maker execution is beneficial in various ways, including fast trade executions, zero commissions, and more.

As a market maker, Plus500 actively quotes two-sided markets in a particular security, providing bids and offers along with the market size. The broker earns a profit through the spread between the securities bid and offers price.

Plus500 does not appear to offer STP (Straight-Through Processing) or ECN (Electronic Communications Network) execution for any of its account types.

Deposit Methods

Plus500 allows traders to fund their trading accounts using various payment methods. The minimum deposit is $100, and the broker does not charge any deposit fees. Plus500 does not accept third-party payments, so all deposits have to originate from your sources, and the payment method used must be registered in your name.

Funding your trading account involves the following easy steps: Click on “Funds Management” → “Deposit” → Select your preferred deposit method from the available options → Fill in the fields and click the “Submit” button. On mobile devices, you can access the “Funds Management” screen from the menu button.

The following payment methods are accepted for account deposits at Plus500:

Currently, there are no deposit bonuses available with this brokerage.

Withdrawal Methods

Clients can withdraw funds online by logging into the secure Plus500 client portal and selecting the Withdrawal tab from the Funds Management dropdown menu. The time frame for processing a withdrawal request is normally 1-3 business days to allow the broker to complete various security checks before initiating payment.

Also, the time frame for receipt of the payment depends on the third-party remitter’s payment method and processing time. The withdrawal screen on the trading platform states the minimum withdrawal requirements for each type of payment method. Processing a withdrawal request for less than the minimum withdrawal amount may result in charges to your account. But normally, Plus500 does not charge any internal fees for deposits or withdrawals.

The broker’s policy is to make withdrawal payments to the same source that was used to fund the customer’s account. For example, if a customer deposits using a Visa card, the broker will only process a withdrawal through the same Visa card account.

Customer Support Contacts

Plus500 offers reliable customer support services to assist traders. The support team is available 24/7 and can be reached via any of the following contact channels:

1. Email Contact: The broker allows traders to contact them via email. To send an email, fill “Query” form on the “Contact Us” page. Next, type in your message in the bigger box to interact with the customer support team. After emailing the support team during business hours, we got a reply to our queries within a few hours.
2. Telephone contact: Unfortunately, Plus500 does not offer a telephone support service.
3. FAQs: This is a comprehensive list of Frequently Asked Questions. It is divided into various categories — Account Verification Process, Deposits, Fees & Charges, Financial Instruments, Opening an Account, Regulators, Submitting Identification Documents, Trading, and Withdrawals — to specific answers to some of the clients’ most common questions.

Research and Educational Materials

In a bid to help traders make informed trading decisions, the broker makes available a good range of learning resources on their website. These educational resources include learning courses, eBooks, video tutorials, news, market insights, and more. Here is what you will find:

1. Ebooks on various trading topics
2. News and Market Insights that keeps traders up-to-date with the latest happenings in the financial markets
3. Video tutorials on the following topics:
   • What is CFD Trading?
   • Slippage when opening a position
   • How to trade with Plus500
   • What is a Rollover?
   • What are Options?
   • What are Trading Alerts?
   • Understanding a Risk-Reward Ratio

Security and Money Guarantees

It is best to always trade with a regulated broker. Hence, at bestbrokers.com, we are bent on ensuring that our clients deal with only reputable brokers that have excellent regulatory standing, and Plus500 is one of such. Our key findings include:

• Over a decade of business history and growth
• Top-tier FCA, ASIC, and CySEC regulations
• Negative balance protection

Plus500’s regulation in multiple jurisdictions is a strong indication that the broker complies with the strict regulatory policies of various top-tier financial authorities, thus ensuring the overall safety of clients’ invested funds. Traders’ funds are kept in segregated bank accounts, and the data on the broker’s website is secured using SSL encryption technology.

Conclusion

Putting it all together, our team of experts at BestBrokers.com makes bold to say that Plus500’s offerings are fair when compared to its peers. Our reasons for this verdict include:

• No commissions
• Over 2000 tradable instruments
• Leverage of up to 1:30
• Fast and reliable order execution
• Innovative trading technology
• A good selection of educational resources
• Fully licensed and regulated since 2008

Please note that Plus500 USA does not provide CFDs. Additionally, the information contained in this publication is based on publicly available data and has been compiled by our partner. Plus500 USA does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of this content and disclaims any liability related to it.

*82% of retail investor accounts lose money

Written by E. Ifeanyi