Plus500 Spreads, Fees, and Commissions

If wondering whether Plus500 offers competitive trading conditions, you have come to the right place. BestBrokers walks you through all trading and non-trading expenses Plus500 customers can anticipate, including spreads, overnight funding costs, administrative fees on swap-free accounts, and other account-related charges. Our team spent countless hours researching this multi-regulated broker to paint a clear picture of its pricing structure and provide a meaningful basis for comparison with other top-ranking trading sites. So can you gain a competitive edge at Plus500? Continue reading to find out.

Plus500 Trading Costs

Plus500 boasts an extensive forex portfolio of over 60 currency pairs and sources its prices from independent liquidity providers. Trading costs are built directly into the spread without any additional charges above the quoted prices. Unlike many rival brokers, Plus500 does not charge commissions on forex trades. Only one retail account type is available, with onboarding clients having the option to test it in a demo format with an unlimited amount of virtual credits.

Spreads at Plus500 are floating, largely depending on current market conditions and volatility. EUR/USD traders must cover average spreads of 1.40 pips under the CySEC entity but the values may drop to 0.8 pips for customers outside Europe. Assuming you trade one standard lot in EUR/USD with a 1.4-pip spread, you will pay $14 on average per side. Customers trading in mini lots (10,000 units) pay $1.40 per side, respectively. Presuming you close your EUR/USD position at the opening price of 1.4 pips, your overall expenses would amount to $28 from spreads only.

*The trading costs listed above are accurate for accounts denominated in US dollars and indicative of the expenses traders incur per side.

Plus500 Overnight Funding Costs

If you intend to maintain open positions after the close of the trading day, you should brace yourself for incurring additional expenses in the form of overnight funding fees. Also known as “swaps”, the fees are either added to or deducted from your available live balance whenever your leveraged trades remain open after a specific cut-off time (11:00 pm GMT at Plus500).

Customers can locate the current swap rates in the currency pairs’ details after logging into their Plus500 accounts. They can calculate their daily overnight funding fees by using the following formula provided by the broker:

OFF= PS x OP x SR where:

• OFF stands for overnight funding fees.
• PS corresponds to position size.
• OP denotes the opening price.
• SR stands for the current swap rate (positive or negative).

To illustrate with an example, let’s assume you open a long position equal to one mini lot in EUR/USD at a current price of 1.03080 and swap rates of 0.0098%. Using the formula above, we establish that your overnight funding fee will be 10,000 x 1.03080 x -0.0098% = -$1.01. Plus500 will deduct this amount from your balance daily for as long as you maintain your position open. Assuming you exit the trade 5 days after placing your order, your overall expenses will amount to $5.05.

Administrative Fees for Swap-Free Trading at Plus500

Traders whose religious beliefs prevent them from paying or receiving interest can register Islamic accounts where positions held after the end of the trading day incur no daily overnight funding fees. This account type is available to traders from specific countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Customers from said regions pay fixed administrative fees instead of swaps.

There is usually a grace period, allowing them to hold positions for several days without incurring any administrative charges. However, the broker provides little to no information about the fee structure of swap-free accounts on its website. We concluded eligible clients must contact customer support and request further information on the potential costs.

Plus500 Non-Trading Costs

Plus500 charges several fees that are not directly related to placing orders on the platform. We recommend casual traders access their accounts and place orders occasionally to avoid incurring inactivity fees. The broker deducts a $10 monthly fee if no login or trading activities are detected on a live account for three or more months. You can easily avoid these charges by simply accessing your account from time to time.

Currency Conversion Fees at Plus500

Opening positions in instruments denominated in currencies different from the base account currency will also cost you extra. The broker charges a 0.70% currency conversion fee deducted from your eligible net losses or profits. Suppose your trading account is denominated in US dollars and you have a €10 profit from a position denominated in EUR. This is displayed as $10.34, or €10 at the current EUR/USD spot price of 1.03411.

Without currency conversion, your profit would simply amount to $10.34 (€10 x 1.03411). The currency conversion rate of 0.70% is less favorable than the current spot price, which would result in you generating slightly lower profits: 1.03411 x (1 – 0.7%) = 1.02687. In other words, your profits after the deduction of the conversion fee would equal $10.27 (€10 x 1.02687) instead of $10.34, corresponding to a $0.07 charge for conversion.

Fees for Guarantee Stop Orders

Plus500 enables clients to manage risk more efficiently by offering guaranteed stop orders (GSOs). The feature ensures your positions close automatically at your preferred price regardless of market conditions and volatility. The GSO protects you against further mounting losses should the markets move against you. Alternatively, the feature enables you to lock in a specific profit when the prices move in your favor. However, using GSOs comes at the expense of wider spreads. Clients can find additional information on calculating their GSO fees in the broker’s Forex Key Information Document.

Transaction Fees

As for moving funds to and from your live balance, Plus500 does not charge additionally for deposits. Withdrawals via international bank transfers incur a $6 charge. Customers also pay a $10 processing fee when requesting withdrawals below the minimum limit, which is $100 for bank transfers and cards and $50 for PayPal and Skrill. Each customer is entitled to five free withdrawals per month. Each subsequent request over this threshold may also incur a $10 fee.

Closing Thoughts on Plus500 Fees

After conducting extensive research, we established the trading costs at Plus500 generally align with those charged by most other brokers offering spread-based accounts. The spreads are perhaps slightly wider than those offered by trading sites with raw pricing on commission-based accounts but the price variations are altogether negligible. Customers should carefully consider the non-trading costs at Plus500, though. The expenses resulting from requesting additional withdrawals, using guaranteed stop orders, and inactivity can slowly eat away your profits from successful trades, especially if you are a small-scale trader. You can find further information on the broker in our in-depth review of Plus500.

Written by Z. Stefanova