This review is a result of months of testing all Plus500’s facets of business which includes the site, the offers made available therein, the trading platform that it uses, its education and analytical services, and the regulatory body that sanctions all its trading activities.
This review had also taken online testimonies into consideration in forming a pointed and informed assessment of Plus500’s capabilities as a brokerage firm.
Plus500: An Overview
A CFD provider established in 2008, Plus500 is listed in the London Stock Exchange with a preliminary base of operations in Israel. Being listed in the Stock Exchange is a good marker that the brokerage firm is safe to trade with.
Plus500 ups the ante through its regulation through two trusted financial authorities: the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) from the United Kingdom and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
With these said, it is easy to see that Plus500’s legitimacy is no longer a point of question. A trader can already be assured of its legality.
The Plus500 Trading Account
It may come as a surprise that Plus500 only offers only 1 account type. Opening this account only requires $100.00. This is relatively a cheap amount when placed beside the many offers that the broker opens to its clients.
The steps comprising account opening are easy, all that the client has to provide apart from the the initial deposit amount is his or her ID, utility bill, and proof of residence. Clients agree that in the field of digital trading, Plus500 is one of the brokerage firms that excel.
Trading Platform
Plus500 offers its own web trading platform. The reviewing team and a number of client testimonies attest to the software’s efficiency with consideration to its intuitive interface, availability in different languages, and sleek design.
Clients agree that Plus500’s trading platform is user-friendly and safe. While the platform has a compact design and can easily be navigated, the security is of note with a two-step login.
It has a search function that allows for the ease of finding specific functions pertinent to placing of trades. And speaking of order placement, a trader can place the following types of orders, namely, Market, Limit, Stop, and Trailing stop. Traders would be given the proper notifications of their trade activities through SMS, email, and push notifications.
The Plus500 trading platform is also available through mobile. The application can easily be downloaded through Android, iOS, and the Windows phone OS.
The pros are pretty much in line with that of the advantages in using the web platform.
The only thing that the review team had found to be somewhat of a letdown is the absence of a desktop app that would possibly allow for easier access should the trader’s internet connection prove stable.
And while the Plus500 platform had already proven itself to be efficient in getting the job done, fact of the matter is, it is the sole option that traders have when employing the broker’s services. It could have done Plus500 well to have partnered with more industry-proven trading software so that traders would establish greater familiarity with the software that they opt to choose.
Trading Instruments
Indices
Plus500 avails its clients a total of 29 Country and Sector indices combined. These instruments include the USA 30 – Wall Street, Japan 225, Europe 50, Lithium & Battery Index, and the NYSE FANG+ Index to mention a few.
Forex
The firm’s currency pairs amount to over 70 which are a mix of the major currency pairs, minor pairs, and exotic pairs, thus allowing a wide range of choices and more venues for lucrative trades in the Foreign Exchange market.
Commodities
The commodities available through PLus500 amount to 22 which include highly sought-after assets such as the safe-haven gold, other precious metals like silver and platinum, oil, and Crude Oil.
Crypto
The broker also offers a total of 13 cryptocurrency pairs which include the major ones like BTC, ETH, LTC, and XRP. Through the platform, these digital assets can be directly exchanged with the USD.
Shares
The shares available through Plus500 amount to a total of 27 categories which include economic titans such as the United States, Germany, and Singapore.
Options
Plus500 offers its clients hundreds of options coming from the ranks of Google, Netflix, Apple, and Amazon.
ETFs
The ETFs available from the broker amount to over a hundred, including Gold ETFs, US Real Estate, and the Commodity Index Fund.
With these asset classifications, it is easy to see that Plus500 had provided its clients with a greater expanse of options for making more lucrative trading endeavours. It is simply one of the brokerage firms that offer more avenues for growth for its clients through assistance in building their investment portfolio.
Other Notable Features
Risk Management
With Risk Management, Plus500 offers its clients three specific aids:
1. The Close at Profit’ (Stop Limit) and ‘Close at Loss’ (Stop Loss)
While these do not guarantee one’s position in a trade, the Close at Profit and Close at Loss function can be added on the existing position. These allow a trader to set specific rates that positions can be closed, effectively protecting potential profit.
2. Guaranteed Stop
This puts absolute limit on a trader’s potential loss through the automatic closing of his or her position at a specific price.
3. Trailing Stop
This function puts a limit to a position’s possible losses as it effectively locks in one’s potential profit.
Tutorial Videos
Plus500 also makes a number of tutorial videos available through its site. These are short and concise, covering topics like, “Slippage When Opening a Position”, “What is CFD Trading?”, “Popular Trading Strategies”, and the like.
Conclusion and Recommendation
A good portion of this review had talked about Plus500’s competence with consideration to the financial instruments that it offers as trading assets, its own trading platform, and apparent regulation. What these factors tell us is that the broker offers sound trading conditions in that their instruments and trading software are lucrative and highly trusted.
However, it must still be noted that there are still a number of areas that can be improved with Plus500’s services, specifically, further selection for trading platforms and more account types.
All in all, Plus500 delivers. For now. The review team is saying this as the trading industry is a rapid-changing terrain and for the broker to survive, it has to adapt.