Plus500 Review

Plus500 was founded in Israel in 2008 by a talented team of alumni from the Technion Institute of Technology. Since then, the company has been on a steady rise, albeit, with a few rough moments.

The first hard moment was in 2015 when the accounts of all Plus500’s UK clients were frozen for 2 months, and the company lost a ton of money. So much money, in fact, that the stock price of the company plummeted by 60%.

Luckily, Plus500 is a tough nut to crack and the company managed to power through this near-cataclysmic event. The stock prices went back to normal in no time and the CFD platform continued upgrading and growing…

I’m not kidding when I say they were growing. The stock price went up almost 240% over the last three years, and the company’s revenue is following that trend of growth like a good duckling follows its mom.

That’s probably why the Plus500 Limited’s CEO makes way more money than most top-figures in similarly-sized companies. I guess the board of directors wanted to reward him for the good work, but then again, who wouldn’t?

The company advertises itself as “The World’s Trading Machine”, and that’s exactly what its million users are using it for. All in all, it seems that Plus500 is a good CFD provider for many traders, but is it a good CFD provider for you? Let’s find out.

What and Who is Plus500? 📚

Plus500 is a platform offered by Plus500 Ltd., the company that is the issuer and seller of all financial products, as well as the platform offered by Plus500. Plus500 is one of the leading multi-asset providers, with a huge client base of around one million users, and an offer of over 2800 CFDs, 2700+ Shares and Futures.

The company is based in Israel and has subsidiaries in the UK, Australia, Cyprus, and Singapore, which provide CFD trading services to Plus500’s sizable global clientele. The Plus500 CFD platform is available in 51 countries; however, CFD trading is not allowed in the US but is permitted in other jurisdictions. In the US, Plus500 focuses on offering futures trading exclusively, positioning itself as a leading futures trading platform.

Plus500 had launched an Invest Platform! The platform provides share dealing with over 2,700 financial instruments, FREE market data, and dedicated round-the-clock customer support. Plus500 Invest is currently available in certain countries.

Trade Sniper by Plus500 is an innovative and easy-to-use trading app for Futures Trading. With cutting-edge tech, professional support, and reliable clearing services, users can trade on E-mini and micro Futures contracts, and it’s available for US traders!

This CFD provider offers its users CFDs on commodities, stocks, indices, and ETFs for a good price, as well as an exceptional trading platform.

Is Plus500 a Good CFD Provider? 🤔

There are many factors to consider when deciding whether a CFD provider is good or bad. Aside from the reliability (which we will discuss in the next section), we should mention the CFD provider’s awards and client base. It’s also important to note that while CFD trading is not allowed in the US, it is permitted in other jurisdictions.

Plus500 has received accolades from many reviewers, especially for its top-notch mobile app, which is one of the most popular CFD trading tools on Google Play and the App Store. The good reviews also praise the platform’s ease of use and low prices.

The platform isn’t suited to all types of traders, but it has around 24+ million registered customers, and that means the CFD platform is doing something right. We will take a look at Plus500’s offer in more detail soon, but first, let’s see if this company ticks the most important box – trustworthiness.

Can Plus500 Be Trusted? 🤨

Like all high-tier CFD providers, Plus500 is regulated. The company is under the influence of three tier-1 regulators, namely, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), and Plus500AU is licensed by the Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC), along with a few more less-notable regulatory bodies.

Plus500 is listed on the London Stock Exchange, which is a good argument for the company’s credibility, but there are also a few instances where the company ended up on the wrong side of the law.

The company’s UK-based audience is a crucial part of its revenue stream, and it shows. In late 2012, Plus500’s UK subsidiary was fined £205,128 by the FCA for not being able to accurately report transactions for over a year.

Plus500UK clients’ accounts were frozen for two months during FCA’s investigation and as a result, Plus500’s revenue and stock price went down the drain for a while.

Though UK customers were not very happy with the mishap, they have the best position out of all Plus500’s clients, as they get the highest protection in case the company goes bust, as well as access to all the platform’s features.

As far as this incident is concerned, it seems that there was nothing shady going on, rather, the company failed to make accurate reports because of poor organization and undertrained employees.

Plus500 Compared

Investor Protection 🛡

Clients from certain areas get money protection, which means they are guaranteed a refund if their money is lost due to Plus500’s bankruptcy or any such event.

Users from the EU and Norway are clients of the company’s subsidiary Plus500CY Ltd., and as such get up to €20,000 coverage, however, Professional account owners do not get this insurance.

All UK-based clients get up to £85,000 coverage, which is very reassuring, but users outside the UK, and Norway, and the EU do not get any protection of this sort.

Furthermore, as a regulatory requirement to all brokers, Plus500 offers clients negative balance protection, which means that you cannot lose more than your account balance. Basically, you can’t get yourself into a situation where you owe the company money because of a few bad trades.

All in all, Plus500 is considered a secure CFD provider because of its tier-1 regulators and good reputation in general, however, there are a few things you need to be aware of before you start investing money with this CFD platform.

Something You Should Watch Out For ⚠

First and foremost, this is a CFD provider, and CFDs are very risky products if you don’t have enough experience with them. 82% of retail CFD accounts lose money with Plus500, which is a common characteristic for all CFD providers.

Moreover, your account can be terminated if you leave it inactive for 18 calendar months (and it will incur a monthly inactivity fee in the meantime, but I’ll talk more about that later).

Plus500 doesn’t allow scalping and therefore if this is your strategy, this platform isn’t for you. Scalping is a trading strategy where a client opens and closes a lot of trades within two minutes in order to limit losses, which is common with active traders, but Plus500 doesn’t like this at all.

The CFD provider can block your account if it looks to them like you were using scalping. You should definitely look for alternatives if you are a trader who uses this strategy.

Also, it is speculated that Plus500’s revenue might drop significantly in the near future due to a regulatory crackdown. Although this might be a false alarm, it is worth keeping this in mind if you’re investing in Plus500 stocks.

Options Trading

One of the key benefits of Plus 500’s user-friendly platform is the fact that clients get a simple, straightforward way to trade options in the form of CFDs.

Now, before we move on, there is an important distinction to make here — clients from the U.S can’t trade options via Plus 500. Clients outside the U.S. and other restricted countries can, but only in the form of options CFDs.

If you’re thinking that a CFD for a derivative is some arcane, complex thing, let us stop you right there — actually, they’re a bit simpler than regular options

A CFD on an option allows you to speculate on the price movement of an options contract. Let’s say you purchase a CFD on a call option that comes with a $6 premium. The price of the underlying stock increases, and suddenly, the call option is worth $14 — in that case, you would profit $8.

While straightforward, this approach is, of course, not without its risks. Thankfully, a lot of the platform’s built-in risk management tools, such as stop losses guaranteed stop orders go a long way in helping traders manage risks.  As an addendum, options CFDs do not give you the right to exercise an options contract — you’re simply speculating on how the price will change.

So, apart from simplicity, why would a trader use options CFDs? For one, they’re quite a bit cheaper — and they provide leverage as well. Plus 500 offers a 1:5 leverage on options CFDs, and there are quite a few investments that you can speculate on. 

It’s hard to overstate just how wide the investment possibilities are — while the options CFDs for stocks are relatively limited, encompassing only big tech companies such as Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, Meta, and Tesla, traders can also purchase call and put CFDs for commodities like oil, gold, and natural gas, indices like VIX and the S&P 500, and the EUR/USD currency pair.

Futures Trading

On the flip side, futures trading is not available to traders who use the “main” Plus 500 CFD brokerage — but it is available to U.S. traders who utilize the U.S.-specific platform. The most notable advantage that this platform has over the competition is the low margin requirement.

First, let’s explain margin as it relates to futures trading. Unlike regular margin trading, where traders borrow funds to trade more than their account balance, futures margin involves an initial margin, which allows you to open a position, and a maintenance margin to cover potential losses.

Traders can purchase futures contracts on a very wide variety of assets. These include:

• Crypto tokens such as Bitcoin and Ethereum
• Commodities like crude oil, RBOB gasoline, natural gas, wheat, soybean, and corn, 
• Precious metals such as silver, platinum, gold, and copper,
• Currency pairs including EUR/USD, GBP/USD, AUD/USD, and CAD/USD
• Equity indices including the S&P 500, Russell 2000, NASDAQ 100, Dow Jones, and S&P MidCap 400
• Interest rates through fixed-income securities such as two-year, five-year, and ten-year treasury and various treasury notes,

Apart from the impressive range of tradable assets, Plus 500 has also endeavored to make trading as accessible as possible — the futures brokerage charges no fees for data, withdrawals, deposits, or inactivity. There are some trading fees, however — $0.89 per side for standard and e-mini contracts, $0.49 per side for micro contracts, and a $10 liquidation fee per contract.

This extends to the low margin requirements we’ve mentioned earlier — most micro contracts for futures, metals, forex, indices, and interest rates require a margin between $50 and $100, going as low as just $20 in some cases. For mini contracts, margin requirements are generally between $250 and $500, while standard contract margin requirements run the entire gamut from  $200 to over $2,000.

It’s important to note that futures trading is the only offering from Plus500 in the US, making it a top futures trading platform for American traders. This focused approach ensures that US traders have access to a specialized and robust futures trading environment.

Account Types 🗃

Unlike CFD platforms that seem to have a special account for every sign in the zodiac, Plus500 doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to account types. There are just two account types, the demo account, and the standard retail account, which can be upgraded.

Demo Account ⏳

In order to do anything with an online CFD platform, you need to open an account first, and what better way to start a new CFD trading endeavor than with a demo account?

A demo account is a feature that lets you use a realistic trading simulator with virtual funds. Almost all great CFD providers offer this service to customers, but the Plus500 demo account really takes the cake, as it is super convenient compared to most.

First of all, the demo account is permanent and totally free, even if you use a live account as well, which is different from many other online CFD platforms that will start charging you for the demo account after a certain time.

Second, you can test different trading strategies with fake funds and if you lose all of it, no problem, once the balance of the demo account drops to 200 EUR (or the equivalent currency amount) or below, the initial demo amount will be automatically reinstated by the system.

Plus500 users are now able to self-adjust their Demo account balance. This new feature allows users to personalize their trading experience while using the Plus500 demo and better reflect their target volume of investments.

In the near future, users will also be able to completely reset their demo account, including all history, so they can re-experience it over and over while executing different trading strategies.

The demo account has all the products that the real accounts have, and you can effortlessly switch between these accounts by clicking on the blue button at the bottom of the platform’s UI.

Plus500 doesn’t offer very good educational resources, so the demo account is the best place for new investors to learn about the trading platform and test strategies without risking their own cash.

Standard Account 👤

The standard account is the typical live account that all traders start with. With the standard account, users have access to the basic pricing scheme, which is pretty good, although, the leverage depends on where you are based.

With this account, you can get mostly commission-free trading, four-stop order types that can protect you from slippage, and of course, the access to Plus500’s proprietary trading platform which is often praised by traders as one of the most user-friendly in the industry.

Professional Account ⭐

Higher leverage is the main feature of the pro account. This provides traders with an ability to make more but also lose more, so the pro account is only recommended to investors experienced in forex CFD trading.

The professional account users have the same client protection as other users including the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The FOS is an ombudsman that settles disputes between UK-based companies that provide financial services and their customers, so it is nice to have them watching your back just in case you need legal representation.

There is a series of requirements you have to meet to qualify for the pro account. First, you must have made 10 or more significantly-sized trades per quarter over the past four quarters with Plus500 or/and other providers.

Then, you must have a sizable portfolio of €500,000 or more, which includes financial instruments and cash savings.

Finally, you must prove that you’ve worked professionally in a relevant position in the financial sector for a year or more.

How to Open an Account with Plus500? 🏗

Opening an account with Plus500 is fairly quick and seamless. Account creation requires the typical personal data and legal documents. The verification process is client dependent, so the wait time before you can start trading will vary.

First off, you need to provide a legal document (like a passport or a personal ID card) that contains your picture, full name, date of birth, personal identity number, and the document’s expiry date.

Next, the CFD provider needs to verify your address. For this, you just need to send them a picture of a bank statement, credit card statement, or a communal services bill (e.g. electricity, internet, phone, etc.).

You’ll also need the bank/credit card statement to prove that you are the owner of the bank account you want to link to your trading account. Finally, there is a minimum initial deposit of $100 you need to take care of before you start trading, and you’re all set.

What Plus500 is Great At 🏆

Plus500 offers some exclusive CFD instruments on its platform, like AI Index, ESG and Impact Indices. There is a great variety of Options CFD and Indices CFDs on the CFD platform.

Prices on Plus500’s platform are on the low side, the fees are also low in general, and there is no commission with tight spreads.

For a deeper look into Plus500’s prices, it’s best to look at their website, which has listed current prices for all investment types.

Leverage 💼

The leverage you get is based on what country your account is registered to. The leverage for EU-based clients is capped at 1:30, due to ESMA regulations and Singapore-based users can get up to 1:20. On the other hand, traders from Australia, as well as most other countries, can get up to 1:30 leverage for certain products.

Withdrawal 💳

If you plan to withdraw more than $100 with a debit/credit card, then you have 5 free withdrawals each month, otherwise, the withdrawal fee is $10, which is better than average. Withdrawals via bank transfer are fixed at $6.

Bank transfers usually take about 5 days but may take even longer, depending on how fast your bank works, however, a credit/debit card transfer should take less.

Plus500 processes all withdrawals, including those via PayPal and Skrill, within 1 business day (any further delay is typically due to third-party vendors). The minimum withdrawal for PayPal and Skrill is $50.

Additionally, Plus500 supports other convenient payment options like Trustly and Apple Pay, along with more local payment methods available for different countries.

Other Fees 💸

If you do not use your account for 3 months, Plus500 will charge you a $10 monthly inactivity fee, however, this doesn’t mean you need to make trades frequently, rather, you just need to log in and show any sort of activity.

This is very convenient for investors who can’t trade that often, especially since most other CFD providers charge the inactivity fee to accounts that don’t make frequent trades. However, keep in mind that your account can beterminated if you leave it inactive for 18 calendar months, in which case all your funds will be lost.

Additional fees may apply based on your trading activity: currency conversion fee, guaranteed stop order fee, and overnight funding fee when you’re holding a position after a certain time.

Trading Platforms 🖥

Plus500 has significantly expanded its platform offerings, now providing three distinct trading solutions.

The Plus500CFDs platform is available both as a WebTrader and a mobile app, offering access to over 2800 CFDs in seven asset classes. For stock market enthusiasts, Plus500Invest presents a wide range of over 2700 shares but it’s available only in several EU countries . Additionally, the Plus500Futures platform serves those interested in futures trading and it’s is available to US clients only.

Let’s take a deeper look into what WebTrader has to offer.

WebTrader 🌐

Above all things, Plus500’s flagship platform, WebTrader, is well known for its ease of use and accessibility. The platform isn’t a fantastic starting point for new traders despite its intuitive design but lacks some advanced features and customizability that experienced traders might find valuable.

You will never get lost in WebTrader. The main screen displays pricing info, balance info, and positions, and it gives users quick access to trade execution and charting.

If you’re looking for specific products and functions, you can use the fantastic search function to find what you need in no time. This kind of design is incredibly handy since you can access almost everything you want without leaving the main platform window.

To see when the markets are open, just click on the “Details” button on the main screen, and the hours will be displayed at your local time. From the main screen, you can also access the charting tool with 100+ indicators, which will go to fullscreen when you click on it.

Plus500 doesn’t offer MT 4, and this is a slight problem because WebTrader is a closed system with certain limitations. Aside from the lack of customizability, the platform doesn’t support social/copy trading and algorithmic trading.

The research tools on Plus500’s WebTrader have been significantly enhanced to cater to a wider range of traders. The platform now offers an array of risk management tools, over 110 technical indicators, and 13 different chart types, with the capability to use multiple charts simultaneously.

A standout feature is the ‘+Insights’, including the Instrument ‘+Insights’ Tab and ‘+Me’, available on both desktop and mobile. These tools provide valuable insights into market trends based on Plus500’s unique internal data. Additionally, the platform offers real-time Trading Alerts, unique to Plus500, and customizable Watchlists, allowing users to efficiently manage their favorite instruments.

All these features are seamlessly integrated across Plus500’s native platforms, including desktop, iOS, and Android.

If you want a platform that’s very easy to use but has more advanced research capabilities and customizability, you should check out IG and Oanda, which are both fantastic forex brokers all-around.

WebTrader Mobile 📱

Plus500’s mobile app is a fantastic mobile port of the WebTrader. The mobile app allows users to access the full suite of 2800 CFD instruments, make conditional orders, and view their account info.

The charting tools retain the great 110 technical indicators and 10 charts from the web-based version, and the app is very safe. WebTrader mobile uses two-step authentication, which means you can access your account through fingerprint authentication if you want.

The mobile platform is a fantastic app but suffers from some of the same issues as the browser-based platform, namely, advanced traders will find it lacking in advanced functionality. The app is available in 36 languages on Android, iOS, and Windows devices.

Customer Support ☎

Plus500 has a customer service system that’s a bit different than most. The company doesn’t have phone service but you can use live chat on their website. Moreover, you can contact the customer support representatives via WhatsApp.

Contacting the support agents through email and WhatsApp is very quick, as most inquiries will be solved in a few minutes on average. On top of that, the representatives are courteous and knowledgeable, so the absence of a phone service isn’t a big deal.

There is no way to get hands-on help from a representative at a physical location, but the email and WhatsApp services are available 24/7, so no worries.

What’s more, the FAQ section on the CFD provider’s website is very comprehensive, so it will likely provide sufficient help to most clients, and the trading platform has an integrated live chat function in case the FAQ isn’t helpful enough.

All in all, there are better customer support services, but Plus 500’s modern solution is pretty good in its own right. The company provides a reliable, quick customer support system that gets positive criticism overall.

Where Plus500 Can Improve 👨‍🔧

Plus500 offers over 2,000 trading instruments to clients. You can trade CFDs on forex, stock indices, ETFs, commodities, and about 1800 stocks.

There is a large selection of currency pairs you can trade with as well, and this includes all major pairs, but still, Plus500’s offer of investments is not super impressive.

This is not a huge spectrum of tradable assets, so if you want more trading options, maybe you should take a look at some alternatives. For example, LCG is a forex broker with one of the most impressive selections of products you’ll find anywhere, so check them out if Plus500’s offer isn’t enough for you.

Research & News 📰

While Plus500’s research tools have their limitations, there are notable positives. The charting tools and the economic calendar are well-designed and user-friendly, with the calendar notably incorporating trader sentiment data, which is helpful in assessing public opinion about various products.

However, Plus500 has made strides in enhancing its offerings in this domain. The platform now features its own News & Market Insights section (available at Plus500 News & Market Insights), providing users with a range of up-to-date information and analyses. This addition addresses a previous gap in providing fundamental data and market news directly through the platform.

Despite not featuring third-party news sources like Reuters or Dow Jones, Plus500’s research capabilities are enhanced by its own News & Market Insights section and the ‘+Insights’ feature.

‘+Insights’, available on desktop and mobile, offers a comprehensive view of market trends using Plus500’s internal data. It includes two main components: the general ‘+Insights’ for broad market trend analysis, and the ‘Instrument +Insights Tab’ for in-depth data on specific trading instruments.

However, for traders seeking more comprehensive research tools and data there are much better alternatives. For example, top-tier forex brokers like Oanda and Saxo Bank have much more to offer in all aspects when it comes to news and research, so check them out if you are looking for platforms with powerful market analysis capabilities.

Education 👨‍🏫

Researching Plus500’s educational offerings turned out to be quite enlightening. Contrary to what was previously the case, Plus500 now boasts a comprehensive Trading Academy.

This academy offers a variety of educational materials, including an eBook, a video traders guide, and a detailed FAQs section, designed to assist both novice and experienced traders.

Additionally, Plus500 has introduced weekly webinars that delve into market trends and technical analysis. These webinars, featuring market analysts and experts from the Corellian Trading Academy, offer valuable insights, although they are exclusively available to premium users. This expansion into education marks a significant enhancement of Plus500’s services, aligning it more closely with the offerings of other major CFD providers.

There are some excellent videos on the Plus500 Youtube channel, however, they amount to 6 minutes of content in total. The rest of the videos on the channel are mostly commercials in different languages.

The great demo account is the best educational resource that Plus500 has to offer. Other than that, there’s practically nothing to see here. Plus500 expects traders to come to their platform with knowledge and skill they’ve gotten from other sources. Luckily, there are great alternatives for learning about CFD trading.

If you are a beginner and want a great education before you start trading, take a look at City Index and AvaTrade. These brokers offer comprehensive courses that can take a new trader to an intermediate-level trader, or even further in no time.

Bottom Line 🏁

Plus500 has a huge client base for a good reason. The combination of the CFD provider’s good pricing and the fantastic, easy-to-use platform has attracted traders of all levels, and will likely continue to do so.

The CFD platform also has its downsides, for example, you can’t get an education here. What’s more, the news and research are really lacking when compared to other top-tier CFD providers, which is why some traders will prefer a different trading medium.

All in all, Plus500 has a reputation for being a safe, ever-improving CFD platform, and will make a good home for traders who like its powerful, accessible trading software and low fees.