Plus500 review

Spread from

0.6 pips

EUR/USD spread

Approx. 0.6 pips

GBP/USD spread

Approx. 1.2 pips

Commission

$0

All-in cost, EUR/USD

Approx. 0.6 pips

Spread type

Variable

Overnight swap

Both: overnight funding applies; swap-free accounts available in eligible regions

Inactivity fee

Up to $10/month after 3 months without logging in

Withdrawal fee

None for standard withdrawals; charges can apply below minimum thresholds or from third parties

Currency conversion

Up to 0.7%

Cost is where brokers in the same regulatory bracket actually differ.

Spreads from 0.6 pips suggest an all-in account, where the broker's fee is built into the price rather than charged separately. There is usually no commission on top, which makes the cost easier to predict.

Quoted spreads are best-case figures on the most liquid pair, in normal conditions. What you actually pay widens around news and at the session open.

Plus500 lists a minimum deposit of $100. Treat it as the cost of opening an account, not the cost of trading one - position sizing on a small balance is what tends to cause damage.

Markets

Forex, Shares, Indices, Commodities, ETFs, Options, Cryptocurrencies

Currency pairs

60+

Total instruments

2,800+

Crypto CFDs

Yes, jurisdiction-dependent

Maximum leverage

1:30

Execution model

Market maker

Execution speed

Under 1 second

Order types

Market, limit, stop, stop-loss, stop-limit, trailing stop, guaranteed stop

Servers

Global cloud/data-centre infrastructure

Leverage is capped at 1:30, which is the retail limit under tier-one regulation. It is a protection rather than a restriction: it caps how quickly a position can move against your balance.

Plus500 covers forex, shares, indices, commodities, etfs, options, cryptocurrencies. A wider range matters less than depth in the instruments you actually trade.

Funding options: visa, mastercard, bank transfer, paypal, skrill, apple pay, google pay, trustly and regional methods. Check withdrawal routes as well as deposit ones - they are often not the same, and the difference only becomes apparent when you try to take money out.

Platforms

Plus500 WebTrader, Plus500 mobile and desktop platforms

Own platform

Yes

Mobile app

Proprietary

Browser trading

Yes

Automated trading

No

Copy trading

No

Indicators

100+ technical indicators

Third-party tools

TradingView-powered charting features and external market data integrations

API access

No retail API

Plus500 offers Plus500 WebTrader, Plus500 mobile and desktop platforms. A proprietary platform can be excellent, but it means your setup does not transfer if you later change broker.

Regulated by

FCA (509909); ASIC (AFSL 417727); CySEC (250/14); FMA (486026); FSCA (47546); MAS (CMS100648); Seychelles FSA (SD039); DFSA (F005651); EFSA (4.1-1/18); SCB Bahamas (SIA-F250); CIRO; ISA; JFSA; SCA; CFTC/NFA

Regulator tier

Tier 1

Register entry

FCA Financial Services Register, FRN 509909

Client money segregated

Yes

Held at

Segregated client bank accounts with regulated banking institutions

Negative balance protection

Yes

Compensation scheme

FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients; ICF up to €20,000 for eligible Cyprus clients

Audited by

Kesselman & Kesselman, member firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers International

Not available to

United States for CFDs, Belgium, and other jurisdictions where CFD services are prohibited or Plus500 is not authorised

Across a hundred brokers, the licence is what separates the field fastest.

Plus500 holds tier-one authorisations from ASIC, FCA, CySEC, MAS, FMA, CFTC/NFA and CIRO. That matters more than any headline spread: it determines your leverage cap, whether losses can exceed your deposit, and what happens to your money if the firm fails.

It also operates an offshore entity (SCB and FSA). Which one you are onboarded to depends on where you live, and the two carry very different protections - worth confirming before you deposit.

ASIC caps retail leverage at 1:30, requires negative balance protection, and obliges the broker to hold client money in a separate trust account.

The FCA caps retail leverage at 1:30, mandates negative balance protection, and covers eligible clients under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

CySEC licences passport across the EU and follow the 1:30 retail leverage cap, with the Investor Compensation Fund covering eligible claims.

Client money is held separately from the firm's own money, at Segregated client bank accounts with regulated banking institutions. That separation is what makes your balance recoverable if the company fails, rather than part of the pool its creditors divide up.

Negative balance protection applies, so a losing position cannot take the account below zero and leave you owing the broker money.

Covered by FSCS up to £85,000 for eligible UK clients; ICF up to €20,000 for eligible Cyprus clients, which pays eligible clients up to its limit if the firm fails owing client money.

Check the licence yourself: the FCA Register, ASIC Connect, the CySEC register of investment firms, the New Zealand Financial Service Providers Register, the FSCA list of regulated entities, the MAS Financial Institutions Directory, the Seychelles FSA list of regulated entities, the DFSA public register, NFA BASIC.

Minimum deposit

$100

Account types

Retail, Professional, Demo, Swap-Free

Account currencies

AUD, USD, EUR, GBP and other region-dependent currencies

Islamic account

Yes

Demo account

Yes, unlimited

Professional account

Yes

Minimum trade size

Instrument-dependent; generally from micro-position sizes

Time to open

Typically a few minutes

Plus500 runs 4 account types. More choice is not automatically better: the tightest headline spread almost always sits on the account that also charges a commission, so the comparison that matters is the two added together.

Base currencies: AUD, USD, EUR, GBP and other region-dependent currencies. Holding the account in the currency you fund it with avoids a conversion charge on every deposit and withdrawal - a cost that never shows up in a spread comparison.

The smallest position is Instrument-dependent; generally from micro-position sizes. For anyone starting carefully this matters more than the minimum deposit, because it sets the least you can put at risk on a single trade.

A demo account is available. Worth using for the platform rather than the results: fills are simulated, so it tells you how the software behaves but very little about execution.

Deposit methods

Visa, Mastercard, bank transfer, PayPal, Skrill, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Trustly and regional methods

Withdrawal methods

Credit/debit card, bank transfer, PayPal, Skrill and supported regional methods

Deposit time

Instant for cards and most e-wallets; bank transfers typically 1-3 business days

Withdrawal time

1-3 business days processing plus payment-provider processing time

Minimum withdrawal

$50 PayPal/Skrill; $100 bank transfer/cards

Local payment methods

Trustly; Apple Pay; Google Pay and jurisdiction-specific local methods

Withdrawals are stated at 1-3 business days processing plus payment-provider processing time, against Instant for cards and most e-wallets; bank transfers typically 1-3 business days for deposits. A gap between the two is normal and not in itself a warning sign - identity checks are a legal obligation, not obstruction. What is worth noticing is a withdrawal that keeps meeting new conditions after those checks are done.

Withdrawal routes: credit/debit card, bank transfer, paypal, skrill and supported regional methods. Money is usually returned by the route it arrived on, so the deposit method you pick is in effect the withdrawal method you are picking too.

The minimum withdrawal is $50 PayPal/Skrill; $100 bank transfer/cards - relevant if you intend to fund the account lightly, since it sets the smallest amount you can take out at a time.

Support hours

24/7

Contact channels

Live chat, email, WhatsApp

Languages

30 languages

Telephone

N/A

Email

N/A

Live chat response

Typically under 2 minutes

Education

Extensive: Trading Academy, beginner guides, webinars, videos, articles and glossary

Research

Economic news, market insights, +Insights, sentiment and analytical tools

Support runs 24/7. Round-the-clock cover matters more than it sounds: a position held over a weekend or through an unexpected halt is exactly when you need somebody to answer.

Reachable by live chat, email, whatsapp. A published telephone number is the one channel that is hard to fake and hard to ignore, so whether there is one says more than the number of channels does.

Languages: 30 languages. Being able to raise a complaint in your own language is worth more than it appears, because complaints are where precision matters most.

Education: extensive: trading academy, beginner guides, webinars, videos, articles and glossary. Treat broker-published material as an introduction rather than as advice - it is produced by a firm whose revenue rises when you trade more.

Legal entity

Plus500 Ltd

Company number

514142577

Headquarters

Haifa, Israel

Founded

2008

Publicly listed

Yes, London Stock Exchange (LON: PLUS), FTSE 250

Parent company

Independent

Employees

674

Also trades as

Plus500; Plus500 Invest; Plus500 Futures

Plus500 has been trading for around 18 years, through at least one full market cycle. Longevity guarantees nothing on its own, but a firm that came through 2008 and 2015 has been tested in a way a recent entrant has not.

It is publicly listed, which brings audited accounts and disclosure duties a private broker does not carry. That is real transparency about the company - though it says nothing about the trading conditions.

The contracting entity is Plus500 Ltd. This is the company you would actually have a relationship with, and it is worth checking that it is the same one named on the licence you are relying on: large brokers commonly operate several, and they are not equally protected.

Part of Independent. A parent adds resources, but the protections that apply to you are the ones attached to the entity that holds your account, not to the group.