Plus500 Review 2020

Plus500 has low CFD fees and average forex fees. The non-trading fees are average as well. Although the broker charges an inactivity fee, it is applied only if you are not even logging in to your account.

How we ranked fees

We ranked Plus500's fee levels as low, average or high based on how they compare to those of all reviewed brokers.

First, let's go over some basic terms related to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees and non-trading fees.

• Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions, spreads, financing rates and conversion fees.
• Non-trading fees include charges not directly related to trading, like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

In the sections below, you will find the most relevant fees of Plus500 for each asset class. For example, in the case of forex and stock index trading, spreads, commissions and financing rates are the most important fees.

We also compared Plus500's fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, eToro and XTB. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of Plus500 alternatives.

To have a clear overview of Plus500, let's start with the trading fees.

Plus500 trading fees

Plus500 trading fees are low.

We know it's hard to compare trading fees for CFD brokers. So how did we approach the problem of making their fees clear and comparable? We compare brokers by calculating all the fees of a typical trade for selected products.

We selected popular instruments within each asset class:

• Stock index CFDs: SPX and EUSTX50
• Stock CFDs: Apple and Vodafone
• Forex: EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, EURCHF and EURGBP

A typical trade means buying a leveraged position, holding it for one week and then selling. For the volume, we chose a $2,000 position for the stock index and stock CFDs and $20,000 for the forex transactions. The leverage we used was:

• 20:1 for stock index CFDs
• 5:1 for stock CFDs
• 30:1 for forex

These catch-all benchmark fees include spreads, commissions and financing costs for all brokers. Let's see the verdict for Plus500 fees.

CFD fees

Plus500 has generally low CFD trading fees.

There is no commission: everything is included in the spread, i.e. the difference between the ask and bid prices.

Forex fees

Plus500 forex fees are average. Again, no there is commission, and everything is included in the spreads.

Non-trading fees

Plus500 has average non-trading fees.

Plus500's withdrawal fee conditions are favorable: there are five free withdrawals per month, after which the withdrawal fee is $10 per transaction. However, Plus500 will also charge you $10 if you withdraw less than the minimum withdrawal amount of $100. The cost for withdrawals by bank transfer has a fixed rate of $6.

There is also a high inactivity fee of $10 per quarter after 3 months of inactivity. However, you can save having to pay the inactivity fee if you simply log in to the platform. In the case of some other brokers, you have to trade in order to not be charged an inactivity fee, logging in is not enough. 

Plus500 account opening is seamless, fast and fully digital. You can open your trading account within a day.

Can you open an account?

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76.4% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Plus500 accepts customers from many countries all around the world. However, there are some notable exceptions: for example, residents of the US and Canada can't open an account, and other countries such as Cuba, Iran and Syria are also excluded.

What is the minimum deposit at Plus500?

The Plus500 minimum deposit is $100 for debit/credit cards and electronic wallets and $300 for bank transfers.

Account types

Plus500 only offers one account type, which is often referred to as a Retail account. You can apply for a Professional account if you meet two of the following three criteria: 

• Sufficient trading activity in the last 12 months
• Financial instrument portfolio over €500,000 
• Relevant experience in the financial services sector 

A Professional account lets you trade with higher leverage compared to a Retail account, where the leverage has been redcued to the range of 1:2 to 1:30 as of August 2018. The maximum leverage for Professional accounts ranges from 1:5 (for options) to 1:300 (for forex) for the various instruments, with options at the bottom and forex products and indices at the top of the range.

In this review, we tested the Retail account.

How to open your account

If you want a fast and digital account opening process, Plus500 is your broker. You can easily open your trading account within a day.

After the online registration, you have to verify your identity and provide proof of residency. You can upload a copy of your ID or passport to verify your identity, and a bank statement or utility bill to verify your residency. Alternatively, you can use a driving license or a residence permit for ID verification, or a toll taxes letter, salary slip or address card to verify your residency.

Plus500's deposit and withdrawal services are both great. You have many options, the process is simple and usually free of charge.

Account base currencies

At Plus500, there are several currencies available, even minor ones, but it is not transparent how many and which ones. The following account currencies are available for sure: USD, GBP, EUR, CHF, AUD, JPY, PLN, HUF, CZK, CAD, TRY, SEK, NOK, and SGD. The default account currency is set based on your country of residency.

You need to contact support if you wish to change your base currency.

Why does this matter? For two reasons. If you fund your trading account in the same currency as your bank account or you trade assets in the same currency as your trading account base currency, you don't have to pay a conversion fee. If your bank account's currency differs from the base currency, Plus500 will charge you a currency conversion fee of a maximum of 0.5% for all trades and instruments.

A convenient way to save on currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. These usually offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.

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Deposit fees and options

Plus500 charges no deposit fees.

As with other CFD brokers, there are a lot of depositing options at Plus500:

• Bank transfer
• Credit/Debit card
• PayPal
• Skrill

Which e-wallet options are available depends on your region – e.g. at the time of our review update in June 2020, Skrill wasn't available for us as a depositing option, only PayPal. 

A bank transfer can take several business days, while payment with a credit/debit card and electronic wallets is instant.

You can only deposit money from accounts that are in your name.

Plus500 withdrawal fees and options

Plus500 withdrawal is free for the first five withdrawals each month. After that, there is a $10 fee per withdrawal. This is a competitive offer, since many other brokers charge standard withdrawal fees. 

There is also a minimum withdrawal amount, which is $50 for PayPal and $100 for bank transfer and credit/debit cards. If you want to withdraw less than this, a $10 charge will be applied.

For withdrawals, you can use the same methods as for deposits.

How long does it take to withdraw money from Plus500? We tested the debit card transfer withdrawal and it took more than 3 business days.

You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.

How do you withdraw money from Plus500?

1. Log in to your account.
2. Click the 'Menu' icon in the top left corner.
3. Click 'Withdraw'.
4. Enter the amount you'd like to withdraw.
5. Initiate the transaction by clicking 'Open a Withdrawal'.

Compare to other brokers

The Plus500 trading platform is quite easy to use and also looks great. On the negative side, it cannot be customized.

Plus500 has its own-developed web trading platform. The web trading platform is available in quite a lot of languages.

Look and feel

The Plus500 web trading platform has a clean, well-designed look and is easy to use. As such, even a first-timer can navigate the site with ease.

On the downside, you cannot customize the platform.

Login and security

Plus500 provides a safer, two-step login. Google and Facebook authentication are also available, which is quite convenient.

Search functions

The search function is great, you will have no trouble finding anything. You can find the products categorized on the left or you can search by typing in the product name.

Placing orders

You can use the following order types:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop
• Trailing stop
• Guaranteed stop*

*This guarantees that your position will be closed even if there is a large market movement. If you use it, the spread will be wider. This is the extra cost of using this order type.

To get a better understanding of these terms, read this overview of order types.

These orders can be canceled at any time before they are executed, i.e. they are Good 'till Canceled (GTC). However, there are no other order time limits provided.

Alerts and notifications

We liked the platform's alert and notification functions. You can set up email, SMS and push notifications.

The alert lets you know if the price of an asset reaches a certain level or changes by a set percentage. Additionally, you can sign up to be alerted if the Plus500 Traders' Sentiment (the percentage of Buyers and Sellers among Plus500 customers) reaches a certain level.

Portfolio and fee reports

Plus500 provides transparent portfolio and fee reports. It is clearly indicated how much you paid in overnight fees. The composition of your current portfolio is also made clear, which you can check in the bar at the top of the platform.

Multiple Charts

As part of Plus500's September update, clients have the opportunity to use 9 charts simultaneously on WebTrader, similarly to eToro's solution. To enable Multiple Charts on Webtrader, look for a button with four quadrants on the chart's toolbar.

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76.4% of retail CFD accounts lose money

The Plus500 mobile trading platform is well-designed and user-friendly.

The Plus500 mobile trading platform is very similar to the web platform. It has the same functionalities and is also user-friendly.

You can download the mobile app for iOS, Android and Windows. You can also use your smartwatch, but we stuck to a conventional smartphone and tested the mobile iOS app. It was great.

Plus500 provides a safe two-step login and you can also use biometric authentication, which is a convenient feature.

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76.4% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Plus500 does not offer a desktop trading platform.

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76.4% of retail CFD accounts lose money

At Plus500 you can trade only with CFDs (forex, stock index, stock, ETF, commodity and crypto). Many popular asset classes, like real stocks or ETFs, are not available.

Plus500 is a CFD broker. To learn more about CFDs read our CFD trading tips.

Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 76.4% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Plus500 offers a good selection of CFDs, its product lineup being wider than eToro's or XTB's. There are some cryptos as well, but less than at eToro and XTB.

You can also trade with options on a few stock CFDs and stock index CFDs.

You cannot change leverage levels, which is a drawback. On the other hand, with a Professional account, you can use wider leverage ranges. 

Changing the leverage is a very useful feature when you want to lower the risk of your trade. Be careful with forex and CFD trading, as the preset leverage levels are high.

Plus500 provides limited research options. It has great charting tools and a well-designed economic calendar, but no recommendations, fundamental data or news feed.

Plus500 does not provide trading ideas or fundamental data.

Charting

The charting tool is of good quality. There are 119 technical indicators and great editor tools. You can also save the charts.

News feed

You will find a well-designed economic calendar, but no news feed or newsletter.

We liked that you can filter for macro events or company-related events.

Other research tools you will enjoy

You can use Plus500's Traders' Sentiment tool, which shows the proportion of buyers and sellers at Plus500 for the given asset.

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Plus500 has great customer support, available 24/7 . Both the live chat and the email support are quick and reliable.

You can contact customer service via live chat and email. There is no phone support and Plus500 no longer serves clients via WhatsApp. Instead, there's an integrated 'Contact Us' page for inquiries.

We tested the Plus500 live chat several times. It was always quick and reliable. For example, when we asked about fees they provided all relevant fees, including financing rates. After the conversation, you can rate your customer agent instantly, which is a good way to provide feedback. 

The email customer support was also fine. They replied within one hour, which is extremely fast compared to other brokers. The answers we got were all relevant.

In addition to the good quality of customer service, it is also available 24/7, which is not the case at most other brokers.

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76.4% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Plus500 only provides a demo account and a few very basic videos about trading and using the platform.

All education related materials can be reached on the Plus500 website under the 'Trader's Guide' section. If you browse their FAQ, you will find a few more videos detailing, for example, the process of payment verification.

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76.4% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Plus500 is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange and is regulated by more than one top-tier financial authority.

Is Plus500 regulated?

Yes, it is regulated by several financial authorities: the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) of New Zealand, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) of South Africa, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) and the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA).

Plus500 is based in Israel and was founded in 2008.

Is Plus500 safe?

To be certain if a brokerage is safe, we highly advise that you check two facts:

• how you are protected if something goes wrong
• what the background of the broker is

How you are protected

Plus500 operates several subsidiaries and which one will serve you depends on your residency. The investor protection amount you get depends on the country of the subsidiary you are signing up with.

For example, if you are from the UK, you account will be with Plus500UK Ltd and you will get £85,000 in investor protection. Plus500UK Ltd is regulated by the FCA, the UK's financial authority.

Plus500 provides negative balance protection for CFD trading, but only for retail clients from the European Union. This means that if the balance on your account should go into negative territory, you will be protected.

Professional and non-EU clients are not covered with any negative balance protection.

Background

Plus500 was established in 2008. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.

Plus500 is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, which is a big plus for safety as Plus500 releases financial statements regularly and transparently. Other aspects, such as ownership and regulatory compliance are also all transparent.

A financially strong parent company is a plus since it can provide the online broker with additional capital if needed. As of September 2020, the biggest owners of the company were mostly large investment banks and asset management companies, including JPMorgan. The biggest owner, Odey Asset Management, had an 8.48% stake. Alon Gonen, one of the founders, was also among the top shareholders, both directly and through Sparta24 Ltd.

Being listed on a stock exchange, providing financial statements and being regulated by a top-tier authority like the FCA are all great signs for Plus500's safety.

Find your safe broker

Plus500 is a good CFD broker. It is recommended for traders who are aware of the risks of CFD trading. The broker is regulated by several financial authorities globally, including the UK's FCA, and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. If you are not from the UK, you will most likely be served by alternative regulators, like Plus500 Cyprus. In this case, for example, the Cypriot investor protection would apply to you.

Attention Daytraders! At Plus500, scalping is defined as "a trading strategy based on the notion that client transactions are opened and closed within 2 minutes limit in order to accumulate quick profits from small price changes." If Plus500 believes you are scalping, your account may be blocked and closed. Therefore, if you plan to execute many trades within 2 minutes, Plus500 is not your broker.

The Plus500 platform is easy to use, providing a great user experience even for first-timers. Spreads are competitive, but financing rates are quite high. Lastly, the account opening process is great.

On the other hand, CFDs are the only product offered, and there are limited research and educational tools. 

As there is no minimum balance required, no withdrawal fee for withdrawals of over $100, and the inactivity fee only kicks in after three months, feel free to give Plus500 a try.

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76.4% of retail CFD accounts lose money