Plus500 Review


Written By: Ehsan Jahandarpour

Plus500 Review at a Glance

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Plus500 is one of the most popular online platforms in the world. Although Plus500 started in Israel in 2008, the company managed to prove its credibility by being regulated in most financial markets and also get publicly listed in London Stock Exchange.

The authorities that Plus500 is regulated by are listed below:

  • Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom
  • Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
  • Plus500UK Ltd authorized & regulated by the FCA (#509909).
  • Plus500CY Ltd authorized & regulated by CySEC (#250/14).
  • Plus500SG Pte Ltd, licensed by the MAS (#CMS100648-1) and IE Singapore (#PLUS/CBL/2018).
  • Plus500SEY Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (Licence No. SD039).
  • Plus500AU Pty Ltd (ACN 153301681), licensed by:
    ASIC in Australia, AFSL #417727, FMA in New Zealand, FSP #486026; Authorised Financial Services Provider in South Africa, FSP #47546.

Trading products and instruments that are available through Plus500 platform are CFDs. as a trader with a Plus500 account, you can trade CFDs on underlying financial instruments such as Forex, Stocks, Commodities, Options, and Indices.

Our editorial team tested their trading platform and evaluated their service, and after comparing Plus 500 with over 1800 trading platforms, we decided to consider it as one of the best CFD platforms this year. Obviously, with 70 currency pairs and around 1900 stock index CFDs you can find the right opportunity to trade.

In terms of protection, trader’s investment is protected up to £85,000 for UK residents, up to €20,000 for Europe (Swiss & Norway), and €20,100 only if you are from the other EEA Countries.

How Much is Plus500 Fees?

Plus500 Fees are average

We receive these questions on a monthly basis, this could be your question too.
“Is Plus500 a good CFD Provider?”,
“How much is Plus500 Commissions & fees?”
“Can I change the leverage when trading with Plus500?”

Plus500 offers competitive fees. For example when trading with Plus500 you won’t pay anything for the following:

  • Deposits
  • Live share CFD prices
  • Real-time forex quotes
  • Opening / closing trades
  • Dynamic charts & graphs
  • Rolling your position

Additionally, the fees for S&P 500 CFD, Europe 50 CFD, EUR USD are built into spread.

✓ For S&P 500, Europe 50 CFD, and EURUSD, the spreads vary from time to time and will be calculated according to market.
✕ There is inactivity fee of $10 per month after 3 months – Average.

The main revenue stream is Buy/Sell spreads, however, you might be charged for any of the following fees.

  • Overnight Funding
  • Currency Conversion Fee
  • Guaranteed Stop Order
  • Inactivity fee

Let’s have a look at Plus500 fees by running a comparison scenario. In the table below we used our tools to compare the best online brokers and  investing apps, and put Plus500 side by side with eToro Review and XTB Review to help you understand their fees.

So, you performed a typical trade which means buying a leveraged position, holding it for 1 week & only sell it afterwards.

* Volume: a $2,000 position for:
1) The stock Index
2) CFD
3) Forex.

The leverage in these scenarios is:
• 20:1 stock index CFDs
• 5:1 CFD
• 30:1 forex

Compare Plus500 Fees

Plus500, eToro, XTB

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“Illustrative prices”

What Are the Pros & Cons of Plus500 Trading Platform?

Is Plus500 trading apps good?

Plus500 does not offer a desktop trading platform, and unlike many other companies, they don’t use MetaTrader. In fact Plus500 uses web trader and their mobile trading app works fine on iPad, iPhone, and Android.

The search functionality of both web trader and mobile app is very smooth and strong. One fun part is the search functionality.

When placing orders, you can easily use the following order types:

  • Market
  • Limit
  • Stop
  • Trailing stop

To add more security and protect your account, you can enable the two-step login feature in your profile. At a glance it looks like this:

plus500 dashboard

“Illustrative prices”

A:

How to open CFD account with Plus500?

A step-by-step guide.

Citizens of most countries are allowed to open cfd account with Plus500. 

Account opening and choice of accounts is very simple here because Plus500, as a regulated CFD platform, offers only one type of account. Plus500 platform is not available in USA or Canada.

You can expect a very easy, smooth and professional process to open your account with Plus 500. You will easily register via valid email and password, and you’re good to go and log in to your demo account.

Once you decide to switch to live trading and deposit money, you must provide your passport copy or Valid ID along with proof of residency. This is Called the KYC process. To do so, you can follow the steps in this screenshot, and navigate to account. The process will then guide you through.

Plus500 offers a comprehensive FAQ and knowledge base for those who’d love to read. Here is a sneak preview:

plus500 faq

P:

What CFD Products Can I Trade With Plus500?

Plus500 offers a variety of trading products

Despite its global reach and presence in different countries. Plus500 products and instruments are limited to CFDs such as:

  • CFD
  • Forex
  • Real Stocks
  • ETFs
  • Crypto (‘Availability subject to regulation.’ )
  • Indices
  • Share
  • Commodity

What Instruments Can You Trade on Plus500?

What trading platform is the best to copy trade?

Currency Pairs 70
Stock Index CFD 26
Stock CFDs 1889
ETF CFDs 92
Commodity CFDs 22
Bond CFDs 0
Future CFDs 0
Crypto 14

F:

Does Plus500 offer Fundamental Data?

No, Plus500 does not offer fundamental data and trading ideas.

How Good is Plus500 Analysis, Research Tools & Education?​

In general terms, the best forex trading platforms focus on offering forex trading apps and instruments. Fx Trading is the process of exchanging currency against another. For example, if you buy AUD/USD, you might make a profit when the Australian Dollar valued against the US dollar, and vice versa.

When we talk about CFD trading, it’s about placing leveraged trades on certain currency pairs, and strategies or theorising on the price movement. CFDs are cash-settled and calculated based in the difference between the opening and closing prices of your currency pairs.

A great deal with trading CFD is your ability to pull a small capital amount and use leverage to increase your trade size. When you do so, both your potential profits and losses increase

Plus500 research features are average and not as good as eToro or AvaTrade. However, their charting and search functions are very well-designed and user-friendly.

Additionally, when you aim for technical analysis, you have access to ‘Market sentiment’ that illustrates the long position and short positions of the percentage of the clients. The economic calendar looks like this:

plus500 calendar

Does Plus500 Trading Ideas? No.

Can I change the Leverage? No.

As for education and knowledge, if you are looking for a lot of trading materials for beginners to learn how to trade, you can visit our trading  and money blog which offers plenty of resources to begin with. (We do not offer investment advice and guarantees).

In fact, plus500 education is not that comprehensive. You will get a demo account and sufficient balance to begin practicing.

Risk Warning for Plus500
The risk warning (RW) ‘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.’

Conclusion of Plus500 Pros & Cons Review

Is it safe to trade with Plus500?
4.5/5

Is Plus500 a Good CFD Platform for Beginners?

Overall, Plus500 support agents answer fast through their live chat, but they are not that fat if you contact them via email, which is a negative point. By the way, support is not limited to weekdays because they have established a 24/7 support mechanism that is a plus point.

Plus500 is among top-tier online platforms, especially when it comes to trading CFDs.

First reason is that the company is listed in the stock exchange. It is secured by SSL, and it is safe in terms of protection against hackers. It is also regulated by several financial authorities globally.

Good thing is that plus500’s trading fees on CFD are low. When it comes to withdrawal, You are allowed to withdraw for free, but it is limited to the first 5 times in a month; After that, you will be charged a withdrawal fee.

Plus500 accepts funding from different payment methods such as PayPal. (See the full list of best brokers that accept PayPal here.

Other forms of payments are Mastercard and Visa debit/credit cards, wire transfer, Skrill, Trustly, and some local methods which are available only to specific regions like iDeal, BPay, Klarna, GiroPay.

The account opening process is instant, automated, and very smooth.

On the negative side, although plus500 is good for CFDs but does not offer much of other options to trade, especially if you are based outside Europe. Besides, They charge you $10 inactivity fees per 90 days and do not offer that much of educational materials for beginners.

Your account can be blocked if you trade high volume of trades within two minutes because Plus500 algorithm detects it and tag you as scalping is defined as scalping.

Is Plus500 scam or regulated?

Plus500 is regulated by the following financial authorities:

  • Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom
  • Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
  • Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC)
  • FSCA of South Africa
  • FMA of New Zealand
  • Monetary Authority of Singapore
  • Israel, the Israel Securities Authority (ISA

How to open my trading account?

Follow these steps to learn how to open trading account:

1. Get ready with your email address
2. Select the country of residency.
3. Provide demographic data
4. Choose your preferred online trading platform
5. Select your account type & base currency.
6. Explain your trading experience and provide employment history
7. Provide identity and residency proof for activation.

What is the minimum deposit for Plus500?

The minimum deposit is $100.

What are Plus500 Pros & Cons.

  • Low CFD Fees
  • It offers Negative balance protection
  • Stock exchange Listed Broker, Well Regulated by Top Financial Authorities
  • Fast & Free withdrawal process
  • Modern Mobile Trading App
  •  

Plus500 Alternatives

XM
eToro Vs IG
AvaTrade
Fusion Markets
IC Markets