The Ultimate Plus500 Review 2022

This article is dedicated to testing different tools, options, and features that the Plus500 broker is ready to offer. Trade via your laptop, mobile, get notifications on your smartwatch with the well-developed Plus500 app. Read the Plus500 review and start your trading career right now.

Quick Summary On Plus500 CFD

Overall Rating

Fees	3 out of 5
Account Opening	5 out of 5
Safety and security	5 out of 5
Deposit and withdrawal	5 out of 5
Markets and Products	4 out of 5
Research tools	2 out of 5
Educational Tools	3 out of 5
Customer Support Service	5 out of 5

Plus500 is ready to offer top-notch services when it comes to CFD trading. It is a legit and safe broker. The broad choice of trading instruments, no commission fees, and great customer support are at hand for you. Plus500 is considered to be a highly regulated low-risk broker. You will have the possibility to grow and improve with Plus500 with the demo account, a lot of educational articles, and videos. And if you happen to have any questions or encounter any issues, the customer support team will be there to provide all the assistance you need.

Is Plus500 Safe For CFD Trading?

To find out if the Plus500 is safe we took into account several criteria in this review: 

1.   Whether the broker is certified and regulated

2.   How traders are protected in case something goes wrong

Plus500 is registered in several jurisdictions and regulated by the following top-tier regulators. We would like to list the broker’s regulators in the Plus500 review:

• Financial Conduct Authority of the United Kingdom (FCA)
• Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the IE Singapore
• Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC)

Also, the broker operates under second-tier and third-tire regulators:

• Financial Markets Authority (FSP) and FSCA
• Licensed by Israel Securities Authority
• Seychelles Financial Services Authority

This high level of regulation implies that Plus500 is a low-risk broker for an investor and it does not manipulate market prices. The registration under tier-1 regulators also means that a trader’s funds will be insured in case of any emergency with the broker. As to the rest of the guarantees referring to a trader’s funds safety, it is worth mentioning that when you collaborate with Plus500 you are under Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protection. What is more, the company is listed on the LSE, the FTSE 250 Index, and the London Stock Exchange. This fact adds up to the broker’s reputation and transparency.

Our Plus500 Review Criteria

To compile this Plus500 CFD review for traders who are looking for the best CFD broker out there, we took into account several important criteria. We have tested the account opening, deposit, and withdrawal methods and the process of trading itself. We have checked the various trading tools available on the Plus500 website. What is more, it is important for a broker to offer its clients great educational tools and customer support service. We tried everything and even more to provide you with the most detailed analysis of the website’s services.

Account Opening At The Plus500

Anyone in the world can open an account on the resource and start trading with Plus500. There are just several countries like Cuba, Syria the residents of which do not have access to the broker. Residents of the USA and Canada, unfortunately, also won’t be able to open an account on Plus500 simply because the retail CFD trading is banned by their laws.

To open an account with Plus500 and be able to use all its outstanding trading features you will need to follow these couple of steps:

• Fill in the fields with your login, password, and the valid email
• Confirm your identity and the place of residence. It requires additional documents. This may be one of the following options: ID card, passport, driving license, utility bill, bank statement, or any other official statement with your address on it.
• Wait for the approval from the trading website
• Make a deposit and begin using the Plus500 amazing trading tools

Account Opening with Plus500

Open an account via a web-based platform	Yes
Open an account via an app	Yes
Confirmation via SMS or email	Yes
Identity confirmation with official documents	Yes
Confirmation approval	Yes
Two-step authentication when signing in	Yes

Plus 500 Demo Review

Registration of a demo account on a trading website is an extremely useful feature that can hardly be overstated. In the Plus500 demo review, we would like to mention a couple of advantages of creating a Demo account. First of all, it is especially useful for beginners who do not wish to put at risk funds while they make their first steps in trading. Also, this is a great tool when choosing the best broker. You can compare several of them (of course, only in the case that the same feature is available on other brokerage websites) and decide which of them is more suitable for you. The feature is also popular among experienced traders because it allows testing new trading strategies risk-free.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit is the sum of money a trader is supposed to fund their brokerage account with from the bank account or, for instance, an e-wallet (depending on where he/she keeps funds at) before beginning selling and buying assets with Plus500. In the Plus500 review, we would like to emphasize that there is a difference in the minimum deposit fee that is based on the funding method you choose. If it is bank cards or e-wallets then you can start trading only with $100 on your account. If your choice is bank transfer, you will have to send not less than $500 to your Plus500 account.

Payment Method	Minimum Deposit
Bank cards (Visa, Mastercard)	$100
E-wallets (PayPal)	$100
Bank transfer	$500

Account Types

In this Plus500 online trading review we would like to mention the two available account types you can register with Plus500:

• Retail account
• Professional account

Retail account is a standard account recommended for most users. With the account, you will be able to trade different types of CFDs like shares, hard and soft commodities, indices, etc. The assets are available to every Plus500 client who has access to the website around the world. Leverage may differ according to the jurisdiction. For instance, in the EU and Australia, the maximum leverage you can expect from the broker is 1:30 (this is due to ESMA and ASIC regulations), in Singapore, it is 1:50. As to the rest of the world, the maximum leverage is 1:300.

If you have earned some experience in trading and meet a couple of requirements, you can go pro, meaning that you will be allowed to register a Professional account. You will have the right if you have been active on Plus500 in the last 12 months, you can present the financial portfolio for more than 500,000 Euros, and you can prove that you have got a broad experience in trading.

Features	Retail account	Professional account
Negative balance protection	+	+
ICF	+	–
Client Money Protection	+	+
Real-Time Disclosure	+	+
Product Disclosure Statement	+	–
Financial Services Guide	+	–
Inducements	–	+
Minor Forex Leverage	1:20	1:300
Major Forex Leverage	1:30	1:300

Broker Fees And Commissions

In comparison to other brokers, Plus500 has lower costs and they don’t charge any commission and trading fees. The company earns their bit from customer trades and ask and bit spreads. The spreads are fixed and the trade size does not influence their prices. But traders can get a discount from the broker if they are high-volume.

The fees that can be charged from you are divided into trading and non-trading fees. Trading fees are those that are directly related to buying and selling CFDs. Trading fees charges for spreads, commissions, financing rates, et. Non-trading fees are not related to the trading process itself. These are the charges that are taken for your inactivity on your account or performing money transfers. In this Plus500 trading platform review, we offer more detailed information on the two types of fees below.

CFD Fees

When you sell and buy CFDs with the broker, there are no additional commission fees because the price is already included in the spread. Thus, the broker makes a profit from the difference between ask and bid prices. These are Plus500 CFD fees. The table below listed the prices of some of the spreads and CFD leverage. But remember that the cost of the spreads varies and depends on the market instruments.

If you estimate the leverage, amount of funds for investment, and the type of position, the fees that we get are low. Plus500 is one of the online brokers that charge a low cost for each trade.

CFD fees for spreads may be dynamic meaning that the difference between the buy and sell price of a currency pair is changing during a day. Or they may be fixed. In the case of the fixed price, there are no-cost fluctuations and you pay the same spread pip cost.

Spreads	Cost
S&P500	Average cost 0.45
Europe 50	Average cost 1
Forex	Average cost Per EUR USD 0.6 pips

As we have already mentioned, costs and conditions depend on CFD instruments. Except for spreads, you can choose other options like shares, indices, commodities, ETFs, etc.

CFD	Leverage
Stock index	20:1 leverage
Stocks	5:1 leverage
Forex	30:1 leverage

Non-trading Fees

Not-trading fees are the additional charges that do not come from the difference between ask and bid costs. The source for the charges is different in each case and isn’t related to the process of trading directly. For instance, there is an inactivity fee that Plus500 charges for not trading on the website for a certain period of time which is stated in the user agreement. In general, the period is three months, meaning that if you do not trade for more than three months you will be charged $100.

One more type of non-trading fee is the Overnight fee. If you leave your funds in an open position overnight then your account will be charged a particular sum of money for this. To find out how much you will be charged, go to the “Details” link next to the market instrument you are using on the Plus500 platform. The premium fee works in the same way as the Overnight fee, meaning that it is taken when you overhold the position for some time. In the case of the Premium fee, you are charged for holding it for more than an hour. One more thing is that the fee covers ask and bid costs with leverage of 300:1. The fee is higher the longer you hold the position. For example, if it is held over the weekends, you pay three times more than the usual withhold fee. Always remember to check fees when you decide to hold a position for a longer time.

Deposit And Withdrawal

One of the most important parts of the Plus500 CFD review is the variety of money transaction options in your Plus500 account. We have taken a look into the details of the withdrawal and deposit methods before presenting them in the review. And we can assure you that the Plus500 services are great because the money transfer process is simple and free of charge.

Account Base Currencies

When you open an account with Plus500, your default base currency will be set up automatically on the basis of your country of residence. The broker allows you to change the base currency and to use different currency settings for different accounts. Compared to other brokers, Plus500 offers the choice between quite a large number of major and minor currencies, some examples of which are USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, JPY, PLN, HUF, TRY, SEK, NOK. It is important to pay attention to the base currency in your Plus500 account. If you do not deposit or withdraw money to Plus500 in the same currency that your default bank account currency is then you will be charged conversion fees.

Deposit Fees And Options

Plus500 doesn’t charge any deposit fees from its customers. Just keep in mind that there can be cases when you will be charged for the money transactions and you may get a bit less on your Plus500 account. It can happen if, for example, your bank charges the fee for money transfer or conversion fee. The latter is taken if you transfer money in another currency that differs from the base currency stated in your account. Plus500 isn’t responsible for charging you in the mentioned cases. However, the company may charge you when you exceed the number of operations that can be performed in a month. 

Deposits are usually instant. But if we talk about bank transfers, it may take longer. As to other deposit options, you will be able to select from the list of available choices in your particular country. Besides bank transfers, the most common options are debit and credit cards (Visa, MasterCard), e-wallets (PayPal, Skrill, Neteller), and cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Dogecoin).

Plus500 Withdrawal Fees And Options

According to the information on the official website and cryptocurrency, bank cards, e-wallets, and others that you may use for depositing are also available for withdrawing money. And just as with deposit Plus500 doesn’t charge any extra fees for cashing out your funds from the account. The thing that you need to consider is that there is a limit on the number of withdrawals per month. The maximum is 5 transactions in this time limit. If you exceed this number, the company will charge you $10 for every further withdrawal. The minimum amount you can withdraw from the website’s account is $50 (this refers to e-wallets) and $100 (bank transfers and bank cards). Remember that you can withdraw money only for another account in your name.   

Web, Mobile, Desktop Trading Platform

Plus500 website with its user-friendly interface is pretty easy to navigate. The feedback found in other Plus500 user reviews of the website are positive. It offers clear fee reports and access to multiple trading features. The disadvantage is that the broker doesn’t offer a desktop version, only web-based, and an application that can be downloaded for Android and iOS-based systems.

Users from different countries will feel welcomed on the Plus500 web platform because the website offers a broad selection of languages to choose from. The well-designed interface is clear and accessible. For instance, you will find it very easy to operate the search function. All the products are categorized or you simply type in the products’ names in the search bar and you will get immediate results.

Testing the mobile trading Plus500 platform for the Plus500 app review, we can assure that the mobile platform offers access to the same features that have been mentioned above for the web platform. The two-factor protection of your account, making orders, and getting notifications – everything is available on your mobile application. Its user-friendly interface easily adjusts to smaller screens making your trading experience more enjoyable. The download of the app is available for Android, iOS, and Windows systems. The thing that we especially appreciated about the mobile platform is that you can use your smartwatch which appears to be quite useful if you don’t want to miss anything important wherever you go.

Markets And Products

With Plus500 you can only trade CFD Products. Unfortunately, other assets like real stocks and ETFs are not available via Plus500. Thus, Plus500 is a CFD broker and if you decide to trade CFDs you should remember the risks involved. You need to have a clear understanding of how CFDs work and what trading instruments you are most comfortable with. In the review of Plus500 we want to consider several products options:

1. Shares – Plus500 provides access to 20 different markets. Traders can predefine profit and loss positions, close them when they are reached. All this leads to larger gains. The same relates to the losses. Thus, remember about the high risk of losing large sums of money when trading shares.
2. Indices – you can trade NASDAQ 100 FTSE 100, S&P 500, and DAX 30 can be traded with the leverage of up to 300:1. You can trade the CFD products in real-time via your Plus500 account.
3. Commodities – you can trade hard commodities (gold and silver that can be traded for $100) and soft commodities (coffee, sugar, wheat, etc.). Compared to other brokers, leverage on commodities that Plus500 offers is a bit lower.
4. EFTs – this market product can be traded via the contract of difference with the leverage of 1:100. It means that if, for example, you invest $100, you can get $10,000 in case of successful trading.

Plus500 Research Options

There is a set of thought-through and well-designed research options available on Plus500. However, we must admit that the choice of such options is quite limited. You can find charting tools, an economic calendar, and a market analysis tool which is great for beginner and intermediate traders. The news feed at Plus500 is presented by an economic calendar and a corporate events calendar. 

Charting Tools

There are more than one hundred technical indicators like RSI, MACD that you can apply to tick and weekly charts for any trading instrument. All the same charting tools are available on mobile and web trading platforms. When analyzing charts for this Plus500 CFD broker review we noticed that charts look better on the web-based platform because of a larger screen and more space they can occupy.

You can customize charts and all the features added to them will be automatically saved. When you click on “Multiply charts view” you can view a couple of charts at once.

News Feed

The news feed available at Plus500 includes an economic calendar and a corporate events calendar. On the Plus500 website, you can go to the “Trading” section, choose “News and Markets” insights and check out the short analysis of market events and companies. There is a nice option to set up a filter so you can get the information on macro-events or company-related events separately. Unfortunately, there is no real-time news feed of Reuters or CNN Money or other reputable sources.  

Economic Calendar	Available
Corporate Events Calendar	Available
Real-time news feed	Not available

Educational Resources Available

We also paid attention to educational tools in our Plus500 CFD review, because they play a very important role when we talk about people who are only beginning their trading careers. Plus500 has the marvelous opportunity to register a Demo account and try out all the trading options available in real accounts but without any risk to your funds. What is more, there are video tutorials and educational articles that cover different trading topics like types of assets, risk management tools, etc. You can find these tools on the website when you go to “Trading”, under “Risk Management” selection or “Trader’s Guide”.  You can also find a lot of educational materials in the FAQ section.

Demo Account	Available
Educational Articles	Available
Educational Videos	Available
Webinars	Not Available

Customer Service

When compiling this Plus500 review we made sure to check the customer support services offered by the broker. They provide support via chat and email. Unfortunately, there is no phone support. It is the only major disadvantage of customer service. Everything else related to it was on top. We received highly qualified responses from the experts on different trading topics of our interest. We referred to the support team about the functions of the web-based and mobile-based platforms and received the most detailed explanations in the shortest time. Plus500 customer support service works 24/7.

Plus500 Pros And Cons

Pros	Cons
Authorized and well-regulated	Only CFD trade
Wide range of trading instruments	There is an inactivity fee
Both web- and app-based	No real-time news feed
No deposit and withdrawal fees	No educational webinars that are updated
Website available in a lot of different languages
Low trading fees
High-quality customer support

Bottom Line

The trading costs vary quite a lot which depends on the trading provider you choose. Sometimes the fees may be higher than the average on the market. But keep in mind that Plus500 does not charge any additional commissions like other brokers and profits only from the difference between ask and bid price. As fees are not the only thing to consider when choosing the broker you will trade with, we would like to remind you about the high quality of customer support service, plenty of educational resources available for Plus500 customers, great research options, and access to the broad choice of markets and products. In this Plus500 review, we have found a lot of proof of the broker’s reliability and legitimacy. 

FAQ