Plus500 platform Review for South Africa - is Plus500 reliable?

Plus500 had started its journey in 2008 and has grown to become one of the most renowned trading website of CFDs (Contracts for Difference) on shares, forex, commodities, indices, and ETFs. The CFD platform has had an incredible journey till now. Very few trading platforms offer CFDs trading on such a variety of instruments. The office of Plus500AU Pty Ltd. is located in Sydney, Australia. In South Africa, the company is licensed by FSCA (Authorised Financial Service Provider #47546). At present, the company offers CFDs over 2800 instruments to their clients for trading.

 

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Note: Your capital is at risk

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License & Regulations

Plus500AU Pty Ltd (ACN 153301681), licenced by: ASIC in Australia AFSL #417727. FMA in New Zealand FSP #486026, Authorised Financial Services Provider in South Africa FSP #47546. You do not own or have any rights to the underlying assets. Consider if you fall within Plus500's Target Market Distribution. Please refer to the Disclosure documents available on the website.

 

Account

The registration process in Plus500 is hassle-free and consists of some simple steps. The user has to simply click on the “Start Trading” option and follow the steps displayed on the website.There are basically two types of trading accounts—real money and demo accounts. For creating an account, the potential user will have to first choose the type of account and then provide their email id. Then, they will have to give a password for protection of their account.

 

Demo account

The demo account is an essential aspect that every forex/CFD trading website should provide. The novice traders especially find it useful as they can trade in live market conditions albeit with virtual money. After practicing their hands in trading forex, CFDs, indices etc. they can easily switch to the live trading account. The demo account on Plus500 can be created during the registration process. Initially, the amount of virtual money deposited in the demo account is worth $50,000.00 and will be automatically reinstated by the system when it drops below $200. The traders do not need to deposit any real money in this case.

 

Real Money account

Plus500 offers only an individual live trading account. After filling out the registration form, the website tests the knowledge of the user regarding CFD trading. This step is vital as every trader must have some basic understanding of the market. The minimum deposit required for the Real Money account is $100 for deposit through electronic wallets, credit/debit card or bank transfers. Plus500 supports many different currencies. So the trader can opt for the currency of their own country.

 

Trading Conditions

Plus500 provides an easy to navigate trading interface to its clients. The trader simply accesses the market of CFDs on forex, indices etc. by simply inserting their login details. They do not need to download and run any trading software. The trader can trade CFDs on different assets at the same time from the same screen. The Plus500-Website provides real-time quotes/updates on all its instruments.

• Tighter Spreads: Plus500 offers low spreads.
• Leverage: The leverage for some instruments is as high as 1:30. 
• Initial Margin: The margin required at the start of the trading depends on the instrument chosen by the trader. The instruments have a defined “Unit Amount” that is the minimum size of number of shares or contracts required to open a position. The traders can get this information from the Details link provided for each instrument. Margin requirements, leverage and trading hours are also mentioned there.
• Plus500 Advanced Risk Management Tools: At Plus500, the traders need not fear running into a negative balance account. All positions are being closed in the trader's account when there are not enough sufficient funds, so they cannot lose more than what they have deposited
  
  

 

Trading CFD Assets

• CFD Trading: Here, at Plus500 the traders can trade or invest in CFDs on some of the most renowned Forex pairs. 
• CFDs on Shares: The traders will find most of the world’s most actively traded shares listed on the world’s stock exchanges at Plus500. 
• CFDs on Commodities: The top-listed commodities can be traded through Plus500. 
• CFDs on ETFs: Exchange Traded Funds or ETFs are also available at Plus500 for trading. 

The initial margin is low and the traders get a leverage exposure of up to 30 times.

 

Cryptocurrency Trading

Besides forex, stocks, indices, commodities and ETFs Plus500 offers some of the top ranked cryptocurrencies to their clients to trade with. Cryptocurrencies CFDs offered by Plus500 are as follows:

• Bitcoin: Ranked #1
• Ethereum: Ranked #2
• Bitcoin Cash: Ranked #4
• Litecoin : Ranked #5
• IOTA : Ranked #10
• Ripple: Ranked #3

All Data according to coinmarketcap as of 21/03/2018

Plus500 offers a maximum leverage of 1:30. There is also a low spread percentage to traders - at the moment it is 0.78, but can change from time to time.

 

Trading Platform

Plus500 offers a WebTrader platform. The three different versions of the trading platform of Plus500 are:

• A web-based version.
• App versions for smartphones (Android, iOS, Windows)

 

Instead of using MT4/MT5, Plus500 offers its own platform for trading CFDs.

• Close at Profit and Loss options: The trading platform of Plus500 offers its clients to exit the trade if the price of the asset has already reached the profit or loss level.
• Guaranteed Stop order: This feature allows the traders to put a stop loss order at the beginning of the trade. This ensures that there is no occurrence of ‘slippage’. However, the platform applies a charge and the traders can use it only when trading certain assets.
• Trailing Stop: Trailing stops is the method of securing the profits. This means that the position of the asset will remain open as long as it is in the favor of the trader. It does not feature any additional charges. (However, it its not guaranteed that your position will close at the exact price level you specify)

 

App - Mobile Trading

The Plus500 mobile app can be easily downloaded from the app stores of Google and Apple. The mobile interface is user-friendly and the traders get the similar facilities that they receive on the desktop version. They can also use the filter feature to select specific tradable assets.

 

Deposits and Withdrawals

There are no charges applied for deposits into the account. The only charge levied is the amount lost in converting one currency to another. There are no withdrawal charges at Plus500. The following are acceptable methods of payment and withdrawal at Plus500:

• Credit Card
• Debit Card
• Skrill
• PayPal

 

Bank transfer is another accepted method of depositing money although it cannot be generated through the trading platform of Plus500. For successful bank transfer the trader has to do the following:

Click on “Funds Management” → “Deposit” tab → Select “Bank Transfer” and click on “Email me the details”

The trader will have to follow the instructions sent to their registered email id.

 

Education

Plus500 has a separate section that provides economic calendar, and also offer risk management tools. Their clients can also set alerts. This proves to be educational for the novice traders. As such there is no such training section. But, the traders get all the help from the demo account and other unique feature of the CFD trading platform of Plus500.

  

Customer Service and Support

Plus500 has an efficient customer service team that provides support 24x7. The clients can contact the customer service team through live chat directly from the official website. The traders can also contact via email and WhatsApp. The contact medium can be English or other supported languages.

 

 

 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is Plus500 a Scam?

In South Africa, Plus500AU Pty Ltd (ACN 153301681) is licensed by: ASIC in Australia (AFSL #417727), FMA in New Zealand (FSP #486026) and Authorised Financial Service Provider in South Africa (FSP #47546).

2. Is there any trading fee at Plus500?

Plus500 charges overnight funding, inactivity fee, guaranteed stop order and Currency Conversion Fee. Other than these, there are no hidden charges as Plus500 benefits from the “market spread”.

3. What is the leverage at Plus500?

The leverage varies according to the assets and is up to 1:30.

4. What is the spread at Plus500?

The spread vary but is low.

5. Plus500 download - is this possible?

Yes, it is possible.

6. Does Plus500 support PayPal?

Yes, Plus500 supports PayPal.

 

Conclusion

With a license from regulatory bodies of Australia, New Zealand, Cyprus, South Africa and Israel, the global company is a legit company. The fact that they have put a limit on the deposit amount should also say something. Plus500 offers over 2800 tradable assets and the South African traders have the option of choosing the most renowned assets here.

 

Note: CFD Service. Your capital is at risk