Plus500 Review
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Founded in 2008, Plus500 is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange’s (LSE:PLUS) and is part of the FTSE 250 Index. The broker serves forex and CFD traders through its regulated subsidiaries that are licensed in major financial hubs including the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, and Singapore.
Plus500 offers over 2,000 tradable products, including forex pairs and CFDs on shares, indices, commodities, ETFs, options, and digital assets. For trading its product offering, clients at Plus500 can choose between desktop, mobile, and web-based trading platforms.
Review Summary
While Plus500 is a trusted global brand that offers an easy-to-use platform, it lacks research, trading tools, phone support, and educational resources desired by both casual and active traders.
Benefits
- 2,000 products to trade across global markets, including cryptocurrency CFDs.
- Offers guaranteed stop-loss orders for an extra premium.
- Licensed in several regulatory hubs, and publicly listed.
Considerations
- Lack of educational content and news headlines.
- No phone support offered.
- Few advanced features or tools available.
Is Plus500 Safe?
Plus500 is considered low-risk, with an overall Trust Score of 90 out of 99. Plus500 is publicly traded, does not operate a bank, and is authorised by two tier-1 regulators (high trust), two tier-2 regulators (average trust), and zero tier-3 regulators (low trust). Plus500 is authorised by the following tier-1 regulators: Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Learn more about Trust Score.
Regulations Comparison
| Feature | Plus500 | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Founded | 2008 | 1974 | 1992 | 1989 |
| Publicly Traded (Listed) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Bank | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Tier-1 Licenses | 2 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| Tier-2 Licenses | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Tier-3 Licenses | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Trust Score | 90 | 99 | 98 | 98 |
Tier-1 Licenses
Tier-1 licenses are deemed high-trust and are only given to the top regulators. We would not hesitate to open an account with brokers with these licenses.
| Feature | Plus500 | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASIC Authorised (Australia) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| IIROC Authorised (Canada) | No | No | No | Yes |
| SFC Authorised (Hong Kong) | No | No | Yes | No |
| FSA Authorised (Japan) | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| MAS Authorised (Singapore) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| FINMA Authorised (Switzerland) | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| FCA Authorised (UK) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CFTC Registered (USA) | No | Yes | No | No |
Tier-2 Licenses
Tier-2 licenses are deemed average-trust. We consider these safe but would give some consideration before opening an account with a broker that only has this tier of license.
| Feature | Plus500 | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CBRC Authorised (China) | No | No | No | Yes |
| CySEC Authorised (Cyprus) | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| ISA Authorised (Israel) | Yes | No | No | No |
| FMA Authorised (New Zealand) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| CBR Authorised (Russia) | No | No | No | No |
| FSB Authorised (South Africa) | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| SEC Authorised (Thailand) | No | No | No | No |
| DFSA / Central Bank Authorised (UAE) | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Tier-3 Licenses
Tier-3 licenses are deemed low-trust. We recommend carefully considering other options before opening an account with a broker that only has this tier of license. We recommend opening an account with brokers that have higher-trust licenses, if available.
| Feature | Plus500 | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FSC Authorised (British Virgin Islands) | No | No | No | No |
| FSC Authorised (Mauritius) | No | No | No | No |
| Offshore Authorised | No | No | No | No |
Offering of Investments
The following table summarizes the different investment products available to Plus500 clients.
Offering Comparison
Plus500 offers 60 currency pairs and over 2,000 CFDs, which is slightly above average than most forex brokers.
| Feature | Plus500 | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forex: Spot Trading | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Currency Pairs (Total Forex pairs) | 60 | 91 | 182 | 183 |
| CFDs - Total Offered | 2045 | 15000 | 32999 | 9959 |
| Cryptocurrency traded as actual | No | No | No | No |
| Cryptocurrency traded as CFD | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Offering of Investments |
Plus500 offers most major currency pairs but does not offer GBP/USD or NZD/USD.
| Feature | Plus500 | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GBPUSD (or USDGBP) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| USDJPY (or JPYUSD) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| EURUSD (or USDEUR) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| USDCHF (or CHFUSD) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| USDCAD (or CADUSD) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| NZDUSD (or USDNZD) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AUDUSD (or USDAUD) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| USDCNH (or CNHUSD) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| USDSGD (or SGDUSD) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Commissions & Fees
Plus500 appears to offer competitive spreads on most of its major forex pairs, while minor pairs are a mixed bag.
Benefits
- Some forex pairs had spreads that were priced competitively, while spreads on other pairs were not discounted as much. For example, in August 2018 the USD/CAD seemed to be priced competitively at Plus500 with an observed spread of 1.3 pips. Meanwhile, other pairs offered, such as the USD/CHF and NZD/USD, had higher spreads than some competitors, with the spread on USD/CHF at 4 pips, and NZD/USD at 3.6 pips.
Considerations
- On the EUR/USD, the spread in the platform was listed as fixed at 0.00006 which is 0.6 pips, yet it is important to note that while fixed spreads are not variable, they are subject to adjustments. During the month of August 2018, the average spread from Plus500 for the EUR/USD was 0.6 pips.
- Because Plus500 doesn’t publish “average” spreads, which can help traders get an idea of what spreads are like at a broker, it is difficult to compare Plus500’s prices to other firms at any given time.
Gallery
Further Reading
Fees Comparison
Plus500 has a minimum deposit of €100 and does not give discounts to active traders/VIP clients.
| Feature | Plus500 | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum Initial Deposit | €100 | £250.00 | $2,000.00 | $0.00 |
| Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard | 0.600 | 0.750 | 0.900 | 0.744 |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active | N/A | 0.363 | 0.600 | 0.744 |
| Active Trader or VIP Discounts | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Commissions & Fees |
Plus500 offers most of the popular banking methods, with the exception UnionPay.
| Feature | Plus500 | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit) | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) | 1.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 |
| Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| UnionPay (Deposit/Withdraw) | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Platforms & Tools
Available for desktop, web, and mobile, the Plus500 platform can be a great choice for casual investors due to its ease of use; however, the platform offers only the essential basic tools required for trading.
Benefits
- If you have never traded before, the Plus500 desktop platform could be a place to start before graduating to a more advanced platform. Both the desktop and web-based versions of the platform are cleanly designed and focus on simplicity.
- Charting offers over 100 optional technical indicators alongside the ability to save chart templates.
Considerations
- MetaTrader is not offered as an alternative platform option.
- Plus500 is not built for active traders and the range of research and trading tools trails most other multi asset brokers.
Gallery
Further Reading
- Best Forex Trading Platforms 2019
- Best FX Brokers for Copy Trading 2019
- Best MetaTrader Brokers 2019
Tools Comparison
Plus500 does not offer MetaTrader 4 or 5 as an alternative platform to its own in-house platform.
| Feature | Plus500 | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proprietary Platform | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Web Platform | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Social Trading / Copy-Trading | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | No | No | No | No |
| cTrader | No | No | No | No |
Plus500 offers plenty of charting indicators but not drawing tools.
| Feature | Plus500 | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Alerts - Basic Fields | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Watchlists - Total Fields | 10 | 12 | 12 | 8 |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 103 | 22 | 47 | 81 |
| Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) | 0 | 17 | 17 | 24 |
| Charting - Trade From Chart | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Charting - Drawings Autosave | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Order Type - Trailing Stop | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Research
As far as forex and CFDs research goes, Plus500 leaves much to be desired.
Benefits
- None.
Considerations
- It was surprising to see there is no research shown within the Plus500 demo in terms of any top-tier news headlines from providers such as Dow Jones, Reuters, Bloomberg, or even technical-related analysis content from the broker itself or third-party sources.
- While Plus500 offers an economic calendar powered by Dow Jones on its website, no economic calendar can be found on its platform, which is off given economic calendars are industry standard tools.
- Plus500 does link to Yahoo Finance in the information section of each instrument or to the underlying futures index that a CFD aims to track. Also, the notification center displays headlines, but these are far and few in between and simply redirects back to the instrument instead of a news story.
Gallery
Further Reading
Research Comparison
Plus500 does not offer basic research options that top competitors all provide such as daily market commentary, forex news, or weekly webinars.
| Feature | Plus500 | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Market Commentary | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Weekly Webinars | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AutoChartist | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Trading Central (Recognia) | No | No | No | Yes |
| Delkos Research | No | No | No | No |
| Social Trading / Copy-Trading | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Research |
Mobile Trading
The Plus500 mobile app is similar to the web and desktop versions, with a consistent look and feel and a simple design and platform layout.
Benefits
- Consistent with the desktop and web platform, Plus500 keeps the mobile app light and easy-to-use by focusing on watch lists, alerts, and trading.
- Charts come with 18 indicators and no drawing tools. One nice feature is that any indicators added to a chart are automatically saved as the default, allowing for efficient analysis across multiple instruments.
Considerations
- The mobile app has plenty of room for improvement in terms of the number of features, as news, research, and drawing tools for the charts are all not offered. Overall, the app lacks the advanced tools and all-around functionality to challenge industry leaders.
Gallery
Further Reading
Mobile Apps Comparison
Plus500 offers apps for both Android and Apple devices.
| Feature | Plus500 | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Android App | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Apple iOS App | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Trading - Forex | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Trading - CFDs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Alerts - Basic Fields | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
The Plus500 mobile app includes 18 charting indicators but does not include charting trend lines or drawings.
| Feature | Plus500 | IG | Saxo Bank | CMC Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watch List | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Watch List Syncing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies | 18 | 26 | 41 | 23 |
| Charting - Draw Trend Lines | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Charting - Trend Lines Moveable | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Charting - Multiple Time Frames | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Charting - Drawings Autosave | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Forex Calendar | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Final Thoughts
Plus500 can be a good choice for less experienced traders as the platform is very easy to figure out and its design is centered on making the trading experience simple throughout.
That said, client education materials are largely absent from the Plus500 offering, and the trading platforms available are very light compared to Plus500’s competitors.
Considering the range of tradeable instruments, with over 2,000 CFDs available, including nearly 60 forex pairs, together with a low minimum deposit to open a live account, Plus500 provides new market entrants an easy way to test the world of online forex and CFDs trading.
For our 2019 Forex Broker Review we assessed, rated, and ranked 28 international forex brokers. Each FX broker was graded on 81 variables. How we test.
Forex Risk Disclaimer
"There is a very high degree of risk involved in trading securities. With respect to margin-based foreign exchange trading, off-exchange derivatives, and cryptocurrencies, there is considerable exposure to risk, including but not limited to, leverage, creditworthiness, limited regulatory protection and market volatility that may substantially affect the price, or liquidity of a currency or related instrument. It should not be assumed that the methods, techniques, or indicators presented in these products will be profitable, or that they will not result in losses." Learn more.
About the author: Steven Hatzakis Steven Hatzakis is the Global Director of Research for ForexBrokers.com. Steven previously served as an Editor for Finance Magnates, where he authored over 1,000 published articles about the online finance industry. Steven is an active fintech and crypto industry researcher and advises blockchain companies at the board level. Over the past 20 years, Steven has held numerous positions within the international forex markets, from writing to consulting to serving as a registered commodity futures representative.
