What is Plus500?

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Our verdict: Practiced investors can transact manually at lower costs. It’s also our best options trading platform.

But, what is Plus500? It’s a high-quality online trading platform that lets you invest through a broker, in order to purchase different forms of stocks or other instruments and markets – through the ‘Contract for Differences’, CFD (more: what are CFDs?).

Plus500 gives you deep access to CFDs – trade an asset’s full value without the full cash upfront. Its WebTrader platform is straightforward, legal for Aussies.

Minimum deposit	AUD200
Platforms	WebTrader (proprietary; no MT4/5)
Inactivity fees?	$10 – for every 3 months inactivity
No withdrawal/deposit fees	✔️
Crypto (physical)	❌
Crypto (CFD)	✔️
Demo account provided	✔️

Plus500 Security 🔒️

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More on Plus500’s protections: With almost 2,000 CFDs, it’s no surprise that they are regulated and allowed it to be publicly traded on both the London Stock Exchange and FTSE 250 Index. 

Regulators:

• Plus500UK Ltd authorized & regulated by the FCA (#509909) – UK
• 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
• Plus500CY Ltd authorized & regulated by CySEC (#250/14) – Cyprus
• Plus500SG Pte Ltd, licensed by the MAS (#CMS100648-1) – Singapore
• Plus500SEY Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (Licence No. SD039) – Seychelles

High-Trust Licenses 🔏

Founded in Israel, Plus500 has been around since 2008.

They now hold operational licences for the FCA (Plus500UK Ltd authorized & regulated by the FCA (#509909)), which is the main regulatory agency in the UK, as well as for ASIC (Plus500AU Pty Ltd (ACN 153301681)) – Australia’s main regulatory body. Hence, it’s highly regarded internationally for being rigorous in maintaining fair market practices for both businesses and individuals.

Holding government-backed licences is key, as this is one of the main ways a financial firm can establish its credibility – the longer that each licence has been held for, the longer the company was able to ensure proper standards, to auditors.

Guaranteed Stop

Plus500 uses a very strong risk management protocol called Guaranteed Stop. This type of stop loss closes any positions that you have open, at your set price. Thereby, if the market careens in an unforeseen direction, your guaranteed stop cuts off the size of losses possible to your portfolio.

How this works is that Plus500 guarantees that you will accept a position once it hits a certain price level. This is particularly useful if you are dealing with volatile markets like cryptocurrency.

A stop-loss is a fundamental risk-control that works outside of emotions. If the market suddenly becomes unfavourable due to breaking news, you’re prepared. (Please note, closing may have a small charge). 

Please note that the Guaranteed Stop order feature is not available for all instruments. You can read more about it here.

WebTrader

WebTrader is Plus500’s proprietary platform that’s easy to use, giving a streamlined way to trade that is stable and simple to access from your different devices and operating systems (from desktops to browsers, tablets, and smartphones: for more on the interface, jump using this link).

Professionalism

Note that you cannot integrate some of the other common trading interfaces, such as MT4 or cTrader. Nevertheless – Plus500’s WebTrader platform gives you a no-frills, competent way of trading locally and internationally. 

Both the professional and retail accounts operate on the same platform. And, for clients who want to trade directly from the Internet, there is a web-based version that can be accessed using any web browser.

One security caveat is that WebTrader’s applications, usable across various devices, provides a direct access-point to fund accounts. Some traders may be worried about not having more rigorous security measures.

While the charts are dynamic and offer clarity when in full-screen mode during analytics, someone with access to the Plus500 mobile app is able to directly deposit and withdraw money from inside it.

Plus500 Review – Costs 💰️

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Please note that all the instruments offered are available for trading only through CFDs.

Funding & Accepted Currencies

There’s a plethora of ways to fund your account, and currencies that Plus500 accepts. You’ll have at least AUD200 in your account to start trading.

Funding types:

*Some methods are available only to specific regions. Check your account for the local methods Plus500 provides in your area (if there are any).

Currencies:

Limits:

• Max withdrawal limit: None
• Min withdrawal limit: $50
• Min deposit limit: $200

You can find more information on fees in here.

Try the risk-free version – get your Demo Account today ⭐

Plus500 Review – Buying Guide 📑️

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WebTrader Interface

WebTrader, Plus500’s proprietary platform streamlines most elements of the trading experience – it’s stable and easy to access for crossover systems and devices, including on web browsers and tablets.

The interface is straightforward – find everything quite intuitively: analyse charts, make watchlists, and monitor and place trades. As for technical analysis charts – there are over a hundred technical indicators that can be connected to different timeframes, from weekly to tick charts. 

One weakness is that WebTrader doesn’t give you integrations for MetaTrader 4 (MT4), which would overall provide you with even more customizability and functionality. By comparison, WebTrader gives you a more basic, trimmed experience.

WebTrader’s more standout feature is ease-of-use; despite no MT4, layouts will feel familiar.

Experience Level

Despite the straightforwardness of the application, this does not mean it is suitable for beginner users – even for those with basic MetaTrader knowledge. This is because WebTrader is a closed system.

You’ll need to know where to find specific tools, as there is no ability to incorporate third-party analytical automation add-ons. This also makes it potentially problematic for advanced traders, too – who want special features available with other CFD brokers.

This also means WebTrader doesn’t let clients manage third-party funds using percentage allocation management modules (PAMM or MAM trading platforms). Social/copy-trading is also unavailable – so those looking to do passive trading, cannot mirror positions of expert traders, or use other trading algorithms. The same goes for back-testing.

Plus500 Review of Customer Service

Plus500’s customer service limits you to email and online chat support, but these are available 24/7. There is no telephone number, even for sales inquiries.

Despite this, our research suggests clients can expect to get responses to emails and chats within a few minutes, which is a relatively expedient response time. The online chat feels a bit generic, as though a chat-box is being used – however, the software is good at discovering commonly asked questions.

You’re given a human agent quickly when you need it, with the customer service team generally being capable, expedient, and friendly.

Educational Resources 🏫

Plus500 provides a Trading academy with FAQ articles and videos on the basics of CFDs, along with a news feed and an economic calendar.

They offer “Key Information Document” (KID) which gives readers a basic understanding of what each available instrument is, and risk factors associated with trading them. The KID does give summaries on cryptocurrencies (which is subject to regional availability), commodities, forex, EDS, forex, options, and equities.

Research Resources

WebTrader p basic data on your activity in real time, such as transactions, balances, and profit/loss breakdowns. Parallax the portfolio analysis, such as a trading journal or tax accounting tool.

There are useful financial and earnings calendars. The charts are customisable, let you do technical analysis on an instrument being traded – full screen gives you crisp clarity.

The trader sentiment in the KR as you know the percentage of Plus500 clients who have oppositions in instrument, and its “live statistics” indicator release the instruments outcomes for 3 levels of timeframe: 5 minute, 1 hour, 1 day.

How to Open a Plus500 Account 🖱️

Plus500 is good if you want a straightforward opening process for your digital account. Once you’ve gone through the online registration, you need to verify your identity and give proof of residence.

For your identity, a simple upload of your photo ID or passport is enough – and for proof of address, a bank statement or utility bill. A driver’s licence or residence permit are also accepted as ID – while a salary slip, address card, or toll tax letter can verify your residence.

Related: How to Use Plus500

How to Use Plus500 Trading Platform 📲

Let’s run through the step-by-step of using WebTrader to make an order and complete it – from start to finish. Watch the full video here:

1. To open a position, first search for the instrument you want to trade, for instance, the Oil instrument.

2. Select your chosen instrument – you’ll be given two main options: buy or sell.

3. You can also Star an interesting instrument and see its historic performance.

4. Any set up any alerts, to ping you when the instrument reaches a predetermined value threshold.

5. Once you choose to buy or sell, remember that you are buying an underlying asset, not the asset itself. Choose to automatically close at profit or at loss (stop-loss) – you can also use a Guaranteed Loss (which sets an absolute limit on your potential losses, for wider spreads).

6. The last option is to do a future purchase, for when Oil’s price reaches a certain value. Once the trade is active, you’re given the option to close the order, or to edit some of your available stop orders.

What is Stock Trading?

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Trading via stocks has been around for centuries. This trading type was created to facilitate deals between investors and businesses. As the practice became popular, more formal exchanges bloomed, such as the London Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange.

These centres of stock trading activity have become big business, worth billions of dollars today – the most important feature of stock trading is that a firm is valued based on its future earning potential. 

Stockholders invest their capital, in return for a cut of a firm’s future earnings, as its value rises, holds, or even dips. The more capital you’ve allocated into the firm’s profits, the more you are paid in dividends.

What is CFD Trading?

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Around since the 1990s, CFDs are much younger. This specific instrument is designed to let investors leverage an ‘underlying asset’. When you trade CFDs, therefore – where the underlying instrument is a stock – you will be using a very similar process to stock trading.

You have the same aim as in stock trading – you want to make a profit from an asset’s price changing in a direction favourable to your position. 

Your gambit is based on the idea that the stock you hold a derivative in, is mis-priced, or will hold its price. The forces of supply and demand shift into play and push the price – or keep it relatively stable compared to another type of asset.

However, you only hold a derivative of the shares in your underlying company, for instance Netflix Inc.

Similarities – CFDs vs. Stocks

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A CFD in Tesla Inc stock for instance, will have the same price as Tesla Inc stock listed on the NASDAQ exchange:

• If Tesla Inc’s price on the NASDAQ goes up, the relevant CFD holding also does.
• Any loss or profit will be equivalent – whether it is a stock or stock CFD.
• Investors who hold stock or stock CFDs receive dividends – although there are differences for how separate instruments are taxed. Please note that dividends are not always a profit when trading with CFD. You could find more information here.
• Both are also convenient to use – trades can be made at the click of a button.

Differences: CFDs vs. Stocks

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Stocks and CFDs differ in their underlying deal agreement… While stocks are recorded as entries by a registrar, who is responsible for maintaining details for all stockholders; CFDs are a contract between client and broker.

Risks

With shares, your risk is limited to how valuable the firm is. The market might move in a volatile, unsuitable direction. With CFDs, there is that market risk as well as a counterparty risk – if your CFD broker goes bankrupt, you could lose your escrow.

CFDs are particularly risky because they use leverages. Stock trading is unleveraged. Major regulators, such as in Australia, for this reason, have limited how much a CFD can be leveraged.

Market reach

CFDs give you reach into emerging markets and broader markets than just stocks. For instance – they can be used to deal in Forex, stock indices, commodities, and crypto – that allow CFD forms.

Plus500 – FAQs ⭐

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How much does Plus500 cost? 

You’ll need AUD200 to start trading, but there are no withdrawal, deposit, or custody fees. Because CFDs contain higher inherent risk than some trading types – begin your newfound journey by getting a risk-free Demo Account.

Why are CFDs illegal in the US?

CFDs are labelled over-the-counter, OTC, products in the US. They bypass regulated exchanges – which concerns regulators worried about their high leverages, which can accelerate losses to retail consumers.

Is CFD trading legal in Australia?

CFD trading is perfectly legal in Oz. It’s better regulated here; the strictest AU regulator, ASIC, has increased the level of client investor protections. Before using any trading platform in Australia, you should make sure it is regulated by ASIC.

Is CFD trading good for beginners?

In short – no. CFD trading can become rewarding if serious effort is put into studying the mechanism – you are otherwise simply gambling your money. You can lose more than you initially deposit, which you cannot do with stock trading. Most client accounts that do deal with CFD markets lose cash – so most realistically, the house usually wins.

How does Crypto CFD work?

How cryptocurrency CFDs work is essentially no different than trading any other CFD. You are making a contract with broker for an underlying asset, to speculate on the change in the value of a cryptocurrency pair, such as the following:

Which is better, eToro or Plus500?

Both eToro and Plus500 are low-risk, from an auditing standpoint. Both have high trust scores in the 90s (out of 100), with licences for multiple Tier-1 regulators. 

The main difference between the two is that eToro is designed for beginners who want to rapidly begin investing (via its social trading automation). Whereas Plus500 gives you deep access to CFD markets, in an attractive interface. eToro also lets you do CFDs, but you can mirror a top trader – you can also do crypto CFD trading: see our eToro review. 

Is Plus500 legit?

Plus500 recorded customer deposits worth 1.1B USD (in H1 of 2021) – making it one of the largest trading platforms around – simplifying universal access to broad financial markets. 

On whether Plus500 is a scam: CFDs are controversial, but the platform is considered secure and legit – which is why the London Stock Exchange lists them. They’re a legitimate global broker. Plus500 has been around since 2008 – and it’s regulated by several Tier-1 govermentally-backed bodies, including the ASIC and FCA.

Disclaimer: CFDs are complicated instruments with high risks due to leverage: 77% of retail investors lose cash. Also note, there is a fake version of this company called ‘Plus–500’ (the dash should not be there; they’re a fraudulent version of Plus500).

Is Plus500 Recommended? 👓

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