Reviews

Verification record

Plus500 review

The entity behind Plus500, its licence, and how to confirm both yourself.

Last checked

Plus500 is a genuine broker rather than a scam. There are things on this page worth reading before you deposit, but none of them are the warning signs of a fraud. 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, offering Plus500 WebTrader, Plus500 mobile and desktop platforms.

Our rating

8.9/10

One rating, identical across our sites - only the way it is shown changes. It averages six assessments: regulation, trading costs, platforms, markets, support and education.

Regulation and safety

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

A licence is the first thing a fake broker cannot produce, so it is the first thing to check.

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.

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.

The company behind the brand

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

Deposits and withdrawals

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

What it costs to trade

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%

Costs matter less than whether you can withdraw, but an offer that looks impossible usually is.

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.

Accounts

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

Markets and execution

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 and tools

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.

Support and education

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

Questions people ask about Plus500

Is Plus500 a real registered company?

Yes. At Plus500, the company you would be contracting with is Plus500 Ltd, registered as 514142577 and based in Haifa, Israel. A registration number is checkable in the register of the country that issued it, and a broker that will not give you one is telling you something.

Is Plus500 regulated, and by whom?

Plus500 holds 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, which we grade as tier 1. A licence number is the part worth checking, because it is the thing a cloned site copies and the thing the regulator's register will not confirm.

Does Plus500 trade under any other names?

Plus500 also appears as Plus500, Plus500 Invest and Plus500 Futures. This matters when you are checking a licence or a warning list, because a search for one name will not always find what was published about another.