Plus500 vs Interactive Brokers Review
After spending seven months and hundreds of hours researching 43 different forex brokers for trading FX, our team at ForexBrokers.com team collected over 6,000 data points. For this review, we will compare Interactive Brokers vs Plus500.
To compare these two FX brokers, we will first take a look at the fees charged for trading (no easy task). Not every forex broker publicizes their average spreads, spreads data can vary, as can execution policies and how commissions are charged. Specifically, is the broker a dealing desk (market maker), no dealing desk (agency broker) or are both execution methods offered (dealing desk + STP/ECN)? To simplify this research, we assessed everything for you and provide a single star rating for cost. Interactive Brokers received a rating of 4.00 stars over Plus500's 3.00 stars.
Commissions and fees aside, let's take a look at regulation and currency availability. Trust is critical, and you should highly consider choosing a broker that regulated in a major hub. Interactive Brokers alongside Plus500 are regulated in a major hub. Interactive Brokers and Plus500 are publicly traded companies. As far as how many currency pairs are available for trading, here's the answer. Plus500 trails Interactive Brokers by 25 total currency pairs (for example, EUR/USD), with Interactive Brokers offering 85 and Plus500 offering 60.
Next, let's look at the tools and features fx traders desire. With trading platforms, forex traders are all familiar with MetaTrader. Interactive Brokers nor Plus500 offers Meta Trader. Regardless of the trading platform you use, charting should be feature rich. To help compare these two brokers, we counted the number of drawing tools and total technical indicators made available. Interactive Brokers boasts an offering of 9 charting tools compared to Plus500's 0 available charting tools. Interactive Brokers boasts an offering of 121 different indicators (for example, moving averages) compared to Plus500's 103 available indicators.
Overall, Interactive Brokers boasts 4.50 stars versus Plus500's 3.00 stars. And, when it comes to individual category awards, neither Interactive Brokers nor Plus500 were rated Best in Class - Platforms & Tools, Best in Class - Research, Best in Class - Customer Service, Best in Class - Active Trading, Best in Class - Mobile Trading and Best in Class - Investor Education.
To compare these two FX brokers, we will first take a look at the fees charged for trading (no easy task). Not every forex broker publicizes their average spreads, spreads data can vary, as can execution policies and how commissions are charged. Specifically, is the broker a dealing desk (market maker), no dealing desk (agency broker) or are both execution methods offered (dealing desk + STP/ECN)? To simplify this research, we assessed everything for you and provide a single star rating for cost. Interactive Brokers received a rating of 4.00 stars over Plus500's 3.00 stars.
Commissions and fees aside, let's take a look at regulation and currency availability. Trust is critical, and you should highly consider choosing a broker that regulated in a major hub. Interactive Brokers alongside Plus500 are regulated in a major hub. Interactive Brokers and Plus500 are publicly traded companies. As far as how many currency pairs are available for trading, here's the answer. Plus500 trails Interactive Brokers by 25 total currency pairs (for example, EUR/USD), with Interactive Brokers offering 85 and Plus500 offering 60.
Next, let's look at the tools and features fx traders desire. With trading platforms, forex traders are all familiar with MetaTrader. Interactive Brokers nor Plus500 offers Meta Trader. Regardless of the trading platform you use, charting should be feature rich. To help compare these two brokers, we counted the number of drawing tools and total technical indicators made available. Interactive Brokers boasts an offering of 9 charting tools compared to Plus500's 0 available charting tools. Interactive Brokers boasts an offering of 121 different indicators (for example, moving averages) compared to Plus500's 103 available indicators.
Overall, Interactive Brokers boasts 4.50 stars versus Plus500's 3.00 stars. And, when it comes to individual category awards, neither Interactive Brokers nor Plus500 were rated Best in Class - Platforms & Tools, Best in Class - Research, Best in Class - Customer Service, Best in Class - Active Trading, Best in Class - Mobile Trading and Best in Class - Investor Education.
Overall
Offering of Investments
Commissions & Fees
Platform & Tools
Customer Service
Research
Mobile Trading
Education
Trust Score
Year Founded
Publicly-Traded Company (Listed)
Regulated in Major Hub
Regulated in Emerging Hub
CFTC Registered (USA)
FCA Regulated (UK)
FINMA Authorised (Switzerland)
ASIC Authorised (Australia)
MAS Authorised (Singapore)
IIROC Authorised (Canada)
SFC Authorised (Hong Kong)
FSA Authorised (Japan)
CySEC Authorised (Cyprus)
FMA Authorised (New Zealand)
Forex: Spot Trading
Currency Pairs (Total Forex pairs)
CFDs - Total Offered
Cryptocurrency traded as actual
Cryptocurrency traded as CFD
Advantage
All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active
Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard
Active Trader or Premium/VIP
Advantage
Proprietary
Desktop Platform (Windows)
Web Platform
Social Trading / Copy-Trading
MetaTrader4 (MT4)
MetaTrader5 (MT5)
cTrader
Currenex
ZuluTrade
MirrorTrader
Advantage
Virtual Trading (Demo)
Watchlists - Total Fields
Alerts - Basic Fields
Charting - Trade From Chart
Charts can be saved
Charting - Drawing Tools (Total)
Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total)
Charting - Drawings Autosave
Order Type - Trailing Stop
Advantage
Android App
Apple iOS App
Forex News
Alerts - Basic Fields
Alerts Delivery - Push Notifications
Watch List
Watch List Syncing
Charting - Technical Studies/Indicators
Charting - Draw Trend Lines
Advantage
Daily Market Commentary
Forex News (Top-Tier Sources)
AutoChartist
Trading Central (Recognia)
Delkos Research
Acuity Trading
Social Trading / Copy-Trading
Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs
Client Webinars
Client Webinars (Archived)
Videos - Beginner Trading Videos
Economic Calendar
Calendar Includes Forecasts
Economic News Sentiment
Trade Ideas - Backtesting
Advantage
GBPUSD (or USDGBP)
USDJPY (or JPYUSD)
EURUSD (or USDEUR)
USDCHF (or CHFUSD)
USDCAD (or CADUSD)
NZDUSD (or USDNZD)
AUDUSD (or USDAUD)
USDCNH (or CNHUSD)
USDSGD (or SGDUSD)
USDMXN (or MXNUSD)
USDNOK (or NOKUSD)
USDSEK (or SEKUSD)
USDTRY (or TRYUSD)
USDZAR (or ZARUSD)
USDDKK (or DKKUSD)
USDBRL (or BRLUSD)
Minimum Initial Deposit
Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw)
Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit)
PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw)
Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw)
UnionPay (Deposit/Withdraw)
Overall
Advantage
Comparing 2 brokers
Advertiser Disclosure
×
ForexBrokers.com helps investors like you across the globe by spending hundreds of hours each year testing and researching forex brokers. You support us through our independently chosen links, which may earn us a commission. This does not impact our completely unbiased research, which is respected by broker executives as among the most thorough on the web. Thank you for your support.
Plus500
83
2008
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
60
2045
No
Yes
N/A
0.6
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
10
Yes
No
No
0
103
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
18
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
€100
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Interactive Brokers
91
1977
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
85
4217
No
Yes
check_circle
N/A
N/A
Yes
check_circle
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
check_circle
Yes
300
Yes
Yes
No
9
121
Yes
Yes
check_circle
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
68
No
check_circle
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
check_circle
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
$10,000
Yes
No
No
No
No
check_circle
Trading CFDs, FX, and cryptocurrencies involves a high degree of risk. All data was obtained from a published web site as of 4/03/2018 and is believed to be accurate, but is not guaranteed. The ForexBrokers.com staff is constantly working with its online broker representatives to obtain the latest data. If you believe any data listed above is inaccurate, please contact us using the link at the bottom of this page.
Plus500UK Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 509909).
