Plus500 Review 2025

Trust

Plus500 Regulators

In our reviews, we examine the regulatory status of each entity operated by a broker. This allows us to compare the different levels of client protection. We rank regulators using a three-tier system, where Tier-1 licensing reflects the highest level of regulation.

Here are my findings on the various entities of Plus500:

• Plus500CY Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (Licence No. 250/14). We rate CySEC as a Tier 1 regulator.
• Plus500UK Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 509909). We rate FCA as a Tier 1 regulator.
• Plus500AU Pty Ltd holds AFSL #417727 issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, FSP No. 486026 issued by the New Zealand Financial Markets Authority, and Authorized Financial Services Provider #47546 issued by the South Africa Financial Sector Conduct Authority. We rate ASIC as a Tier 1 regulator, NZFMA as a Tier 2 regulator, and FSCA as a Tier 2 regulator.
• Plus500EE AS is authorized and regulated by the Estonian Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority (Licence No. 4.1-1/18). We rate the EFSA as a Tier 1 regulator.
• Plus500AE Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (F005651). We rate DFSA as a Tier 2 regulator.
• Plus500SG Pte Ltd (UEN 201422211Z) holds a capital markets services license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for dealing in capital markets products (License No. CMS100648). We rate MAS as a Tier 2 regulator.
• Plus500SEY Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (Licence No. SD039). We rate the Seychelles FSA as a Tier 3 regulator.
• Plus500BHS Ltd is licensed and regulated by the Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB) as a Firm Dealing in Securities as an Agent or Principal, with license number SIA-F250. We rate the SCB as a Tier 3 regulator.

Understanding the Regulatory Protections of Your Account

Brokers operate multiple entities to serve clients globally, yet regulatory protections vary by jurisdiction. Some regulators enforce strict financial standards, while others are more lenient. Traders should understand the protection offered by the entity where they intend to open an account.

• Segregation of Client Funds: Keeping client funds in segregated bank accounts from the ones used for the broker’s corporate capital negates the risk of accounting errors. All Plus500 entities ensure this.
• Negative Balance Protection: This safety mechanism removes the risk of trading losses exceeding the account balance. In other words, the losses you incur from trading are capped at the amount you have put in your trading account. This is especially important in volatile markets. All Plus500 entities provide negative balance protection.
• Compensation Scheme: A compensation scheme protects retail traders against the broker’s liabilities in the unlikely event that the company becomes insolvent. Clients of Plus500CY Ltd are insured by the Investor Compensation Scheme (ICF) for up to €20,000.
• Maximum Leverage: Capping the maximum leverage restricts the extent of market exposure to retail traders. The higher the leverage, the higher the potential profits and potential losses. Plus500CY Ltd offers leverage of up to 1:30, while Plus500SEY Ltd provides the highest leverage, offering up to 1:300.

Stability and Transparency

In our tests for the Trust category, we also cover factors relating to stability and transparency. Here, we focus on the broker’s operating history, size, and overall transparency.

Plus500 was founded in 2008, marking it as an experienced CFD broker with a substantial track record. According to its LinkedIn page, the company is headquartered in London and has 201-500 employees.

My research showed that Plus500 is highly transparent about its regulatory status, listing its regulators in the footer of each page of its website. The website breaks down fees clearly on the Fees and Charges page. Further details can be found in the User Agreement on the Terms and Agreements page.

Is Plus500 Safe to Trade With?

To sum it up, Plus500 stands out as a highly trusted and stable broker thanks to these key qualities:

• Regulated by multiple top-tier regulators.
• 17 years of operating history.
• Publicly traded company valued at over £2 billion.
• High level of transparency.

Fees

Plus500 Trading Fees

Plus500 Spreads

I tested the spreads at Plus500 during the London open and just after the New York open on 28 February 2025. At these times, the market is typically highly liquid with the tightest spreads.

My tests revealed that Plus500’s spreads generally lag behind the industry average across most instruments. While CFD spreads on shares are wider than average, it’s worth noting that many competing brokers charge extra commissions and minimum fees—something Plus500 doesn’t do. Instead, all trading costs are built into the spread, even for share CFDs.

On the bright side, DAX 40 spreads stood out, averaging slightly better than the industry standard, making it one of the more cost-effective choices on the platform.

Plus500 Swap Fees

In the table below, you can see the Swap Long (the cost/credit of holding a buy position overnight) and the Swap Short (the cost/credit of maintaining a sell position overnight) for one full-sized contract.

A full-sized contract is 100,000 units of the base currency (the first currency quoted in the pair). I recorded the data on 27 February 2025.

The values listed below are for one full contract (100,000 units) of the base currency.

My review showed that swap fees are average for the industry.

Plus500 Non-Trading Fees

Plus500 does not charge any fees for deposits and withdrawals. However, there is a monthly inactivity fee of $10 for accounts that have been dormant for 3 months.

Are Plus500 Fees Competitive?

I rate the fees at Plus50 as average overall for the following reasons:

• Most spreads are wider than the industry average, although trading costs on some indices and stocks are competitive.
• Swap fees are average.
• No fees on deposits and withdrawals.
• Modest inactivity fee.

Platform and Tools

Plus500 WebTrader Platform

Plus500`s flagship trading platform, WebTrader, is accessible via a web browser and a Microsoft Windows app. It is available in 31 languages and features two-factor authentication for additional security when you log in.

WebTrader allows users to easily create watchlists, analyze charts, enter trades, and monitor market positions. The platform makes it easy to switch between demo and live trading with a single click. A dark mode option helps make the screen easier on the eyes at night.

Traders often need to pull up an instrument at short notice, so a good search is an essential feature of a trading platform. Plus500 WebTrader has an excellent search tool at the top of the screen, making it easy to find whatever asset you want to access.

Charts

The WebTrader platform offers robust charting capabilities. The range includes 20 chart types, such as Candles, renko, and Range Bars.

Traders can apply over 100 technical indicators to their charts along with classic drawing tools like Fibonacci retracement levels. There are eleven available time frames for charts, ranging from one minute to one week.

The platform is customizable, and a helpful feature called Multiple Charts View allows you to view numerous charts laid out to your preference on the same screen.

Orders

WebTrader provides all standard order types, such as market, limit, and stop loss. More advanced trailing stop orders are also available.

• Market Order: Traders use market orders to buy or sell an instrument at the best current price.
• Limit Order: Traders use limit orders to buy or sell an instrument at a specified price or better.
• Stop-Loss Order: Traders use stop-loss orders to buy or sell an instrument when its price reaches a specified level.
• Trailing Stop Order: Traders use trailing stop-loss orders as a stop-loss order at a defined percentage or number of pips away from an instrument’s current market price.

Plus500 Alerts

Alerts from the WebTrader platform can update you when the price of an asset reaches a certain level or changes by a set percentage. Clients can also receive notifications when traders’ sentiment hits a specified level.

Alerts can be sent by email, SMS, or push notifications. The minimalist layout of the platform makes these functions effortless to use.

Plus500 WebTrader: My Key Takeaways

WebTrader is an exceptional platform for casual traders and swing traders thanks to its first-class design and usability.

Beyond design, it offers powerful charting and flexible order types. Better-than-average trading tools, research, and customer support are all available without leaving the platform—a major bonus, in my view.

It is not for every trader, though. The lack of 1-click trading and trading from the chart makes WebTrader unsuitable for day traders and scalpers. The platform also does not offer automated trading or copy trading features.

Plus500 Mobile App

The Plus500 mobile app, available for iOS and Android, offers nearly the same set of tools as the WebTrader platform.

The app has an intuitive interface and offers a range of great features, including:

• Two-Factor Authentication: Users can improve their account security by requiring a verification code sent via SMS for every new device login.
• Demo Mode: Users can easily switch between a demo account and live trading within the app.
• Diverse Order Types: The app offers market, limit, stop-loss, and trailing stop orders.
• Alerts: Users can set alerts to be sent via email, SMS, or push notification when an asset reaches a set level.
• Economic Calendar: The Plus500 economic calendar shows all the key information about upcoming releases, such as the expected market impact, analyst expectations, and figures from previous releases.

Charting on the mobile app is robust and provides:

• 13 Chart Types: A broader than average range, from Bar charts to Point & Figure charts.
• 11 Time Frames: These range from 1 Minute to 1 Week.
• 100+ Indicators: An extensive range of indicators (more than MetaTrader) – from Accumulation/Distribution to ZigZag.
• 22 Drawing Tools: These include classics such as Fibonacci, Gartley, and Pitchfork.

Plus500 Mobile App: My Key Takeaways

Overall, I concluded that this is an excellent app with a superb design and robust built-in tools. With features like +Insights research, market news, and an economic calendar, the Plus500 app goes above and beyond the average broker app. However, like WebTrader, it lacks 1-click trading for speedy order entry.

Plus500 Order Execution Model

Plus500 is the counterparty to clients’ trades. In other words, Plus500 transacts with clients as a principal on the basis of a quote. The broker acts as the sole execution venue and as the principal in all client trades. All trades are executed by Plus500 using the Plus500 Ltd trading platform, and for each trade, an identical hedge trade takes place between Plus500 and Plus500 Ltd.

Tradable Instruments

The range of tradable instruments at Plus500 is well above average in every major asset class.

What are CFDs?

A Contract for Difference (CFD) is an agreement specifying that the buyer must pay the seller the difference between an asset’s current value and its value at the time the contract was initiated. Like futures and other derivative financial instruments, CFDs allow traders to speculate on price movements without owning the underlying asset.

CFDs You Can Trade with Plus500

To better illustrate the range of instruments available at Pls500, the following tables show samples from various asset classes:

Plus500 Instruments: My Key Takeaways

Plus500 gives traders a serious edge when it comes to market variety. Not only does it offer a higher-than-average number of instruments in each asset class, but it also includes unique assets that many CFD brokers don’t.

Traders can access options, ETFs, and extended-hours shares, providing more flexibility and opportunities beyond regular market hours. This extra variety makes Plus500 a solid choice for traders looking to diversify and explore different markets.

Customer Support

Plus500 Customer Support Test

I tested Plus500 customer service over two weeks with dozens of queries, ranging from platforms to fees and account-related issues.

Live chat, WhatsApp, and contact form support are available both via the website and from within the WebTrader platform. Agents were typically available within seconds, and inquiries via the contact form were responded to the same day.

Deposit and Withdrawal

In the tables below, I break down the fees and processing times for each deposit and withdrawal method.

Plus500 Deposit Methods

Plus500 offers a flexible range of deposit methods, which are free of charge and relatively fast.

Plus500 Withdrawal Methods

Withdrawals are free, even via bank transfer, and processing times are faster than average.

Account Types and Terms

Plus500 Account Opening Process

The account opening process at Plus500 is smooth and fast. The application includes questions about your country of residence, nationality, date of birth, address, trading experience, employment, and financial background. There is also a brief test of your knowledge related to trading. To open a live account, users must prove their identity and address by uploading the relevant documents to the platform.

Professional Account

Professional accounts at Plus500 include benefits like higher available leverage and cash rebates.

Clients who meet at least two of the following three criteria are eligible:

• Sufficient trading activity in the last 12 months. You have performed an average of at least 10 transactions per quarter, of significant size, over the previous four quarters on the relevant market (with Plus500 and/or other providers).
• Financial instrument portfolio of over €500,000 (including cash savings and financial instruments). You will not be required to deposit this amount. The size of your financial instrument portfolio exceeds €500,000.
• Relevant experience in the financial services sector. You work/have worked in the financial sector, for at least one year in a professional position that requires knowledge of the related transactions or services.

Demo Account

Free and unlimited demo accounts are available via the Plus500 WebTrader platform and mobile app. Demo accounts are especially important for beginners as they allow them to practice their strategies and get comfortable with the trading platform without risking real money. The demo account features live quotes and simulates live market conditions in assets like forex, commodities, indices, and stocks. Once users are up to speed on a demo, they can easily switch to a live account.

Islamic Account

Plus500 offers a swap-free Islamic account that adheres to the principles of Sharia law.

What is CFD Leverage?

One of the reasons that traders are attracted to the forex and CFD markets is the high degree of available leverage. Leverage is the use of borrowed funds to increase the size of your trading positions beyond what would be possible using only the cash in your account.

For the Plus500CY Ltd entity, the maximum leverage for a retail account is 1:30. This means that with an account of $1,000, you can control up to 30,000 worth of positions in the market. This level of leverage carries substantial risk.

Leverage is often described as a ‘double-edged sword’ as it can hurt you as much as it helps you. Traders should keep in mind that it can amplify both their profits and their losses.

Leverage varies by asset class, as illustrated in the following table:

Plus500 Supported/Restricted Countries

Plus500 accepts clients from most countries globally. However, like most CFD brokers, It does not take clients from North Korea and Iran, which are FATF (Financial Action Task Force) countries.

Research

Plus500 offers a regular stream of articles covering news and market insights. These are written by seasoned in-house analysts and explore mostly fundamental themes, for example, earnings reports and central bank policy.

The quality of the content is good, with helpful information and ideas, but the volume of content is relatively light, with only two articles published per day.

Plus500 has excellent research tools built into the platform, +Insights, which provides unique data on what traders at Plus500 are buying and selling. This information is especially valuable because the global client base at Plus500 is massive. The tool shows community trends with lists of key data, including:

• Most traded instruments
• Most profit-making positions
• Most loss-making positions
• Highest buy ratio
• Highest sell ratio
• Highest profit return from a trade
• Highest loss return from a trade

A robust economic calendar is available via the website, Plus500 WebTrader platform, and mobile app. The calendar has unique features, for example, showing a list of the trading instruments related to each economic release.

Plus500 Research: My Key Takeaways

Plus500 research materials are strong and cater mostly to beginners, casual traders, and swing/position traders. The innovative +Insights tool is a great source of trading ideas. However, items like real-time news feeds from Reuters and Dow Jones, which are most valuable to day traders and scalpers, are not available.

Education

In the Trader’s Guide section, users can access 15 brief videos explaining topics like rollover, margin, and features like alerts and the +Insights tool. The Beginner’s Guide section offers a broad range of 38 in-depth articles covering themes like order types, trading psychology, and trading strategies. The articles are insightful, comprehensive and complemented with graphics, making them easier to digest.

Plus500 provides an ebook called ‘Trading with Plus500’ that covers the basics of CFD trading. It is a useful reference and includes explanations of different asset classes, orders, charting, and terminology like base and quote currencies.

Plus500 offers webinars by the Corellian Academy, led by independent market analysts and experts specializing in key areas like trading psychology, technical analysis, and trading strategy. This content is more advanced and can cater to experienced traders.

The Bottom Line

Plus500 takes a different approach from other leading CFD brokers in that it does not try to appeal to every kind of trader. Rather, it has focused on technology and innovation to create what I rate as the most user-friendly and smooth CFD trading experience available.

Everything about this broker – from the website to its platform and ever-present customer support – removes the usual friction of getting started and becoming active in financial markets.

Plus500 excelled in our Trust category, with its large global presence as a multi-regulated and publicly traded broker. Its range of instruments is also remarkable, beating the industry average in every asset class and featuring unusual assets like options and extended-hours stocks.

The Plus500 WebTrader platform and mobile app are outstanding in their design and usability for casual and position traders. Unique research tools like +Insights underscore the broker’s commitment to innovation. However, the WebTrader platform lacks features suitable for short-term traders like day traders and scalpers.

Trading costs reflected in the spreads are not highly competitive overall. However, I would point out that these initial costs of entering a trade are much less important when you are placing fewer trades and holding positions for longer periods, as the platform is geared towards.

Educational and research materials are solid, but in line with the theme of the broker, are more suitable for new/casual traders rather than professionals.

If you are looking to dip your toes into the financial markets for the first time or have a full-time occupation and would like an easy solution for getting involved with trading and investing, I rate Plus500 as a strong choice.

FAQ