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Two veteran Forex brokers Plus500 and eToro are two of the pioneers of Forex trading worldwide. Both brokers come from Israel and serve millions of Forex traders globally. While Plus500 is an FTSE 250 listed brokerage company, eToro is a social trading broker that got more than 162 million US dollars in funding a few years ago. eToro also issued its own crypto wallet recently making it one of the rarest Forex brokers to do so. Plus500 and eToro operate in more than 140 countries across the globe and serve more than 12 million users up to date.
Plus500 is known as the most regulated CFD broker with numerous licenses from the top-tier market regulators. eToro is also heavily regulated with the permission to operate in several jurisdictions. Both brokers offer proprietary trading platforms with ground-breaking and innovative technologies and features. eToro offers its clients to trade ETFs, CFDs, Commodities, Stocks, Cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and Indices with the maximum leverage of 1:30 in most countries. Plus500 on the other hand provides CFDs on more than 2000 financial instruments including Forex, Cryptocurrencies, NFTs, Shares, Commodities, Indices, ETFs, and Options with the maximum leverage of 1:300.
These two brokers support numerous payment solutions including the traditional methods like Visa/Mastercard card payments or bank wire transfers, as well as online payment options like Skrill or PayPal. There are no withdrawal fees on most of the accounts of Plus500 and eToro and no hidden fees with these brokers. Our eToro vs Plus500 comparison review will closely examine the major features of the brokers including the fee structure, regulations, trading platforms, and promotions.
Plus500 | eToro | |
Rating | ||
Min. Deposit | 100 USD | 50 USD - 10,000 USD |
Max. Leverage | 1:300 | 1:30 |
Regulations | ASIC, CySEC, FCA, FMA, FSCA, MAS, ISA | FCA, ASIC, CySEC |
Trading Platforms | Plus500, WebTrader, Mobile Trader | eToro social trading app |
Bonuses | Deposit Bonus | Crypto Bonus |
The fee structure of the Forex brokers mostly comprises commissions and spreads. However, traders consider minimum deposit requirements to be a part of the trading cost, too. The deposit requirements are different between these two brokers. eToro demands various starting capital amounts according to the country of residence of the client. Some traders can start trading with a 50 USD deposit, for instance in the United States. Whereas others might be required to deposit at least 500 USD or even 10,000 USD in few countries. With Plust500 minimum deposit is fixed to 100 USD no matter the country of residence of a trader.
Both eToro and Plus500 have two trading account types – Retail and Professional. However, traders cannot register on Professional account type without satisfying the trading volume and equity requirements, first. The clients of these brokers would have to wait at least 12 months to become eligible for activating the professional trading account. Furthermore, equity requirements might go up to 500,000 US dollars. As for the cost structure of the brokers, eToro operates mostly commission-free. It means that the broker will compensate for its commission income through higher spreads. The average spreads with eToro vary between 1 to 3 pips on Forex currency pairs. Plus500 on the other hand has variable spreads on Forex assets ranging from 0.6 pips to 0.9 pips which is considerably low compared to eToro’s spreads. Furthermore, Plus500 retail account is also commission-free.
Enjoy ultra-tight spreads with Plus500
Plus500 | eToro | |
CFD | ✓ | - |
Commodities | ✓ | ✓ |
Precious Metals | ✓ | ✓ |
Energies | ✓ | ✓ |
Stocks | ✓ | ✓ |
Indices | ✓ | ✓ |
Cryptocurrencies | - | ✓ |
Bonds | - | - |
ETFs | - | ✓ |
As we mentioned before, both eToro and Plus500 brokers provide proprietary trading platforms. They do not support the most common and popular software like MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, which is understandable due to the nature of these two brokers. MT4 and MT5 platforms are best for spot trading, Forex, and multi-asset trading purposes, while eToro is a social trading platform and Plus500 is a CFD-only broker. However, these two brokers have won numerous awards for their excellent platforms in recent years.
eToro platform is a copy trader platform providing hundreds of copy portfolios and social trading opportunities. There are numerous features available on the platform including the TipRanks – providing insights of traders from thousands of analysts and ProCharts which is a tool for conducting a manual technical analysis. The platform is a highly user-centric WebTrader terminal operating on most browsers. However, we have to mention that there is no appropriate auto trading system present on the broker’s platform.
Similar to eToro, Plus500 also has its own custom trader provided for the clients. The broker also lacks automated trading systems, however, it is not the most frequently request type of system for the broker’s clients base. eToro has one of the most user-friendly trading terminals in the industry, which is highly suitable for beginner traders. On the other hand, advanced traders also have a number of tools available including sentiment indicators, three communication options, and sophisticated alert services.
Trade on your mobile phone with Plus500
We already emphasized the fact that both Plus500 and eToro hold multiple licenses from regulatory authorities worldwide. However, the quality and quantity of the licenses greatly matter. Fortunately for the clients of these brokers, both companies are authorized by the leading institutions globally. It means that traders’ funds and privacy are highly protected. eToro has authorization from three market regulators only. However, both regulators are on top of the leading authorities not only in Europe but in the whole world. eToro is licensed by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission with the registration number 109/10, the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom with a reference number 583263, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission with the AFSL number 491139.
Plus 500, as mentioned earlier in the article, is the holder of the most amount of authorizations and licenses granted by the top-tier financial market regulators. Some of the notable names appear on the list of the financial market authorities that license and regulate the Plus500 broker. The list includes the following regulatory bodies and agencies:
Another benefit that can be found while trading with any of these two brokers is the fact that they offer bonus campaigns to their new registering clients. With eToro, a new user can join the nft advertising, which is running for a limited time. Whenever the client trades crypto worth 1000 USD on the eToro platform the broker will credit a 50 USD bonus to his or her trading account balance. The bonus is immediately withdrawable without further trading volume requirements. Furthermore, the broker runs a referral program promotion for the residents of the United States. For each referral, a US trader at the eToro platform is eligible to receive 50 US dollars as a bonus. However, a referred friend should make at least a 100 USD trade with the broker.
Plus500 has a multi-tier deposit bonus program. However, the program is not available in all countries. Plus500 deposit bonuses are available in Singapore, Australia, and South Africa. The rules are pretty straightforward without hidden complications. The traders have to deposit at least 200 Singapore dollars to receive the first-tier bonus reward – 70 SGD. As the deposit amount increases from the client’s side, so does the bonus reward. The highest bonus amount that can be achieved within the program is 13,000 Singapore Dollars. However, in order to claim this DIAMOND tier bonus, you will have to deposit 75,000 SGD or more.
Claim your 70 SGD bonus with Plus500
Plus500 | eToro | |
Pros | - tight spreads | - offers cryptocurrencies |
- flexible leverage | - diverse asset portfolio | |
- mutiple regulations | - social trading | |
Cons | - CFDs only | - restricted leverage |
- higher deposit requirement | - limited platforms | |
- no MT4/MT5 | - geographic restrictions |
It all depends on what kind of a trader you are. If you are a social trader then the choice is clear – eToro is the perfect fit for you. However, if you want to trade CFDs on advanced platforms then you should go for Plus500. Day traders, for instance, would not benefit from either of these brokers since they would need automated trading tools or at least high-quality execution platforms like MetaTraders. However, in our broker comparison review, we pick Plus500 as a winner for several reasons. Firstly, the broker is multi-regulated, which makes it a highly reliable and secure broker to trade CFDs with. Secondly, a broker has a universal cost structure for clients from all countries and does not discriminate against any of them. Thirdly, spreads are ultra-tight with the broker compared to eToro (two times lower than eToro spreads), and finally, the bonus terms of Plus500 are much simpler and more convenient than in eToro’s case.
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