Plus500 vs eToro: who is the best broker?

 

To trade CFD’s you’ll need a reputable online broker to open a trading account with.

In this  Plus500 vs eToro comparison, we have checked what each broker offers so you can decide which broker is the right one for you. To compare we looked at the following points of each platform:

• Both the withdrawal & minimum deposit amounts

• CFD’s assets & financial instruments available

• The platform usability

• If the broker has received any awards for their platform

Plus500 vs eToro: Regulation

 

eToro came into existence in 2006 and was created in Israel by a team who wanted to make trading available to all.

EToro is famous for offering social trading features so members can learn from each other. These features include newsfeeds and the broker’s famous CopyPortfolio and CopyTrader tools. These tools let you copy trade portfolios and the traders of other users.

This is why eToro may be the better broker option if you’re new to trading, because you can really learn from other traders who have more experience. Currently eToro is available to residents in many countries globally, including the USA and Australia.

However, for the United States market, eToro has been renamed to eToro USA.

eToro is also fully regulated and holds multiple licences from important regulation authorities like ASIC and CySEC. In the United States the broker is regulated by FinCEN, and in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority.

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*68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Plus500 is well known for offering a very large variety of contract for difference assets and instruments. They also have a great platform design that is simple to use and ideal for professional traders.

Most residents of many countries worldwide can open an account with Plus500, however if you are a resident of the USA, unfortunately the broker does not accept US clients at present.

Plus500 keeps their headquarters in Israel still, but they have subsidiaries in the UK, Australia, Cyprus and Singapore. All the subsidiary branches of Plus500 are regulated and hold various regulation licences.

For instance, Plus500UK is regulated by Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (licence no. 509909) and Plus500AU which is the Australian branch holds a licence issued by ASIC.

Besides this, Plus500 has further regulation licences from CySEC, MAS, and the FSCA in South Africa.

You can be reassured that the broker is fully regulated.

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84% of retail CFD accounts lose money

eToro vs Plus500: Minimum Deposit

eToro has a minimum deposit that changes depending on the country of residence of each customer. Normally the minimum deposit is $200, but if you live in the USA or Australia the eToro minimum deposit is only $50.

If you are not a resident of the USA or Australia, the eToro minimum deposit of $200 is higher than Plus500, but it’s good to remember that with a bigger deposit you get a higher trading margin.

Also a higher deposit amount means that most traders will consider their individual trades more carefully, so this helps to implement an increased risk strategy during trading.

You should be aware though that the $200 minimum deposit just counts for the first initial deposit. Once this has been paid, all future deposits made afterwards can start from just $50, it doesn’t matter which country you live in.

This is reassuring if you wish to deposit your eToro account with smaller amounts under $200 in the future. It’s always worth knowing that the broker doesn’t charge any additional deposit fees, you just pay the minimum deposit and that’s it.

However, the only currency the eToro platform uses is $ USD. But the broker accepts the following 7 currencies which can be converted to USD for deposits & withdrawals:AUD, GBP, EUR, JPY, CNH, CAD, RUB

You can then see the broker’s small conversion rate for converting to USD when making the deposit.

The deposit process was easy to do and the steps were clear to follow with the broker, although you must use a payment method which is in your name, this is for security reasons.

eToro accepts the following payment methods which you can use to make the minimum deposit transaction:

Deposit Methods:

• debit or credit card (Visa/ Diner’s Club / MasterCard)

• online banking

• e-wallets: Skrill / WebMoney / Neteller / PayPal

• wire or bank transfer

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*68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

The broker Plus500 has a very competitive minimum amount of just $100.

Besides USD $ the other base currencies accepted by Plus500 are GBP £, EUR € and the Australian Dollar, so the deposit amount would remain £100 or €100 for instance.

Plus500 also support other minor currencies, it’s just important that you confirm this with the customer support team so that they can link your chosen base currency to your trading account before you deposit any money.

Another important thing is that Plus500 doesn’t charge any extra deposit fee when you make a deposit, so you can be assured that there is no additional charges when funding your account.

Generally the deposit process with Plus500 we found to be pretty simple and fast. They also have a good selection of payment methods available for you to deposit with, this includes electronic wallets, credit card and bank/wire transfer.

However, for any deposits made with wire/bank transfer note that the minimum deposit amount increases up to $500. For all other payment methods the minimum deposit remains $100.

All the payments methods shown below are accepted by the broker for deposits:

Deposit Methods:

• debit or credit card

• bank / wire Transfer

• electronic wallets: PayPal, Neteller, Skrill

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84% of retail CFD accounts lose money

eToro vs Plus500: Demo Account

One important feature that we recommend all traders use is a demo account.

Demo accounts are a great way for you to test a broker’s platform and to see if trading is right for you. Both eToro and Plus500 offer free and unlimited demo accounts to their users.

It’s also important to point out that you don’t need to deposit money to your real trading account to access the demo version. Most brokers in fact will offer you the chance to sign up just for the demo version first, with the chance to use the real trading account whenever you feel ready.

eToro has a great demo account that comes with the same features as the normal trading account, which is also free. It doesn’t matter if you’re an existing customer or a new user, you’ll still have access to the practice account. Impressively, the demo account comes with $100,000 of virtual funds for you to test trading with.

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*68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Plus500 provides a free demo account that automatically comes with $40,000 of virtual funds for you to spend. When the virtual funds run out, your practice account will automatically top them up again.

The practice account comes with all the same features as a real Plus500 trading account, so you can really get used to the tools and account layout.

Both the Plus500 and eToro demo accounts are connected to the real trading platform. There is usually a switch account button featured on the demo account which lets users switch between the demo and live trading accounts easily.

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84% of retail CFD accounts lose money

eToro vs Plus500: Trading Assets

It’s always good to know which assets and financial instruments a broker has available to trade on their platforms.

The great thing about trading CFD’s is that there is always a good asset range to choose from, although the selection can vary by broker.

eToro is famous for offering unique social trading features for CFD’s like the CopyTrader and CopyPortfolio tools. They also have a good asset selection available under 6 instruments, although they don’t offer Options as a financial instrument.

Below is a complete list of each broker’s financial instruments that they offer for CFD’s trading. Let’s take a close look at eToro:

• Indices
• Forex

• Cryptocurrencies

• ETFs

• Stocks & Shares

• Commodities

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*68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Although eToro may not offer Options as part of their CFD instrument range, they still have the 6 keys ones featured such as Commodities, Stocks and Shares plus Forex.

We were also quite impressed with the brokers cryptocurrency offering. They have a big selection of cryptocurrencies all available to trade as CFD’s, this includes some of the most popular ones like Bitcoin and Ripple plus lesser known ones such as NEO and Stellar.

Of course though, eToro is famous for having popular CFD based tools to assist their users when trading. This includes the CopyPortfolio and CopyTrader features, which Plus500 doesn’t have.

With the CopyTrader tool you can automatically copy the exact traders of other successful eToro traders by simply clicking on the CopyTrader button.

This is a great way to learn and mimic the trades of others simply, especially if you’re new to trading and not sure which markets to invest in.You can also manually close any copied trades anytime you wish.

The CopyPortfolio feature lets you easily invest in professional CFD portfolios that have been put together by another eToro trader or the broker. There are 2 versions of portfolios to follow, the Market Portfolios, which blend CFD instruments such as stocks, and Top Trader Portfolios which is a blend of the top performing traders on the platform.

On the other side Plus500 offers a vast range of assets.

• Forex

• ETF’s

• Cryptocurrencies

• Commodities

• Stocks & Shares

• Options

• Indices

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84% of retail CFD accounts lose money

The biggest strength of Plus500 is that they have a very large amount of assets listed on their platform. Currently the broker has 2000 plus assets, which are spread across 7 financial instruments and all available as CFD’s.

They also offer Options as a CFD financial instrument which is something that eToro doesn’t offer. Currently they have some impressive Option assets featured, including Tesla and Microsoft. So if you are especially interested in Options and a larger amount of assets, then Plus500 might be the better choice of broker for you.

Plus500 also has an interesting selection of share assets from some of the most important companies in the market such as Amazon and Netflix. However, the one share folder that caught our eye is the Cannabis share assets that are listed with the broker.

The broker has been one of the first to list many legal cannabis companies as assets under the share offering.

Medicinal cannabis and the legalization of cannabis use in some states of the USA has led to a boom of investment in the market.

Plus500 has been fast to react to the market trend, and they now have 7 of the most important cannabis companies listed. This includes firms such as Canopy Growth and Aphria.

So if you’re looking to invest in this trending market, the broker has good options available.

Plus500 vs eToro: Education

If you want to improve your investment and trading, then both brokers offer free educational sources.

We always recommend to check out a broker’s educational tools as they’re a great way to develop as a trader.

However, the offering between the brokers is a bit different. For instance Plus500 offers video lessons via their ‘Trader’s Guide‘. Here you can find a range of videos on the basics of forex & CFD trading.

Although the video amount might be a bit limited, the videos are easy to follow and well put together. They are really ideal if you’re new to trading and need to learn the basics quickly.

eToro’s education tools are a lot more varied and aimed at traders of all experience levels. They also offer video tutorials on their platform, but you can also find podcasts, daily market reviews and educational blogs.

They also have a detailed lesson guide on social trading, this covers all you need to know about the topic and how to use their CopyTrader and other social tools.

eToro vs Plus500: Withdrawal Time and Fees

One key thing you should know about every broker is how their withdrawal process works.

Because when you wish to withdraw you funds, you need to now how the process functions and if there is any extra withdrawal fees you should know about. Let’s compare the processes now for Plus500 vs eToro.

When you want to withdraw funds from eToro, you should know that the broker applies an additional $5 charge for every time a withdrawal is requested.

They also have a minimum withdrawal amount which is $30. So you are only allowed to withdraw anything from starting from $30 and above.

This is why it makes sense economically to withdraw higher amounts of money occasionally with eToro, in order to save money on the $5 withdrawal fee.

As the base currency on eToro is only USD/$ at present, then a small conversion fee may be applied when you convert currency to USD during the deposit/withdrawal stages.

eToro has a wide range of payment methods, (the same as the deposit ones), which you can use for the withdrawal. Although the broker does prefer to send the withdrawn funds to the same payment method which was used to make the deposit to the account.

One situation which may postpone or slow down a withdrawal is if a user’s account has not been verified. Verification happens soon after the account creation which requires identification documents to be uploaded showing proof of identity.

This is required legally and helps the broker to prove the identity of each trader. Which is why each individual account must be verified before a withdrawal can be requested.

Any problems and the customer support team will be happy to help. We found the customer support team to be helpful and the eToro withdrawal process to be straightforward and pretty quick.

How long it will take for a customer to see the withdrawn funds showing in their personal account depends on the payment method used.

An electronic wallet such as Neteller is the fastest method and the money should be showing from 1-2 days, whereas a debit card can take from 3-8 days.

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*68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Unlike eToro, Plus500 doesn’t charge any withdrawal fees.

In fact with the broker, you’re allowed an amount of 5 withdrawals each month for free!

However, if you request more than 5 withdrawals a month, a fee of $10 will be charged for each withdrawal until the next calendar month begins.

We have also been impressed with the fairly low trading fees of Plus500. One of the reasons that they are low is due to the fact that there is zero commission implemented on trades. Instead costs are built within the spread, the spread is the difference in price between the ask and bid tariffs.

If a customer wishes to request a withdrawal, this can be done directly from their personal trading account. The customer service team then needs to verify and process the withdrawal request.

A notification will be sent when the process is complete which normally is within 1 to 3 business days.

A range of payment methods are accepted by Plus500 to send the withdrawn funds too. For security reasons though, the payment method selected must have your name written on it! Otherwise it may be that the customer support team postpones the withdrawal to protect trading accounts from fraud.

Like eToro, Plus500 also may request further personal documents for account verification during the withdrawal process. Verification is a legal obligation the broker must do to obtain their regulation licence.

This is why it’s important that your account is fully verified before trying to withdraw, otherwise the withdrawal process may take longer to complete.

The speed at which the withdrawn funds will be showing in your bank account all depends on the payment method selected. The broker states that it normally takes within 3-5 working days for the money to be showing.

Of course, it will be much faster for a credit/debit card than a bank/wire transfer, but generally Plus500 is quite efficient and fast when dealing with withdrawals.

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84% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Which is better: eToro or Plus500?

Now that we’re at the end of this comparison, it’s really highlighted the differences between the brokers.

It’s clear to see that if you’re interested in social trading, then eToro really is a perfect option, especially if you wish to learn from other traders with the CopyTrader tool. This is a feature that no other broker has, not just Plus500, so for people who want to learn quickly eToro is definitely has appeal.

However, if you’re searching for a trading platform that can be downloaded for desktop use, then eToro may not be the best option. Even though the online eToro platform plus the App are well-designed and simple to use, there is no desktop version available.

Regarding Plus500 though, the fact that they have 3 versions of their WebTrader platform (including a desktop version) is good for anyone looking for a desktop based platform. Again, we were impressed the design of the platform and the functionality of the App.

However, one main strength of Plus500 really is their large and well thought about selection of assets – all available to trade as CFD’s. When a broker has a good selection of relevant and important assets, such as the Cannabis shares, it helps any trader to invest in new hot topics that may be emerging in the market.

We were also impressed with the zero withdrawal fee from Plus500, which makes it an appealing choice for anyone who wishes to save on additional fees that may be charged by traders.

So whether you prefer eToro or Plus500 – or an entirely different one! The best solution is to always choose the broker that fits your trading requirements the best. That way you are likely to get the most out of your trading experience.

Here you can learn more about the best forex brokers.

eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFDs.

 

Please note that CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

 

Past performance is not an indication of future results. Trading history presented is less than 5 complete years and may not suffice as basis for investment decision.

 

Copy trading is a portfolio management service, provided by eToro (Europe) Ltd., which is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.

 

Cryptoasset investing is unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Your capital is at risk.

 

eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs and makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication, which has been prepared by our partner utilizing publicly available non-entity specific information about eToro.