This Plus500 review reveals all the details of the broker, including the trading platform, mobile app, spreads and fees, pros and cons. This will help you decide whether to open a real account or not.
Above all, Plus500 is a CFD broker offering over 2500 trading instruments. It was founded in 2008 and is one of the leaders in the industry with over 200k+ active clients. Plus500 is one of the first brokers in the world who offered CFD on crypto (Bitcoin, Eterium, etc.)* in 2013.
*Availability subject to regulations.
So, is the broker legal, secure, and reliable? Are their trading conditions good? You will find out now.
Risk warning: 76.4% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Content
Trading conditions
Official site | https://plus500.com |
Year of foundation | 2008 |
Regulated by | FCA, CySEC, ASIC, MAS, FSCA, FMA New Zealand, FSA Seychelles |
Trading instruments | 2500+ CFDs on forex, shares, indices, commodities, options, ETFs, crypto (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.)* |
Spreads and commissions | Variable spreads are below average EUR/USD – Variable GBP/USD – Variable Oil – Variable Read more |
Most popular | Plus500 in Slovenia, Cyprus, South Africa, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Israel, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Italy, Australia, Malta, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, Austria, Singapore, Qatar, the UK, Latvia, Norway, Germany, New Zealand, Croatia, Kuwait, Ireland, Uruguay, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and other countries. |
Provision of services in the US, UK, Canada, European Economic Area | Does not accept traders from the US and Canada Accepts traders from the European Economic Area and UK |
Min. trade size | 0.01 |
Leverage | Up to 1:300 for customers falling under the Australian and Seychelles regulators Up to 1:30 for other customers |
Account types | |
Minimum deposit | $ 100 |
Minimum withdrawal | $ 50 – PayPal and Skrill $ 100 – bank transfers and credit cards |
Deposit & withdrawal methods | 5+ |
Payment Fees | |
Trading hours | 24/7 (Except for one hour on Sundays for crypto) |
Trading platforms | Proprietary platform |
Mobile App | |
Demo | |
Copy Trading | |
AT/Robots | |
Bonus | |
Affiliate program |
*Availability subject to regulations
Is Plus500 secure and legal?
Plus500 Ltd was founded in 2008 and is currently one of the leading CFD providers in the world. The company is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange. Plus500 is currently authorized and regulated by 7 regulators. Most of these regulators have a high degree of trust and credibility. They supervise the activities of brokers and suppress any scam.
These are already good reasons why Plus500 is a secure, legal and high-trusted broker.
So, the Plus500 holding consists of Plus500UK Ltd (FCA), Plus500CY Ltd (CySEC), Plus500SG Pte Ltd (MAS), Plus500AU Pty Ltd (ASIC, FMA New Zealand, FSCA) and Plus500SEY Ltd (FSA Seychelles). Thus, the broker is legal and provides services in over 80 countries.
Plus500CY Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (Licence No. 250/14).
Plus500UK Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 509909).
Plus500AU Pty Ltd holds AFSL #417727 issued by ASIC, FSP No. 486026 issued by the FMA in New Zealand and Authorised Financial Services Provider #47546 issued by the FSCA in South Africa.
Plus500SEY Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (Licence No. SD039).
Plus500SG Pte Ltd (UEN 201422211Z) holds a capital markets services license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for dealing in capital markets products (License No. CMS100648-1).
At the same time, Plus500 has a low rating judging by the reviews of traders. Most of the reviews claim the broker is scam, but they don’t contain evidence and appear to be fake. Unfortunately, this is common in the CFD trading industry. Competitors buy bots and specially lower the rating of other brokers.
Of course, there are real ones among the comments. Many traders blame the broker for the loss of funds. Although in most cases it is the traders’ fault due to inexperience and other factors. Risk warning: 76.4% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Plus500 is legal provides services in more than 80 countries, including Slovenia, Cyprus, South Africa, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Israel, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Italy, Australia, Malta, Luxembourg, the UK, Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, Austria, Singapore, Qatar, Latvia, Norway, Germany, New Zealand, Croatia, Kuwait, Ireland, Uruguay, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Indonesia and others.
Risk warning: 76.4% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Prohibited countries (infomation has been taken January 2021): the USA, Canada, India, Brazil, Egypt, Cameroon, Iran, Zimbabwe, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Pakistan, The Cayman Islands, The Philippines, Russia, Belgium.
Trading platform and offers
The Plus500 trading platform, WebTrader, is great for all types of investors. It has a very user-friendly and customizable interface. However, WebTrader is more suitable for people with experience in the financial markets due to the complexity of trading CFDs.
The Plus500 broker offers over 2500 CFDs on forex, shares, indices, commodities, options, ETFs, crypto (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, etc.)* with a maximum leverage of up to 1:30. The leverage varies for different trading instruments, for example, it can be a maximum of 1: 2 for crypto.
The Webtrader has many functions for customizing and analyzing charts. So, you can use one chart for a more complete analysis of one asset, or open up to 9 charts on one screen for a more complex comparison. The Plus500 Webtrader includes over 100 trading indicators, 21 trading instruments and 11 timeframes. Therefore, clients are not limited in choosing a trading strategy and can analyze the movement of an asset in the short and long term.
And of course the broker provides a free and unlimited demo account. Switching between real and demo accounts takes place in one click.
Investors can trade on Plus500 Webtrader via a web browser or download a desktop app for Windows 10. The PC app for Windows 10 is not inferior in functionality to the web version of the platform.
It is worth noting that the broker doesn’t provide the most common MT4, MT5 or cTrader platforms. Algorithmic trading and social copy-trading are also not supported here.
*Availability subject to regulations
Spreads and commissions
Generally, Plus500’s spreads are slightly below the industry average. This is best seen for CFDs on forex, indices, crypto, and many stocks. The broker does not charge additional commissions.
Plus500 spreads are dynamic and have a certain value most of the time, but can widen during periods of high volatility (for example, when important economic news comes out).
During January 2021, the average spread for EUR/USD is 0.8 pips, for GBP/USD 1.2 – 1.3 pips. The spread also has fairly low values for many CFDs on Forex, indices, stocks and cryptos.
However, sometimes spreads widen and are quite high on assets such as CFDs on commodities, metals, some stocks and indices.
CFD | Spread, pips* (Value) |
---|---|
EUR/USD | 0.8 |
GBP/USD | 1.2 |
USD/JPY | 1 |
USA 30 | 7 |
USA 500 | 70 (0.70) |
FTSE 100 | 200 (2) |
WTI Oil | 4 (0.04) |
Brent Oil | 4 (0.04) |
Gold | 64 (0.64) |
Alphabet | 1192 (11.92) |
Amazon | 2084 (20.84) |
Apple | 46 (0.46) |
52 (0.52) | |
Microsoft | 81 (0.81) |
Moderna | 121 (1.21) |
Tesla | 317 (3.17) |
Bitcoin | 9207 (92.07) |
Ethereum | 394 (3.94) |
Litecoin | 58 (0.58) |
Ripple | N/A |
*As of 1 February 2021 at 16:30 (UTC +1). These are average values that can change at different points in time
In the Plus500 review, we were upset by the lack of CFD on Ripple, which eToro, Swissquote and other brokers have.
Additional fees
There are also several additional fees on the Plus500 platform:
- Overnight Funding – The overnight funding amount is either added to or subtracted from your account when holding a position after a certain time (“Overnight Funding Time”). Each trading instrument has a different overnight funding time and percentage of daytime overnight funding, which can be found in the “details” tab on the main screen of the platform. This is almost always a negative, but relatively small value.
- Currency Conversion Fee – Plus500 will charge a Currency Conversion Fee for all trades on instruments denominated in a currency different to the currency of your account. The Currency Conversion Fee will currently be up to 0.7% of the trade’s realised net profit and loss.
- Inactivity Fee – If you do not login your trading account for at least three months, Plus500 will charge a fee of up to $ 10 per month.
- Guaranteed Stop Order – If you choose this feature, please note that as it guarantees that your position (trade) closes at a specific requested rate (price), the trade is subject to a wider spread.
Mobile app
Plus500’s proprietary platform is also available as a mobile app for Android and iOS devices. In fact, the mobile application is very simple and similar to the web platform. It is intuitive for beginners and has all the functions of a WebTrader. Consequently, clients are provided with many indicators and analysis tools, as well as a highly visible asset chart.
But there are some details that could be improved. The Plus500 app doesn’t include market research and advanced graphics tools.
Clients can download the Plus500 mobile app for Android and iOS for free.
Deposit and Withdrawal
Plus500 clients are offered a small selection of payment methods. Like most of the major brokers, there are basic and local payment options here. Almost all Plus500 traders can deposit and withdraw funds using credit/debit cards (Visa/Mastercard), bank transfers, Paypal and Skrill. Local payment methods are most often bank transfers.
The minimum deposit on Plus500 is $ 100. All withdrawal methods have minimum amount thresholds. So, the minimum withdrawal amount for PayPal and Skrill is $ 50 (or equivalent). The minimum withdrawal amount for bank transfers and credit cards is $ 100 (or equivalent).
Withdrawal requests are processed 1-3 business days. Identity verification is required.
Bonus
Traders who fall under the jurisdiction of the Plus500AU Pty Ltd. or Plus500SEY Ltd. can participate in bonus programs.
Plus500 offers a first deposit bonus of up to 10,000 AUD which becomes available for withdrawal after reaching the required trading volume represented by Trader Points. Each trading instrument gives a different number of Tpoints per trade. The trading volume must be completed within 90 days, otherwise all bonuses will be written off (unless otherwise specified).
The second special offer is Rebates. Within 12 days of your first deposit, you are automatically added to the discount program – no additional effort is required from you. Rebates are accumulated every time you open a position. At the end of the week, as soon as you receive discounts, a bonus for the same amount will be added to your account. Full details can be found in the T&C.
Research & Education
When it comes to market research, Plus500 is definitely not the leader. Plus500 traders can find branded news and market reviews, which come out about 4 times a week, as well as the economic calendar from Dow Jones. But this is not enough for a complete market analysis.
Plus500’s education section only consists of a trader’s guide. The trader’s guide contains several short sections and videos on the very basics of CFD trading. This material will not be enough even for beginners. Traders will have to search and learn the advanced features of CFD trading on their own.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Plus500 is a reliable and secure broker founded in 2008. The company is publicly traded and licensed by 7 regulatorsOver 2500 CFDs
Below average spreads and commissions
Well suited for trading CFDs on stocks and cryptocurrencies
Convenient and functional proprietary trading platform and mobile app
Low minimum deposit. The broker does not charge fees for deposits and withdrawals
Free and unlimited demo account
Cons
Some spreads can widen quite a lot at certain times.Insufficient market research and poor education
Few payment methods
Conclusion
As a result of the Plus500 review, we definitely recommend a broker for CFD trading. Traders choose it for the highest reliability and excellent trading conditions. It is especially worth noting a large selection of trading instruments, relatively low spreads and fees.
Experienced traders will appreciate the convenient and functional Plus500 trading platform. However, the broker does not offer algorithmic trading or social copy trading (which is available on eToro). In addition, there is not enough training material for beginners and there is not much market research by a broker.
In general, Plus500 is deservedly one of the leaders in the industry.
Risk warning: 76.4% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
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