Is Plus500 really free?
Plus500 does not provide access to real stock trading on US markets. If you are looking for a zero-commission broker to trade on US stock exchanges, you can check our article detailing the best apps offered in this category of brokers. If you wish to stick with Plus500 though, then you will find the fees they charge below.
Plus500 fees
Overview of Plus500 fees and charges
When it comes to brokerage fees, Plus500 is a mixed bag. To see how they may affect you, first you need to figure out your approach to trading - i.e. whether you are more of a buy-and-hold investor or if you want to trade frequently; or what type of assets and in what volumes you'll want to trade. Alternatively, use our questionnaire to help you tell whether Plus500 fees are beneficial for you. Continue reading about Plus500 fees and charges to see if this is the right broker for you, or if a similar broker like ActivTrades or Spreadex might suit you better.
Here's a high-level overview of Plus500's fees
| Assets | Fee level | Fee terms |
|---|---|---|
| US stock fee | - | Not available |
| EURUSD fee | Average | The fees are built into the spread, 0.7 pips is the average spread cost during peak trading hours. |
| US mutual fund fees | - | Not available |
| Inactivity fee | Low | $10 per month after 3 months of inactivity. Inactivity means that you don't log in to your account. |
Plus500 fees
Plus500 fees explained
Online brokerages in general charge much lower brokerage fees than traditional brokerages do - this is largely because online brokerages' businesses can be much better scaled: from a purely technical standpoint, it doesn't make that much of a difference for them if they have 100 or 5,000 clients.
This is not to say, however, that they don't charge any fees at all. They make money by charging you various rates for various actions or events. Usually you need to keep an eye on the following three types of fees:
- Trading fees - these are brokerage fees that you pay when you actually carry out a trade, like buying an Apple share or an ETF. What you pay is either a commission, a spread or a financing rate. Some brokers apply all of these.
- A commission is either fixed or based on the traded volume.
- A spread is the difference between the buy price and the sell price.
- A financing rate or overnight rate is charged when you hold your leveraged positions for more than one day.
- Non-trading fees. These are usually related to some operations you carry out in your account, such as depositing money, withdrawing money, or not trading for an extended period.
We compare Plus500 fees with its closest competitors, ActivTrades and Spreadex.
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Plus500 fees
Plus500 trading fees
Plus500's trading fees are mixed, which means that some asset classes come with high trading fees - be sure to check these carefully.
Let's break down trading fees according to the different asset classes available at Plus500.
Trading fees
Plus500's trading fees are average.
CFD fees
Plus500 has average CFD trading fees.
| Plus500 | ActivTrades | Spreadex | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple CFD | $4.2 | $1.2 | $3.2 |
| Vodafone CFD | $2.6 | $2.3 | $2.3 |
| Germany | $5.7 | - | - |
Plus500 fees
Plus500 non-trading fees
Some of Plus500's non-trading fees are average.
Non-trading fees include various brokerage fees and charges at Plus500 that are not related to buying or selling assets. This can be a withdrawal fee, deposit fee, inactivity fee or account fee.
| Plus500 | ActivTrades | Spreadex | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Withdrawal fee | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Deposit fee | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Inactivity fee | Yes | Yes | No |
| Account fee | No | No | No |
Plus500 fees
Plus500 deposit fee
Usually, brokers don't charge anything for deposits, and Plus500 is no different.
| Plus500 | ActivTrades | Spreadex | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Credit/debit card | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Electronic wallets | Yes | Yes | No |
| Deposit fee | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Plus500 fees
Plus500 withdrawal fee
Plus500 generally doesn't charge a withdrawal fee.
| Plus500 | ActivTrades | Spreadex | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Credit/debit card | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Electronic wallets | Yes | Yes | No |
| Withdrawal fee for bank transfer | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Plus500 fees
Plus500 inactivity fee
Plus500 does apply an inactivity fee and it is $10 per month after 3 months of inactivity. Inactivity means that you don't log in to your account.. Keep this in mind to avoid getting charged after a longer idle period. The fact that Plus500 charges an inactivity fee makes it less ideal for you if you are a buy-and-hold investor.
The inactivity fee charged by Plus500 is low.
| Plus500 | ActivTrades | Spreadex | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inactivity fee | Yes | Yes | No |
| Inactivity fee | $10 per month after 3 months of inactivity. Inactivity means that you don't log in to your account. | If the account is not used for over 1 year and there is a remaining balance, they will charge a fee of £10 per month. | No inactivity fee |
