PLUS500 Review 2023
77% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Like any other industry, intense competition has forced forex brokers to become better at what they do, with more competitive fees, better educational resources, and good customer service being hallmarks of a great broker. One product of this competition is the rise of competitive brokers with high quality service records like Plus500.
Plus 500 could be the broker of choice for you if you want a highly regulated broker with competitive fees and good educational resources. Plus500 also has one of the industry’s best customer services. These advantages may or may not be enough to offset the broker’s lack of analytical tools for you. Plus500 offers CFD trading in Shares, Forex, Indices, Commodities and ETFs. Our review on Plus500 will give you all the information you need to decide whether this broker is right for you. But If you’re in a hurry, head to their FAQs to understand common customer queries.
Regulation and Security
Your chances of being a victim of fraud or malpractice are lower with better regulated brokers, you should always check a broker’s level of regulation before investing with them. Plus500 has 7 regulatory licenses which range between tightly regulated and comparatively business friendly. Plus500 is officially a publicly listed company in the United Kingdom, and it has a spotless regulatory history since listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in 2018. A list of Plus500’s entities and associated regulatory licenses are provided below.
– Plus500UK Ltd authorised & regulated by the FCA (#509909).
– Plus500CY Ltd authorized & regulated by CySEC (#250/14).
– Plus500SG Pte Ltd, licensed by the MAS (#CMS100648-1).
– Plus500AU Pty Ltd (ACN 153301681), licensed by:
ASIC in Australia, AFSL #417727, FMA in New Zealand, FSP #486026; Authorised Financial Services Provider in South Africa, FSP #47546. You do not own or have any rights to the underlying assets. Consider if you fall within our Target Market Distribution. Please refer to the Disclosure documents available on the website.
– Plus500SEY Ltd authorized & regulated by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (#SD039).
Negative Balance Protection
Negative balance protection is a feature that prevents your account from going into debt regardless of market conditions. Negative balance protection is a common industry practice that offers security to traders, especially new ones. Plus500 officially offers negative balance protection among all its subsidiaries. The UK and Cyprus regulators tend to offer additional investor protection funds.
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Is PLUS500 Review available worldwide?
Yes, but Plus500 is only available in 60 countries, which is much lower than most other international brokers who operate in over 150 countries. Plus500 is currently available in countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Oceania, including the UK, Germany, South Africa, Australia, and Thailand. Despite being available in fewer countries, it has a relatively large user base of over 15,500.
Supported platforms
Plus500 has its own proprietary trading platform, WebTrader that’s available on all mobile and computing devices. Unfortunately, this broker isn’t available on the industry-leading Metatrader 4 (MT4) or MetaTrader 5 (MT5) platforms.
WebTrader
WebTrader is a user-friendly and easy-to-use platform that’s earned high, 4+ out of 5, ratings from users. It’s also a secure platform with two-set top logins and good data security. The platform’s most important features include its easily-provided fees, historical transactions, and position information. Another appreciable feature is the inclusion of email, SMS, and push notifications, which are often overlooked on trading platforms. You can find more details regarding WebTrader’s features by clicking here.
The downsides of WebTrader are the absence of in-built analyzing tools, no customizability, and no functions or charting tools. Overall, it’s a decent platform for beginners, but it’s frustratingly feature-poor for experienced traders.
The Plus500 Mobile App
Plus500 has its own mobile app which carries over most of the same features in WebTrader. The app is available on IOS, Android, and Windows Phone operating systems. While the app is generally easy-to-use and provides a comfortable trading experience, it completely lacks advanced security measures and has some of the same shortcomings as WebTrader. Overall, it’s a decent app, but there are far better alternatives.
Account types
Unlike most other brokers, Plus500 only offers individual trading accounts. Your account’s specifications, including deposit limit and payment method, varies by your location–the daily deposit limits can be as high as $300,000.
Plus500 also offers professional trading accounts which have higher maximum leverage of 1:300 on certain instrument categories, but you have to satisfy multiple criteria. This criterion includes aspects like trading activity, your asset portfolio’s value, and current or previous employment in the financial sector.
Demo Account
Plus500 also offers unlimited demo accounts for new traders. These accounts come with a default balance of $50,000, and Plus500 restores your starting balance once your portfolio decreases to only $200. The demo accounts are a great learning tool, but some traders have reported that it comes with unrealistic market simulations, so you don’t want to depend on them too much.
Signing Up
You can sign-up with Plus500 by clicking the ‘start trading now’ button and either registering at the site or logging in with your Google, Facebook, or Apple accounts. You’ll then verify your identity and address through ID and proof of residency documents. Next, you need to deposit funds before you start trading.
Plus500 has a shockingly fast sign-up process of less than half a minute, and it doesn’t have any lengthy document verification period either. This broker is definitely one of the easiest to sign up with.
Minimum Deposit
Plus500 requires a minimum deposit of $100, which is comparatively higher than most other brokers but still reasonable for the average trader.
Payment Methods
Plus500 accepts:
- Bank wires
- Credit and debit cards
- Skrill
- Neteller
- PayPal
Deposit and withdrawals
Plus500 has great deposit and withdrawal services, which offer different payment options, a fast processing period, and no charges on deposits and no charges on the first 5 withdrawals a month. One of Plus500’s best features is that it offers accounts in a wide range of currencies and lets you change your base currency, too.
At most, you may have to pay a conversion fee if you withdraw profits in a different currency than the one you used to deposit with. Its transfer periods are also reasonable with a bank transfer taking several days while bank cards and e-wallets provide instantaneous transfers.
Commissions and fees words
Plus500 is known for its relatively low trading costs since it doesn’t charge traders any commission of trading fees. Instead, Plus500 generates revenue from customer trades and through spreads. Also, it charges a $10 per-quarter inactivity fee to customers who haven’t logged into its accounts for more than 3 months. You’re also charged an overnight funding fee if you hold securities overnight. Lastly, you may be charged a conversion fee if you withdraw your earnings in a different currency than the one you deposited with. We would advise you to go through their fees structure for different asset classes before setting your first step.
Overall, Plus500 is a great option for traders who want to pay the lowest fees. Plus500 is among the most competitive brokers in terms of costs, so it’s a great choice if you want to minimize trading expenses.
Spreads
Spreads are fixed per instrument, and they don’t vary according to trade size, but high-volume traders can receive a discount. The average spread cost is 0.45 for S&P 500, 1 for Europe 50, and 0.6 pips for EUR/USD forex trade.
Available leverage
Leverage refers to the ability of traders to gain higher exposure than their current deposits would otherwise permit. The benefit of higher leverage is that it potentially increases your profits, but the downside is that it also increases your potential loss, too.
Plus500 offers maximum leverage of 1:20 for Commodities and Indices, and 1:30 for Forex.
Unfortunately, the maximum leverage levels available are lower with this broker compared to others but they do offer a large number of instruments available to be traded especially for CFD trading.
Analysis and Education
Plus500 offers a great selection of educational and analytical resources, including its demo account, educational and trading videos, educational articles, and an e-book about trading with this broker. You can also find additional videos and content under its FAQ section. These educational resources are more than sufficient to teach you about the basics of forex trading and introduce you to this platform.
As for its analytical resources, Plus500 offers great charting tools, with over 199 technical indicators, like RSI and MACD, and great editor tools. These analytical resources make Plus 500 an excellent choice for traders who want the best charting tools. Unfortunately, Plus500 doesn’t yet offer either fundamental data, a news section, or trading ideas. it also doesn’t offer a newsletter, unlike many other large brokers. So, there are some features left desired.
Overall, Plus500 has good educational resources that are decent enough to get you started on the platform and teach you about forex trading. The charting tools are especially good, and you’re likely to appreciate their usefulness. Yet, the biggest problem with Plus500 is its absence of a newsfeed and advanced analytical tools. Don’t expect to be able to conduct advanced market analyses with this broker.
Customer service
Plus500 offers customer service through its live chat, Whatsapp, email, and contact us page for inquiries. But, it doesn’t offer phone support, which can be disappointing for them. The Plus500 live chat feature is reputed for being extremely fast and responsive, with replies being given to inquiries in less than an hour. Plus500’s customer support is also available 24/7, which is highly appreciated.
Overall, Plus500 offers a very good quality customer service that’s more than sufficient for most traders’ needs. its fast response times on live chat are especially impressive. So, this is definitely the broker of choice for you if good customer service is a priority. Click here to connect with their customer service
Reputation amongst Traders
Plus500 is considered one of the best trading platforms by most traders. Plus500 has a Trustpilot rating of 4.2 out of 5 and an overall trust score of 99 out of 99 by Forexbroker. Plus500 is most known for its proprietary platform, low risk nature, and fast withdrawal timing.
Overall, in terms of reputation, Plus500 is much better regarded than most international brokers. It’s one of the industry’s safest and most reliable trading platforms. So, Plus500 is an excellent choice for anyone who wants to use the most reliable trading platforms.
Can beginners trade with PLUS500 Review?
For the most part, no. Although Plus500 has an easy-to-navigate platform, and the broker provides good educational resources and demo accounts, it’s not great for beginners. Plus500 also doesn’t market itself to beginners either. The platform is much better suited to traders with at least some trading experience. You can’t easily conduct research or market analysis on the platform, and it can be tricky to use. Overall, Plus500 is not a good choice for beginners, and you would be better off choosing a different platform if you’re new to forex trading.
Summing Up
Overall, Plus500 is one of the world’s best forex trading platforms for a reason. It’s very highly regulated, secure, and offers some of the best customer protection policies by any broker. It also has its own proprietary trading platform, which is also extremely secure and has many features, albeit its analytical tools are lacking.
Plus500 also has generally high-quality education resources, but the broker doesn’t have a dedicated news site, unlike other brokers. On the bright side, it’s a relatively inexpensive broker with minimal fees, and it has excellent customer service. Plus500 is a great choice for you if you’re an experienced trader who wants low fees and fast withdrawals, but it’s not a good choice for beginners.
