IQ Option vs Plus500 – Which one is better?

 

Is IQ Option better than Plus500? Finding the right broker is an important choice for anyone which is why we compare them to help you make that decision.

The two leading brokers we’ll be comparing today are IQ Option and Plus500. Both are respected online brokers that offer CFD trading to their users. We’ll be taking a look at the most important information from both brokers including:

• Minimum deposit & withdrawal amounts

• CFD’s and financial instruments available

• Platform usability

• Any awards received by the broker

* The best choice is according to our opinion. The leverage changes for different assets

From this comparison you’ll have a good idea about the benefits of each broker and whether they are the right trading platform for you or not.

Both brokers are also fully regulated and licenced to operate, so you can be assured that they are fully secure to trade with.

Regulation also means that the brokers must have segregated bank accounts in which they hold client’s money, so you can be certain that the broker is not running their business out of the same bank account that you are depositing your trade money into.

Let’s get started!

IQ Option vs Plus500: Regulation

Plus500 Regulation

Plus500 was started back in 2008 in Israel. The team behind the project aimed to create a simple platform which would allow users to trade. Their goal succeeded and today Plus500 has grown into an international company with over 340,000 active customers.

Plus500 is famous for offering a large range of CFD assets. The platform is user-friendly and easy to use, so ideal for everyone.

The company headquarters remain in Israel but the broker has subsidiaries in Australia, Singapore, Cyprus and the UK.

All subsidiaries are fully regulated, for instance in Britain Plus500UK is regulated by the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) and in Cyprus Plus500CY is authorized by CySEC. Both the FCA and CySEC are fully respected regulation authorities.

Click here to open your first Plus500 Account.

Open a Plus500 Account

*84% of retail CFD accounts lose money

IQ Option Regulation

IQ Option was founded in Russia in 2013 by Dmitry Zaretsky, and since then they have gained more than 20 million members worldwide. Although they have a good range of CFD’s as trading options the range is not so large as the Plus500 selection.

Currently IQ Option offers 300+ assets for trading which is a good selection, but not as much as the 2000+ offered by Plus500. However, the broker is famous for one thing and that is for offering their users a very low minimum deposit.

In fact, they have the lowest minimum deposit in the market, it’s possible to start trading with just $10 / €10 / £10.

This is a great option if you’re looking to start trading with a smaller amount or if you have a more limited trading budget.

The companies headquarters are based in Cyprus, and they are a fully regulated broker. They hold a regulation licence from CySEC (no. 247/14) which is an independent authority that monitors brokers. 

For international clients who reside outside of Europe, IQ Options holds an additional regulation from the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA).

Click here to open your first IQ Option Account.

Open Free IQ Option Account

*Your capital might be at risk

IQ Option vs Plus500: Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit is an important step because it is the first funds you’ll need to transfer to your account so that you can start trading. However, many brokers have different deposit methods and minimum deposit amounts. Let’s compare IQ Option vs Plus500 now:

Plus500 Minimum Deposit

The Plus500 minimum deposit is $100 / €100 / £100. This is still a very competitive amount when compared to other online brokers.

However, it’s worth noting that if you make the deposit via bank/wire transfer the minimum deposit increases to $500. Otherwise it remains $100.

The broker also accepts many currencies on the platform, so during the account creation you can select the currency that you wish to use on the platform.

There is also a zero deposit fee charged by the broker which is great, and we found the depositing process pretty simple. The following methods below can be used to make the deposit:

Deposit Methods:

• Credit / Debit Card

• Electronic Wallets: Neteller, PayPal, Skrill

• Bank or Wire Transfer

Click here to open your first Plus500 Account. 

Open a Plus500 Account

*84% of retail CFD accounts lose money

 

IQ Option Minimum Deposit

As we’ve noted already, IQ Option has a very low minimum deposit. To start trading you just need to deposit from $10 / €10 / £10.

Regarding deposit fees, the broker IQ Option doesn’t charge any additional fees, which keeps costs down for you.

The main currencies supported are £ GBP, $ USD and € EUR, so if you make the deposit in another currency you may have to pay a small conversion fee.

The deposit process is quite simple to follow, and generally payments made with credit card or electronic wallet will be deposited to your trading account immediately.

Deposit Methods:

• Credit / Debit Card (MasterCard or Visa)

• Electronic Wallets: Neteller, WebMoney, Skrill

• Bank or Wire Transfer

Click here to open your first IQ Option Account.

Open Free IQ Option Account

*Your capital might be at risk

IQ Option vs Plus500: Demo Account

One great feature that both brokers offer are the free demo accounts. A demo account is a great way to test an online broker’s platform and to practice trading.

Plus500 offers an unlimited practice account that has $40,000 of virtual funds available. When you run out of virtual funds, they will be automatically topped up again.

Click here to open your first Plus500 Account.

Open a Plus500 Account

*84% of retail CFD accounts lose money

The IQ Option demo account comes with $10,000 of virtual funds to spend. Like Plus500, the demo version is unlimited, and you can also request a top up of the virtual funds when the balance falls below $2000.

Both broker’s demo accounts are linked to the actual trading platform. This means that you can switch between the demo and real trading accounts easily at anytime.

A demo account is a great way for you to test trading strategies without having to worry about risking real money.

Click here to open your first IQ Option Account.

Open Free IQ Option Account

*Your capital might be at risk

IQ Option vs Plus500: Available Assets

Both brokers offer a lot of various financial instruments to trade as CFD’s, but Plus500 beats IQ Option in the amount of actual assets available to trade.

Below is a full list of the financial instruments available to trade with each broker as CFD’s.

Plus500 Assets

• Forex

• Indices

• Cryptocurrencies

• Commodities

• Shares

• Options

• ETF’s

Asset wise Plus500 has over 2000+ assets under these financial instruments available for trading. For anyone interested in trading crypto they have 12 types on offer including Bitcoin, Ripple, EOS, Cardano and Ethereum.

One asset area that really caught our eye though was the special Cannabis shares that Plus500 offers. A lot of online brokers still don’t offer this, but Plus500 has been quick to react to the market changes.

Legal medical cannabis companies are a hot topic in the investment world and the market is expected to grow rapidly in the next few years. To stay ahead of the trend, Plus500 now has 7 of the biggest firms listed under share assets including Tilray and Aurora Cannabis.

Click here to open your first Plus500 Account. 

Open a Plus500 Account

*84% of retail CFD accounts lose money

IQ Option Assets

• Forex

• Indices

• Cryptocurrencies

• Commodities

• Shares

• Options

• ETFs

Although IQ Option might not have as many assets as Plus500, they still have an impressive range and a strong selection. For example, under shares they have Snapchat, Beyond Meat and Amazon.

Like Plus500, they also have 1 cannabis firm listed under the share assets to keep up with the cannabis investment market growth.

For their cryptocurrency assets, IQ Option has a good mix of some of the most well-known ones such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and Ripple.

However, IQ Option also have some of the more unheard ones including ZCash, Qtum and OmiseGo. This is a solid crypto selection that is quite impressive.

Click here to open your first IQ Option Account.

Open Free IQ Option Account

*Your capital might be at risk

IQ Option vs Plus500: Trading Platform

Both of the brokers offer self-developed trading platforms, but let’s see if there are any differences between them.

Plus500 Platform

Plus500 has their platform available as an online WebTrader, as a download for desktop use, and as a mobile trading App. The App can be downloaded for use on Android and iOS smartphones from the Apple and Google Play stores.

As highlighted on the broker’s website, the Plus500 App is actually one of the highest rated Apps for CFD trading on the Google Play and Apple Stores. The reason for this is likely due to the sleek and simple design of the trading platform and its range of advanced features.

On the App it’s also possible to receive real time price alerts, which is great for keeping an eye on price movements when trading on the go.

Additionally, the platform also comes with many technical indicators for analysis including charts and economic calenders.The Plus500 platform also provides a set of risk management tools, which you can use to control your positions.

Risk management tools include the use of a trailing stop and guaranteed stop on orders, as well as the normal ‘stop loss‘ and ‘stop limit‘ features. We would recommend that every traders uses at least one of these, as it can help to protect your profits whilst reducing the risk.

The broker also accepts many base currencies on the platform, so during the account creation you can select the currency that you wish to use on the platform. Remember that your account’s base currency cannot be changed once selected, so make sure you choose the right one for you.

Click here to open your first Plus500 Account. 

Open a Plus500 Account

*76,4% of traders lose their money

IQ Option Platform

IQ Option also offers a self-developed trading platform that is available as an online WebTrader or for download for desktop use. They also offer a trading mobile App that can be downloaded for use on iOS and Android devices.

Their trading App has been highly reviewed and has also won awards. For instance, in 2017 the IQ Option App won an ‘Award of Excellence’ in the Communicator Awards for being one of the best quality financial apps. Quite impressive.

Some features that the platform comes with are charting tools and 13 indicator options including Bollinger Bands and Volume Indicators. Very handy tools to help users to analyse the market.

To help keep you on track with the latest market news, IQ Option also offers an economic calendar and earnings release. This features all the upcoming events that are likely to affect the market.

Each event on the calendar is marked by the country and time zone of the event, as well as the level of impact. The impact level shows how likely the event will affect the market in terms of volatility. So the higher the impact rating, the more the markets are likely to be affected.

Another great feature of the IQ Option platform is the free video tutorials. The broker’s education offering is always worth checking out so you can see how you can benefit from it. Keep on reading to find out more about the broker’s education.

Click here to open your first IQ Option Account.

Open Free IQ Option Account

*Your capital might be at risk

IQ Option vs Plus500: Education

Each of the brokers has educational features available for you to use and develop your skills.

However, the offering varies slightly between the two. For instance Plus500 has their own ‘Trader’s Guide‘ where you can find free educational lesson videos. They cover CFD and forex trading, and there’s also a video on popular trading strategies.

Whilst the Plus500 videos are informative, there is a limited amount of tutorials available, but maybe more will be added in the future.

IQ Option also offers video tutorials from their ‘Ultimate Trading Hub‘. They have a bigger selection of videos available than Plus500, and all videos can be viewed for free.

Video topics include market news and all things related to forex and trading. The broker regularly adds new videos so it’s worth going back to check regularly what’s new. Currently there are over 100 videos to watch which are split across 10 different categories.

One category that caught our attention was the Market News section. These videos focus on the latest global financial news and most importantly explain how top companies react to market changes.

Very important if you want to keep up to date on world events.

 

IQ Option vs Plus500: Fees and Withdrawal

One important thing to know before opening an account with a broker is how there withdrawal process works. This also includes if there are any extra fees that you should know about. Let’s compare IQ Option vs Plus500 now:

Plus500 Withdrawal

With Plus500 the trading fees are low because there is NO commission applied to trades. Instead everything is built into the spread which is the price difference between the bid and ask rates.

Regarding the withdrawal process though, it’s easy to make the withdrawal request from your account menu. The great thing about Plus500 is that there is no withdrawal fee applied and you are allowed up to 5 free withdrawals a month. If you go past the free 5 withdrawals a $10 fee will be charged.

The customer support team will verify the withdrawal and notify you when it has been processed which normally takes from 1 to 3 days.

For security reasons they might also ask for additional verification documents during the withdrawal confirmation, this is to protect your account against fraud.

Depending on which payment method you are receiving the withdrawal back to, it can take up to 3 to 5 business days to have the funds showing in your personal bank account.

Generally though the feedback is that the broker is quite fast and efficient at processing the withdrawals, especially for credit and debit cards.

Click here to open your first Plus500 Account.

Open a Plus500 Account 

*84% of retail CFD accounts lose money

IQ Option Withdrawal

IQ Option has also a simple and user-friendly withdrawal process, they also don’t charge any withdrawal fee and the minimum withdrawal amount is anything from $2 and above.

However the withdrawal method in IQ Option varies based on the payment method used to deposit the funds to a trading account.

For example, if you deposit your account using a debit/credit card, then you’ll need to withdraw that same deposit amount back to the same card. This is because the transaction will be dealt with as a refund.

Anything over that initial deposit amount will need to be withdrawn to an electronic wallet or via a bank/wire transfer. So you will get your withdrawal money, it may just have to be split across payment methods depending on the amount.

IQ Option has a good selection of electronic wallets available for withdrawals including Skrill, Neteller and WebMoney. Note that if you withdraw via bank transfer that a $31 fee may be charged.

Regarding other fees, we found the IQ Option spreads to at a fair and competitive price and that the overnight charges were low.

One good thing is that the broker publishes weekly on their website an updated list of spread prices for each asset, which is adjusted for the market situation. This is information which is always good to be aware of before opening trades.

Click here to open your first IQ Option Account.

Open Free IQ Option Account

*Your capital might be at risk

 

Plus500 vs IQ Option: what is better?

So to conclude it’s fair to say that both IQ Option and Plus500 are very appealing brokers with different strengths and weaknesses between them.

For us Plus500 is probably the better option if you already have some trading experience and want to have access to a large and impressive asset range. We were also extremely impressed with the simplicity of the trading platform, especially the App version.

However, the lack of educational tools on the platform may mean that Plus500 is not the best option for new traders who want to learn more about the market.

If you’re new to trading then IQ Option may be the better broker option. This is mainly because of the incredibly low minimum deposit which means anyone, especially beginners, can start trading with small amounts.

We were also impressed with the video tutorials on the IQ Option site to explain the basics of market trading. The one downside is that the asset range is quite small, so if you’re looking for a wider range of choice, it may be best to go with another broker or Plus500.

Finally, the fact start trading with only $10 makes IQ Option more appealing for a lot of beginners. On the other side Plus500 is suitable for a more experienced type of trader. The minimum deposit by Plus500 is $100, but thanks to that there are more possibilities to open different positions at the same time and start trading a bit more seriously.

Here you can learn about the best trading platforms.