Plus500: Is this Trading Platform Right for You?

This Israeli-based (CFD) broker was founded by 6 students over a decade ago. Since then, its popularity has grown steadily, and Plus500 Ltd is now listed on the London Stock Exchange – a milestone for them.

They claim to have about 330,000 active customers and several hundreds of instruments to trade with, so you can operate globally.

But is all this true?

So let’s find out all there is to know in this detailed Plus 500 review and answer any questions you may have.

What Type of Broker Is Plus500?

Plus500 is a market maker, meaning that you trade directly with them and not with the market. In other words, you don’t have to wait for someone in the market to buy or sell before you trade.

For this risk that Plus500 takes, they charge a spread (they sell more expensive and buy cheaper than the market). Their spread is very competitive and is one of the lowest in the market – more on this below.

Plus500 allows leverage, meaning that you don’t have to pay out your entire investment, but only have to put in funds to cover a portion of it. This is very useful for those who want to trade large volumes of trades without needing to put down all the money.

The downside of Plus500 is that it’s not possible to trade without leverage, something that can (possibly should) scare off beginners. Leverage with Plus500 ranges from 1:30 for Forex to 1:2 for cryptocurrencies (availability subject to regulation) – if you have a professional account you’ll be able to access higher leverage.

Plus500 in the US

For US-based users, Plus500 doesn’t offer CFD trading, but future trading. The Plus500 future brokerage services are offered through Cunningham Commodities LLC, a subsidiary company of Plus500. Therefore, they’re registered with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and they’re even members of the National Futures Association (just in case you’re curious, their membership ID number is 0001398).

Plus500 Pros & Cons

But you are probably wondering what are the advantages and disadvantages of using Plus500, so let’s check them out below and see if it’s right for you.

Plus500 Economic Calendar

The main benefits are:

On the other hand, it has a couple of things that should be improved:

Who Should Use Plus500

Experienced traders who know how to trade CFDs, or are willing to educate themselves on trading. If you are going to use Plus500 you’ll need to be comfortable with leverage as it’s not possible to trade without it.

If you are a beginner or your investment profile is less risky, you could take a look at other products such as Trading 212 or eToro.

Opening a Plus500 Account

To open a Plus500 real account, all you need to do is:

1. Visit the Plus500 website and click on ‘Start trading’
2. Register on the platform
3. In the left menu click on ‘Account’ and confirm your details
4. Confirm your email address and phone number
5. Send them the requested documents: passport copy, proof of residence (e.g. bank statement) and verification of your payment method
6. Make your first deposit (minimum €/£/$100) and start trading

Requirements

Apart from completing the account opening process, there aren’t many other requirements with Plus500.

As mentioned above, you’ll have to provide some documents, and make a minimum deposit of €/£/$100.

You’ll need to reside in one of the many countries in which Plus500 operates. For example: the UK, Cyprus, France, Italy, Germany, Germany, Mexico, etc.

Types of accounts

Plus500 offers several types of accounts for its users:

1. Demo account: If you are thinking of using Plus500, I would suggest that you first take a look at their demo account to test the waters. It’s very useful to see what CFDs you can trade and what their system is like. It’s also ideal for beginners who want to experiment with trading without risking real money.
2. Plus500 account: Once you have tried their system and are ready to dive into the world of trading, you can open a (real) account with Plus500. Their standard account, as mentioned above, has a leverage ranging from 1:2 to 1:30, depending on the instruments you trade and your country of residence this may vary – leverage cannot be changed.
3. Professional account: Plus500’s professional accounts are available to those users who meet the requirements, these accounts basically offer a higher level of leverage – so they have even more risk associated with them. To be eligible for this type of account, you’ll need to have made an average of 10 trades per quarter (of a certain value), have over $500,000 (or equivalent) in your investments and have professional experience in the financial sector.

Plus500 in Detail

Is Plus500 a Scam?

Plus500 is not a scam. It’s a well-established company with offices in reputable countries (e.g. Cyprus, Australia, UK).

In order to be able to offer financial services in all the countries where they operate, Plus500 is subject to the oversight of a number of public bodies that audit its accounts, practices and operations – bodies similar to the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority.

Plus500 legal disclaimers

In particular, it must comply with the regulations of the securities commissions of Cyprus, United Kingdom, Singapore and Australia and be duly registered in those countries. This is why investors (e.g. in the UK) are protected against losses caused by broker misconduct with compensation of up to £85,000.

Not bad, right?

Moreover, as I mentioned earlier, it’s listed on the London Stock Exchange, so it has to pass rigorous tests and comply with London stock exchange requirements.

Platform security

Plus500 offers you the possibility to create logins for its platform with your Facebook or Google account, or you can choose to log in with any email address you have.

Plus500 2-step authentication

To add an extra layer of security, it’s possible to enable a 2-step authentication via your mobile phone. In addition to your username and password, Plus500 will require you to confirm your login with a code that will be sent to your phone.

Plus500 Fees and Commissions in detail

You can avoid some fees with Plus500 by following the steps below:

Having the account inactive for more than 3 months. This can be solved by logging into your platform from time to time. The fee will be $/£/€10 each month if you don’t do so.

But of course, you may be wondering, where does Plus500 make its profits?

Excellent question.

Well, being a market maker and buying and selling CFDs from and to its users, the profit, to a large extent, comes from the spread: which is the difference between the buy and sell price (similar to an exchange house buying cheaper currencies and selling them more expensively).

Example of spread with Plus500 (illustrative prices)

The spreads with Plus500 are some of the most competitive in the industry, but they don’t fully explain the methodology for calculating the spreads they set. Some instruments have fixed spreads (always the same) while others have dynamic spreads (they adjust as the market goes up or down).

Some real examples of the spread at the time of writing this analysis. Please note that they may change. Popular instruments you can find on Plus500 are:

These buy and sell prices are for February 14th 2021.

Plus500: Available assets

It only takes a quick glance at Plus500’s main site to realise that contracts for difference (CFDs) are their thing. This is because this trading platform is only suitable for trading these types of derivative products (or in some cases options).

It does, however, have a lot of markets and different CFD available. Here’s what you can find with Plus500.

Stock CFDs

Plus500 has a lot of CFDs on stocks to trade. They are undoubtedly one of the platforms with the widest range on offer.

Plus500 stock CFD (illustrative prices)

Obviously, it has CFDs on the most popular stocks such as Apple, Tesla, Google or Amazon, but it stands out for offering many other options.

For example, it’s possible to trade CFDs on the shares of companies on stock exchanges in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and Hong Kong.

ETF CFDs

In addition to CFDs on shares, it’s also possible to trade ETF CFDs. At the time of writing this Plus500 review, they offer around 100 ETFs to trade.

Forex

One of the most popular instruments among traders are currency pairs, and with Plus500 you’ll have access to a lot of CFDs on these pairs.

Plus500 illustrative prices

In particular, there are more than 70 Forex CFDs available, e.g. EUR/USD, EUR/GBP, EUR/AUD, GBP/USD, AUD/USD, NZD/USD, USD/JPY, etc. etc. etc.

Index CFDs

Another investment instrument among traders is indices. At Plus500 you can find indices of all kinds, such as country indices (e.g. Germany 30, USA 500, Italy 40, Europe 50 or Spain 35).

(illustrative prices)

Plus500 users can also trade 2 CFDs on sector indices such as the NYSE FANG+ Index (of technology companies) and the Real Estate Giants Index (index of US real estate companies).

Commodity CFDs

Plus500 offers investors around twenty commodity CFDs to trade. Among others, it’s possible to trade CFD on commodities such as oil, silver, gold, sugar, copper, coffee, cocoa and corn.

Cryptocurrency CFDs

Plus500 has also jumped on the cryptocurrency bandwagon, and it’s possible to trade cryptocurrency CFDs – availability subject to regulation.

(illustrative prices)

They don’t have the largest variety, only 8 CFDs, but it’s possible to trade CFDs of cryptos such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin or Stellar. As a curiosity, there is also an Ethereum / Bitcoin pair to trade with – availability subject to regulation.

Education and Analysis with Plus500

Having a broker that is well-designed, has hundreds of assets to trade (via CFD), and charges low fees is a trader’s dream.

But the truth is that to be successful with your investments you’ll also need a good system to analyse your investments, and to inform yourself about what is going on in the market.

That’s why I want to take a look at Plus500’s information options, economic calendar, tutorials, technical analysis and charts with you.

News feed

There is a basic news feed that you can check from Plus500 website, however, it’s not the most astonishing feature. I’d recommend using a news aggregator like Feedly and some sort of news alerts such as Google Alerts for better results.

Economic calendar

On the other hand, Plus500 does offer a comprehensive economic calendar with the dates of major economic and financial events (e.g. earnings announcements). This is very handy to take into account possible market fluctuations in response to these events, so you can prevent possible impacts or predict profits for your portfolio – this isn’t easy as you are competing with the whole world.

Plus500 economic calendar

For example, in Plus500’s economic calendar you can find the events that are expected during the week: earnings announcements or macroeconomic communications from the main countries (e.g. unemployment in the US or the UK) among others.

In addition, this economic calendar has an indicator that shows the expected intensity of these announcements, and which instruments are likely to be affected. This makes it easier to organise trades and define trading strategies.

Educational resources

On Plus500 you can find videos that are very well done explaining, in a very brief way, some basic concepts. It has to be said that there are only about ten videos available. Plus500 could make more effort in this area. These videos are currently only available in English.

Plus500 support article

You can find a FAQ section that tries to explain how Plus500 works. It’s possible to find almost a hundred articles, and some of them are accompanied by explanatory videos.

Plus500 Charts

It’s noticeable that Plus500 has put emphasis on creating a platform that provides users with good visual tools to analyse investments through charting.

Compare asset prices with Plus500

The first thing to note is that Plus500 allows you to visually compare assets side by side to assess, and analyse investments and the price of the instruments you want to invest in. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem possible to overlay the price of other instruments (or indices) on the same chart.

With Plus500 it’s possible to choose from more than 10 types of charts, so you can tailor your charts to the type that suits you best. Amongst others, it’s possible to choose from candlestick, bar, Renko, Kagi, etc. charts. – I really didn’t know there were so many chart types.

Plus500 types of charts

Plus500 also allows you to annotate these charts, manipulate the time horizon of these charts (ranging from 1 minute to 1 week), make annotations, add elements such as shapes (e.g. rectangle) or draw manually with the mouse. And of course, you can save the charts for later reference.

Plus500 also allows you to add financial analysis indicators such as Moving Averages, Bollinger, Balance of Power and Aroon Oscillator.

Alternatives to Plus500

Plus500 focuses on one thing, derivatives (via CFDs only). You may not be interested in investing with these products, or you may simply be looking for an alternative to Plus500 for any other reason. Here are 3 alternatives to Plus500.

eToro

eToro is one of those platforms that is everywhere. They certainly have a good marketing and advertising budget. But the truth is that it has a couple of features that are unique (or almost unique) among investment platforms.

Unlike most CFD brokers, with eToro you can decide whether you want to trade with leverage or not, which may appeal to some users. It should be noted that eToro, in addition to CFDs, allows you to buy stocks, ETFs and real cryptocurrencies.

On the other hand, it has a feature whereby investors using eToro can automatically copy the portfolios of other eToro users (be aware that this doesn’t eliminate the risk of trading). On the other hand, I have the feeling that eToro’s spreads aren’t the tightest you’ll find.

XTB

XTB‘s platform, conditions and services are very similar. It’s primarily a broker for CFD trading, although in some EU countries (e.g. not in the UK or USA) it’s possible to invest in real shares.

XTB’s commissions also seem very tight. What is not so good is that their demo account is only available for a limited time, unless you are already a client.

DEGIRO

DEGIRO is a broker of Dutch origin that is characterised by offering very low commissions for those who want to invest in real stocks and ETFs (among other products). This Dutch broker is not so focused on derivatives trading. For example, it will not give you the option to trade CFDs.

Unfortunately, there is no demo account where you can practice and see how the platform works, but you can always open a live account. More than 600,000 users trust this broker, which is present in more than 18 countries.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who Is the Owner of Plus500?

Plus500 is a company listed on the London Stock Exchange, so anyone can own shares in this company. The following are the largest shareholders of Plus500 (as you can see there are many investment funds).

Source: MarketScreeners

How Do I Cancel a Plus500 Account?

To cancel your Plus500 account you’ll need to contact the support team.

Can I Use an External Trading Platform with Plus500?

If you intend to use an external platform and connect it to Plus500, such as MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5, I am afraid this is not possible. You’ll have to use the web-based broker that Plus500 makes available to you.

¿Is Plus500 Regulated?

Yes, Plus500 is a trading platform regulated by many countries, let me explain in detail the most important ones:

• UK: Plus500UK Ltd (UK subsidiary), is regulated and authorised by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) – licence #509909.
• Europe: For the European market they operate with the subsidiary Plus500CY Ltd, regulated and authorised by the CySEC (Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission) – licence #250/14.
• Australia: The Australian branch of Plus500’s business is regulated by the ASIC (Australian Securities & Investments Commission) – licence #417727.
• New Zealand: Regulated by FMA (Financial Ahtority Markets) – licence #486026.
• South Africa: Authorised financial services provider by the FSCA – licence #47546
• Etc.

Is Plus500 Legit?

Sure, Plus500 is a legit company. Its broker is regulated by several financial authorities like the CySEC (Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission) and the UK FCA (Financial Conduct Authority). On top of that, Plus500 is a publicly traded company in the London FTSE, so further audits are undertaken to make sure the company is in ‘good shape’ and legit.

Having said that, you should decide whether you trust Plus500 or not, at the end of the day it’s your money at stake. So please, if you don’t feel comfortable using this trading platform, don’t use it.

Is My Money at Risk with Plus500?

Sure, investing in a CFD broker like Plus500 comes with various degrees of risk, it could be losing your investment if the market goes against you, Plus500 could disappear, or it files for bankruptcy. CFD are complicated financial products, so you may end up losing more money than what you expected because of the leverage.

Having said that, the money (in cash) that you have in Plus500 will be held in an individual bank account under your name, so that money should be protected (with some limitations).

If you are based in the UK, Plus500 is part of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. This offers a degree of compensation (£85,000) if Plus500 were ever to go bust. Which honestly sounds like a right pain, so let’s hope that none of us would ever need to apply for this scheme.

What are Plus500’s Trading Hours?

Plus500’s trading hours depend on the financial asset you’d like to trade and the geographic location from where you are operating. For example, trading CFDs on American stocks will have American trading hours, while trading CFDs on currencies will have 24-hour market availability.

How Does Plus500 Make Money?

That’s a fair question! And the simple answer is that Plus500, as any other broker, makes money by charging its users (i.e. you and other investors) fees and spreads.

The first thing to let you know is that, Plus500 doesn’t charge a transaction fee. Although this is technically true, there is still a cost for you to operate with this CFD broker. Instead of an explicit fee, Plus500 charges a spread – i.e. sells you a CFD pricier than what they would buy it from you. This is a common practice among many CFD providers.

Having said that, Plus500 charges other fees from users to make money from. Here is a list of the most relevant ones:

• Inactivity fee: If you have an account with Plus500 but don’t use it for a while, they might charge you an inactivity fee.
• Financing fees: Imagine you borrowed a book from a friend, but didn’t return it the next day. They might ask for a small fee for every extra day you keep it. That’s kind of what Plus500 does if you keep a trade open overnight. This is because you’re technically borrowing money from Plus500 to make that trade.
• Currency conversion: If you’re trading something in a different currency than your account, Plus500 will charge a small fee for the conversion. So, if you’re trading in USD, but your account is in GBP, be mindful of that extra cost.

Additionally, because Plus500 is a market maker that acts as the counterpart in every trade, they may make more money as more users lose more with their trades.

How Long Does It Take to Withdraw from Plus500?

Plus500 claims that all withdrawal requests are executed within one business day. Depending on which payment method you use, these will take more or less time. For example, for bank transfers it usually takes a minimum of 24 hours extra, and e-wallets are usually immediate.

Plus500 Review: Final Thoughts

Plus 500 is a platform for investors who want to trade CFDs on a regular basis.

This trading platform offers competitive spreads. Opening an account with them is a 100% online process – no need to send copies of physical documents. It has a wide variety of derivative assets (CFDs) that you can trade, and more than 2,000 instruments.

You can’t decide how much leverage you want to trade with, and you are forced to trade with the maximum at all times; this can be a setback for some investors. There are some tutorials and learning resources, although they could be more comprehensive. The news section is a bit too basic, although you can access an economic calendar with the dates of the most relevant economic and financial events.

Plus500 is a regulated broker in several countries and is listed on the London Stock Exchange, so its accounts are public.

Plus500 Review Updates:

30 Oct. 2023 – Fees update.
31 Jul. 2023 – Plus500 withdrawls
28 Jul. 2023 – General update
27 Jul. 2023 – Updated Plus500 risk warning
29 Jun. 2023 – Plus500 offers trading services in the US
23 Jun. 2023 – Information about Plus500’s business model
30 May. 2023 – General update
26 Apr. 2023 – Plus500 trading hours
09 Mar. 2023 – New risk warning added to the Plus500 review
10 Feb. 2023 – Information about CFD stocks
05 Jan. 2023 – General update
07 Nov. 2022 – Investors’ risks explained
22 Nov. 2022 – Compliance changes
09 Nov. 2022 – Information about Plus500 being legit
18 Oct. 2022 – Further information about regulation added
26 Sep. 2022 – General update
26 Apr. 2021 – Affiliate disclosure added
19 Mar. 2021 – Initial Plus500 review
10 July 2021 – Plus500 review moved to upskillwise.com

* 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. You do not own or have any rights to the underlying assets.