This well-regulated broker was founded back in 2008 out of Israel, although now it has subsidiaries throughout both the Asia Pacific region and Europe. Unfortunately for those Forex traders based within the United States of America, just like moths other similar brokers, they are not accepted on this platform.
As of June of 2018, the company was listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and by September of 2020, it was worth $2.07 billion – which is equivalent to £1.60 billion. Today the company has its headquarters in the heart of London’s financial district and, so, is subject to the regulation imposed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The broker provides its services to traders in greater than 50 countries throughout the world, which include opportunities such as stock trading, Forex trading, individual shares trading, commodities trading, options trading, cryptocurrencies trading, and ETFs. In 2013, it became the first broker of its kind to introduce a Bitcoin CFD.
Who is this broker for?
It can be used by any single trader or financial institution with the objective of accessing the financial markets via a high functional, yet simple platform that does not incur massive costs for doing so – like some of the other brokers that are out there. On the platform there are more than 2,000 different instruments for trading and no commission is charged, which makes it highly attractive to those more experienced traders who like to place trades manually themselves.
The pros and cons
Traders from over 50 different countries are able to access the broker’s platform to trade stock indices, Forex, commodities, individual shares, options, cryptocurrencies (i.e. Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.), and ETFs. The WebTrader feature that the company boasts has an intuitive interface that is easy to use and has the functionality to allow you to analyze charts, create watchlists, and both place and monitor trades. It is fully regulated by the FCA – one of the biggest agencies for regulation financial institutes within the United Kingdom. This goes to show just how credible Plus500 and that you can trust them to handle your money for you. The protection that they provide traders with includes that against negative balances, meaning that more money than what is in your account cannot be lost. Finally, the broker has in place an order that stops losses, thus protecting traders from the risk of a market gap.
When it comes to trying to contact the company, its customer service options are somewhat limited and include just either an email support function or a live chat feature – there is no telephone number to reach the company via. Those traders that are new to the world of financial markets will find very little in the way of education is provided by Plus500. The same is also true for those who are more experienced that want to do in-depth research. The broker does not, like many others, accept traders from the United States of America and its territories due to certain regulatory constraints. The WebTrader feature is unable to accept the integration of third party automation and analytical tools that advanced traders typically use.
What costs are there?
Plus500 makes its money from those trades that go across the bid / ask spread. As a result, they do not have to charge a commission on trades as all of the costs is kept inside the spread of the various instruments. Although the spread doesn’t change with the size of the trade, those traders that are making a high volume of traders are given a significant discount.
Another way in which the broker makes money is by charging hefty premiums on any and all positions that are held overnight by traders that are subject to if they are in a currency that is different from their base currency. In addition to this, there are also fees for having guaranteed stop-loss orders and if your account is sat idle for a period of longer than 3 months, then inactivity fees come into effect.
With a professional trader’s account, high amounts of leverage are available at the same cost, with a maximum of 1:300. What is also good about this broker is that no ancillary fees are implemented. When it comes to taking money out of an account or closing one altogether, there is no charge for this. There is a Plus500 minimum deposit in place, although this is not much.
The trading experience
The overall trading experience with Plus500 is a streamlined one that is super stable and can be done from a variety of different systems and devices, such as tablets, smartphones, and laptop computers. When using a mobile device, it is best to access the broker through their dedicated application, which has exactly the same level of functionality as the desktop version. This means that traders are able to access the full product catalog, charting, conditional orders, and their account details.
Thanks to the WebTrader feature, traders are able to analyze charts, monitor and place trades, and even create watchlists. Some of the more technical charts on there provide traders with over 100 technical indicators that can be applied to various time frames, such as weekly charts and tick charts. Traders are able to really make the most of these things thanks to how easy the interface on it is and how simple it is laid out. On there, there are over 2,000 different instruments that allow users to complete in-depth analysis of the numbers.
Is it worth using?
For those more experienced traders that want an easy to use interface without some of the more advanced and mostly unnecessary functionality, then Plus500 is a great broker to use. The spreads that they provide are competitive, thus keeping costs down. The WebTrader feature has lots of useful functions on it and the fact that the company is regulated by the FCA eliminates any worry that you may have of putting large amounts of money into the broker.
