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Plus500 vs Interactive Brokers 2019
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
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Overall Rating
| Feature | Plus500 | Interactive Brokers |
| Overall | ||
| Plus500 Review | Interactive Brokers Review | |
| 76.4% of retail CFD accounts lose money | 63.5% of retail CFD accounts lose money |
Regulation
| Feature | Plus500 | Interactive Brokers |
| Trust Score | 97 | 91 |
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Year Founded |
2008 | 1977 |
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Publicly Traded (Listed) |
Yes | Yes |
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Bank |
No | No |
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Tier-1 Licenses |
2 | 5 |
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Tier-2 Licenses |
3 | 0 |
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Tier-3 Licenses |
0 | 0 |
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Authorised in the European Union |
Yes | Yes |
Tier-1 Licenses
| Feature | Plus500 | Interactive Brokers |
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ASIC Authorised (Australia) |
Yes | No |
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IIROC Authorised (Canada) |
No | Yes |
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SFC Authorised (Hong Kong) |
No | Yes |
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FSA Authorised (Japan) |
No | Yes |
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MAS Authorised (Singapore) |
Yes | No |
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FINMA Authorised (Switzerland) |
No | Yes |
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FCA Authorised (UK) |
Yes | Yes |
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CFTC Registered (USA) |
No | Yes |
Investments
| Feature | Plus500 | Interactive Brokers |
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Forex: Spot Trading |
Yes | Yes |
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Social Trading / Copy-Trading |
No | No |
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Currency Pairs (Total Forex pairs) |
50 | 105 |
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CFDs - Total Offered |
2033 | 7400 |
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Cryptocurrency traded as actual |
No | No |
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Cryptocurrency traded as CFD |
Yes | Yes |
| Offering of Investments | ||
| Winner | check_circle |
Cost
| Feature | Plus500 | Interactive Brokers |
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Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard |
0.6 (as of Aug 2018) | N/A |
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All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active |
N/A | N/A |
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Active Trader or VIP Discounts |
No | Yes |
| Commissions & Fees | ||
| Winner | check_circle |
Funding
| Feature | Plus500 | Interactive Brokers |
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Minimum Initial Deposit |
€100 | $0 |
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Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) |
Yes | Yes |
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Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit) |
Yes | No |
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PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) |
Yes | No |
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Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) |
Yes | No |
Trading Platforms
| Feature | Plus500 | Interactive Brokers |
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Proprietary Platform |
Yes | Yes |
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Desktop Platform (Windows) |
Yes | Yes |
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Web Platform |
Yes | Yes |
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Social Trading / Copy-Trading |
No | No |
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MetaTrader 4 (MT4) |
No | No |
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MetaTrader 5 (MT5) |
No | No |
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cTrader |
No | No |
Trading Tools
| Feature | Plus500 | Interactive Brokers |
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Virtual Trading (Demo) |
Yes | Yes |
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Alerts - Basic Fields |
Yes | Yes |
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Watchlists - Total Fields |
10 | 494 |
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Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) |
103 | 121 |
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Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) |
21 | 9 |
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Charting - Trade From Chart |
No | Yes |
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Charting - Drawings Autosave |
No | Yes |
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Order Type - Trailing Stop |
Yes | Yes |
| Platform & Tools | ||
| Winner | check_circle |
Mobile Trading
| Feature | Plus500 | Interactive Brokers |
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Android App |
Yes | Yes |
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Apple iOS App |
Yes | Yes |
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Trading - Forex |
Yes | Yes |
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Trading - CFDs |
Yes | Yes |
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Alerts - Basic Fields |
Yes | Yes |
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Watch List |
Yes | Yes |
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Watch List Syncing |
Yes | Yes |
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Charting - Indicators / Studies |
18 | 70 |
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Charting - Draw Trend Lines |
No | No |
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Charting - Trend Lines Moveable |
No | No |
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Charting - Multiple Time Frames |
Yes | Yes |
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Charting - Drawings Autosave |
No | Yes |
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Forex Calendar |
No | No |
| Mobile Trading | ||
| Winner | check_circle |
Research
| Feature | Plus500 | Interactive Brokers |
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Daily Market Commentary |
No | Yes |
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Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) |
No | Yes |
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Weekly Webinars |
No | No |
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AutoChartist |
No | No |
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Trading Central (Recognia) |
No | Yes |
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Delkos Research |
No | No |
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Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs |
No | No |
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Economic Calendar |
Yes | Yes |
| Research | ||
| Winner | check_circle |
Education
| Feature | Plus500 | Interactive Brokers |
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Has Education - Forex |
No | Yes |
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Has Education - CFDs |
No | Yes |
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Client Webinars |
No | Yes |
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Client Webinars (Archived) |
No | Yes |
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Videos - Beginner Trading Videos |
No | No |
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Videos - Advanced Trading Videos |
No | Yes |
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Investor Dictionary (Glossary) |
No | Yes |
| Education | ||
| Winner | check_circle |
Major Forex Pairs
| Feature | Plus500 | Interactive Brokers |
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GBP/USD |
Yes | Yes |
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USD/JPY |
Yes | Yes |
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EUR/USD |
Yes | Yes |
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USD/CHF |
Yes | Yes |
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USD/CAD |
Yes | Yes |
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NZD/USD |
Yes | Yes |
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AUD/USD |
Yes | Yes |
Overall
| Feature | Plus500 | Interactive Brokers |
| Plus500 Review | Interactive Brokers Review | |
| Overall | ||
| Winner | check_circle |
To start this comparison, first, we will take a look at the fees charged for trading forex. It's important to note this is no easy task. Not every broker shares their average spreads, spreads can be fixed or variable (floating), execution policies differ, and brokers can act as market makers (dealers) or act as agents for execution. To simplify things, we analyzed everything for you and provide a single star rating for cost. Both Interactive Brokers and Plus500 are rated 4.00 stars.
Cost aside, we can now turn our focus to regulation alongside currency availability. For regulation, it's very important to select a broker you can trust with your money. Both Interactive Brokers and Plus500 are regulated in a major hub. Interactive Brokers and Plus500 are publicly traded companies. How many currency pairs are available to trade? Interactive Brokers boasts an offering of 105 different currency pairs compared to Plus500's 50 available pairs.
To round out our comparison, let's look at the popular tools and features forex traders prefer. For platforms, some FX traders prefer MetaTrader. Interactive Brokers nor Plus500 offers Meta Trader. Within the trading platform, charting should be robust, so we counted the number of drawing tools and total technical indicators made available. Plus500 offers its clients access to 21 charting tools while Interactive Brokers has 9 charting tools, a difference of 12. Interactive Brokers offers its clients access to 121 different indicators (for example, volume) while Plus500 has 103 available indicators, a difference of 18.
Interactive Brokers Review
Plus500 Review
Trading CFDs, FX, and cryptocurrencies involves a high degree of risk. All providers have a percentage of retail investor accounts that lose money when trading CFDs with their company. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money and whether you understand how CFDs, FX, and cryptocurrencies work. All data was obtained from a published web site as of 02/18/2019 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.
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Plus500UK Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 509909).
