Plus500 is one of the leading financial firm founded in 2008 by six students from the Israel Institute of Technology. Since then, the company has established a good reputation among traders and now has over 300,000 clients from all over the world. This makes it one of the largest brokers around.
Pros
· Plus500 provides responsive customer support.
· It has more trading products than other leading firms.
· Spreads and Commissions are low.
Cons
· The MT4 platform is not available.
· There are few educational resources.
Overall Ranking
Overall
Investment Opportunity
Commissions & Fees
Safety
Research
Smartphone Usage
Customer Service
Education
Platforms & Tools
Overall
Investment Opportunity
Commissions & Fees
Safety
Research
Smartphone Usage
Customer Service
Education
Platforms & Tools
Extended Review and Information
The company has its headquarters in Israel and sub-offices in UK, Australia, Cyprus, Singapore, and Bulgaria.
Plus500 offers more than 2000 trading instruments with trading products like Forex, Stock, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies, and ETFs. Amazingly, the company was first to introduce a bitcoin CFD in 2013. Not only does this make us rate Plus500 highly for its investment opportunity, as it is among the brokers with the largest amounts of available instruments to trade, but it also proves that Plus500 is on the forefront of technology and innovation in the trading world, sometimes miles ahead of its competition.
What makes Plus500 unique are its key features. They are:
· Plus500 is listed on the London Stock Exchange Market.
· The platform is safe to use as it is regulated by top tier regulators like FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) in the UK.
· The company has low spreads and zero commission on all its trading products.
· Plus500 provides negative account protection. So, traders can’t lose more than they have in their account.
· Its easy-to-use platform also makes it different from others.
How to Open your Account
A user needs to register himself/herself and provide identification documents. Plus500 verify documents and after the verification process, users can start trading. These documents are necessary to improve your identification and address.
Identification – Photograph or scan of ID, such as driving license.
Proof of Address – Photograph or scan of a recent utility bill, or a photograph, scan or PDF of a recent bank statement.
The firm offers only one live account and it is only for individual clients. The company doesn’t have a corporate account. Users can opt for a demo account also.
The minimum account deposit depends on the depositing method. If a debit/credit card is used to deposit, the minimum amount is $100. Similarly, if the bank transfer method is used, the minimum deposit amount is $500.
A user can open an account with several base currencies. If the base currency is the same as the funding currency of the account, it saves the currency conversion fee.
Overall, it is relatively easier to open an account with Plus500 than most of the trading companies.
Trading Instruments Available
Plus500 has more trading products than other leading firms like eToro and XTB. It provides investment opportunities in Forex, Stocks, Commodifies, ETF, and Cryptocurrencies.
It offers 59 currency pairs, 22 commodities, 13 cryptocurrencies, and over 1800 stock CFDs.
The best thing is Plus500 doesn’t charge any commission on any of its trading products. The spread is the same whether a user has a small account or a large account.
Not only does Plus500 provide a wide array of instruments, they do so at a very cheap rate. This makes it great for both beginners and professionals to trade in a more easily profitable environment.
Deposits and Withdrawal Methods
There are multiple payment options available in the Plus500. They are:
· Debit/Credit card
· PayPal
· Skrill
· Bank Transfer
· Transferwise
· Revolut
Plus500 doesn’t charge any fee on deposits regardless of the channel used. However, deposits can only be made through sources which are on the user’s name.
The firm charges $10 on every withdrawal. There is a minimum withdrawal amount also. It is $100 for debit/credit card, bank transfer and $50 for PayPal and other methods.
It processes the withdrawal transaction in 2-3 days. However, bank transfer can take 5-7 days. It must be noted that this is not the fault of Plus500, but the 3rd party dealing with the payments.
Interface
Plus500 is easily accessible in all browsers and shows great stability in performance. It offers 3 trading platforms; Web trader, desktop, and mobile.
The web trader provides many trading tools like technical analysis, fundamental analysis, economic calendar, risk management, and trading guides. Additionally, there are 100 technical indicators, which a trader can apply according to different timeframes.
There isn’t an MT4 platform but Plus500’s custom-build web trader is easy to understand. A user gets familiar with it quickly. It is one of the most innovative platforms of 2019.
There is a desktop app as well which offers similar services as the web trader.
Plus500 also offers mobile trading. The android and IOS apps provide all the functionality of the web trader, which is very rare with brokers as we often notice the mobile app is inferior compared to PC versions. It has a finger-locking for extra security. It also has an option of deposit and withdrawal. This is also a rare feature, as other brokers require you to log in via PC to request a deposit or withdrawal.
Education and Research
The brokerage firm provides a Key Information Document which has content on all trade-able products. It also offers how-to videos which cover all trading topics. All the educational material is beginner-friendly and guides step by step.
The company has research tools like economic calendar, risk management, trading alerts, and charting tools. It displays market sentimental tool which shows traders buying and selling of the product.
Commissions and Fees
We scored the commission and fees charged by Plus500 are relatively lower on average than other brokers.
The spread on EUR/USD is 0.6 pips and on the US Stock is 0.5 pips. There is no commission on tradeable products. All the commission is included in the spread.
There is no deposit fee and withdrawal fee depends on the payment method, which is great! This service often comes with a fee.
One negative of Plus500 is that they charge $10 per month if the account hasn’t been active for 3 months. Whilst this is a small fee compared to other brokers such as AvaTrade, it is such a small amount of time to be inactive for, and we feel that to be penalized for this is simply unfair on the customer. 3 months is not a long time, and anything can happen in life, so having this cost may push traders away from Plus500 or make them enjoy their stay much less.
Customer Support
The company provides responsive customer services via email and live chat. The best thing is services are available 24/7.
Live chat support answers all types of queries immediately. Moreover, there is a Facebook and Twitter page of the company.
Awards
Bonuses and Promotions
The FCA and other financial agencies prohibit the trading companies from giving bonuses and sign-up promotion to their clients.
As the firm is regulated by FCA and other regulatory authorities, Plus500 doesn’t give any bonuses to their clients.
Regulations and Jurisdictions
Plus500 is a well-regulated firm licensing from top tier authorities. It is licensed by:
· FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) in the UK.
· CySec (Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission) in Cyprus.
· ASIC (Australian Securities and Investment Commission) in Australia.
· FSCA (Financial Services Board) in South Africa.
· MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) in Singapore.
All these licensing makes it a safe platform. A trader from the UK will get investor protection of GBP 85,000 under the laws of FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme). All of these regulators make Plus500 one of the safest places available to trade.
Plus500 operates around the globe but there are some countries which are restricted from using the platform. They are:
· USA
· Canada
· Iran
· Syria
· North Korea
· Pakistan
· Cuba and others.
Conclusion
If a trader is looking for a low commission platform with great all-round service, then Plus500 is the best bet. With so many investment options at low average prices, as well as the perfect customer services, we cannot help but name Plus500 as one of our top 5 brokers of the year! To improve, Plus500 could put some time into providing higher quality research to its traders as well as giving some education. In addition to this, an ethical objective for them should be to prolong their inactivity fee.
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 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. This does not constitute as investment advice or personal recommendations as your specific financial circumstances have not been considered. No warranty is given in regards to the accuracy and completeness of information. Past performance is not an indicator of future results.