Forex brokers comparison – Which is better Trading 212 or Plus500?

Plus500 and Trading 212 are Forex brokers that are frequently compared side by side by both beginner and professional traders. Plus500, headquartered in Israel was established in 2008 and has experience of 13 years operating on the market. The UK-based broker Trading 212, on the other hand, is a bit more experienced broker with 15 years of experience. The main difference between the brokers is that Plus500 is initially a CFD broker, whereas Trading 212 is a CFD, stock, and ETF broker. Plus500 offers CFDs on cryptos, Forex, commodities, indices, shares, options, and ETFs. Whereas, Trading 212 provides CFDs on stocks, commodities, Forex, indices, and hundreds of equity investment opportunities.

Both brokers support highly advanced trading platforms with various modifications for further simplicity of use for traders. Furthermore, Plus500 and Trading 212 are strictly regulated brokerage companies with numerous licenses and authorizations from the very best market regulators in different jurisdictions. Both of them operate globally with hundreds of thousands of Forex traders with various backgrounds. The brokers offer multiple leveraged trading assets. With Plus500, clients can enjoy the maximum leverage of 1:300, whereas Trading 212 leverage can go up to 1:500 on upgraded accounts.

These brokers offer several account types with different benefits and limitations. However, brokers also have geographic restrictions. Trading 212 countries that are not supported are the United States and Canada. Whereas, Plus500 brokerage services are not available in the United States, Canada, and China. Our Plus500 vs Trading 212 comparison review will cover the major features of these brokers and compare their fees, spreads, account types, trading platforms, safety measures, and regulations, as well as the promotional campaigns.

Which broker offers better spreads and fees, Trading 212 or Plus500?

Trading 212 and Plus500 have different fee structures for different account types. Plus500 offers a Demo account, Retail account, and Professional account types. Trading 212 on the other hand has four live trading account types: the Trading 212 Demo account, Trading 212 Invest, Trading 212 CFD, and Trading 212 ISA. Of course, Demo account types are free with both brokers and do not require deposits from the clients’ side. However, the rest of the account types come with the minimum deposit requirements. With Plus500 retail account, clients have to deposit at least 100 USD to start trading, while the Professional account requires satisfactory trading volumes and at least 500,000 USD equity. With Trading 212, traders can open accounts with a minimum deposit requirement of 1 US dollar. However, some of the account types have geographic restrictions such as the Trading 212 ISA account type.

Broker fees, spreads, and commissions

The good news for traders is that both of these brokers allow commission-free trading. However, it means that they receive revenue through charging spreads. Plus500 offers competitive spreads starting from 0.6 pips on the high-liquid assets like the EUR/USD currency pairs. Also, there is a currency conversion fee applicable to requests in non-base currencies. The fee amount is 0.50% on top of the exchange rate during the execution of the trade. There are no withdrawal fees with Plus500. As for Trading 212, the spreads on the most popular Forex currency assets, such as EUR/USD start from 0.9 pips. No commission applies to Forex assets. However, equity CFDs come with the commission of 10 GBP, or 0.08% to 0.10%. Trading 212 also does not incur withdrawal fees but might charge conversion fees on certain currencies.

Trade Forex with tightest spreads with Plus500

Which one has provided better software, Plus500 or Trading 212?

Plus500 and Trading 212 differ in trading platform offerings. While Plus500 supports the analog of the most popular trading software for its users, Trading 212 promotes its own trading terminal designed by the broker itself. However, we should note that the platform choice of the Plus500 broker is much more reliable since it has been tested by millions of users for more than a decade now. But, Trading 212 also claims that the broker already has more than 14 million downloads of its unique trading platform.

Plus500 provides its own trading platform which represents an analog to MetaTrader 4 software, which is a perfect fit for trading Forex. MetaTrader 4 is undoubtedly the most developed and advanced platform for multi-asset trading, as well. It comes with complex tools, numerous indicators, and various charting mechanisms, which outperform the features of every other trading platform. Despite the fact that there is no original MT4 found with Plus500, the trading terminal of the broker closely resembles MT4 features. Furthermore, the broker also supports several modifications of the original software. Originally, MetaTrader 4 is used on the desktop. Therefore, it requires to be downloaded and installed on the PC of the user. To avoid the time-consuming process, brokers like Plus500 now support WebTraders, which are similar platforms compatible with browsers. WebTraders do not need to be downloaded. Additionally, there are mobile trading opportunities available with Plus500 compatible with Android and IOS devices.

As mentioned before, Trading 212 is pushing its own trading platform. Unlike popular platforms like MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, the Trading 212 trading platform is a perfect solution for traders seeking automated trading solutions. The broker offers ProQuant, which is one of the most famous automated trading tools. However, it is very difficult to find traditional trading software and platforms with this broker, which might be a bit of a drawback of the broker. WebTraders and mobile trading versions of the Trading 212 platforms are also available for the clients.

Trade with the mobile app at Plus500

Which broker provides better safety for traders, Trading 212 or Plus500?

Another advantage of these two brokers is their safety measures. They are highly regulated brokers with multiple licenses from the top market regulators worldwide. Trading 212 is authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom, which is one of the most respected regulatory bodies both in Europe and globally. The respective license number is 609148. Furthermore, the broker holds authorization from the Bulgarian official body, the Financial Supervision Commission with the license number RG-03-0237. In addition to the regulatory framework, the funds of Trading 212 clients are secured by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, covering deposits up to 85,000 British pounds.

Plus500, on the other hand, is a heavily regulated broker with many licenses from leading regulatory authorities. The trader fund protection by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is also available with Plus500 for investments up to 85,000 GBP. The list of the market regulators that authorize Plus500 includes:

• Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom (FCA)
• the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC)
• the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
• the Financial Markets Authority in New Zealand (FMA)
• the Financial Sector Conduct Authority in South Africa (FSCA)
• the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)
• the Israel Securities Administration (ISA)

Which one has better bonus offers, Plus500 or Trading 212?

There are no promotions available for Trading 212 clients as of now. The broker does not offer bonuses, trading contests, or referral programs. The reason might be that the regulators licensing the broker do not allow bonus offerings as part of their restrictive policies on Forex. However, with Plus500 there is a welcome bonus available for the traders residing in Australia, Singapore, and South Africa. Plus500 bonus is a deposit bonus. It means that the bonus will be credited to the client’s account balance once he or she makes the first deposit on the broker’s platform. The deposit is activated through one of the following bonus codes: SingaporeWelcome, Welcome, BRONZE, SILVER, FIRST888, GOLD, and Platinum. However, there are minimum deposit requirements applicable to the bonus terms and conditions.

In order to claim the SingaporeWelcome bonus from Plus500, traders need to deposit at least 200 Singapore dollars. The bonus amount is 70 Singapore dollars. However, there is a requirement for trade points, as well in the amount of 50 tPoints. With 300 SGD investment clients can claim 80 SGD bonus, with 750 SGD deposit – 200 SGD bonus and so on. The maximum bonus amount available is 13,000 SGD which can be activated through the bonus code DIAMOND only upon depositing 75,000 SGD or more and completing 10,000 tPoints.

Claim your first deposit bonus with Plus500

Which one is a better broker overall Plus500 vs Trading 212

Both Plus500 and Trading 212 brokers have their own advantages and limitations. Trading 212 predominates in the offering of more diverse trading instruments portfolio, as well as the variety of live trading account type options. Whereas, Plus500 comes with more advanced trading platforms, better fee structure, and promotional campaigns. By accounting for all benefits and drawbacks of these two brokers we recommend trading with Plus500 for several reasons. First of all, the overall trading cost is lower with Plus500 with tighter spreads and lower margin requirements. Furthermore, Trading 212 presents mainly automated trading platforms, whereas Plus500 includes traditional terminals, as well. Finally, there are no bonus schemes or reward campaigns available with Trading 212 while Plus500 provides an extensive promotional program of the deposit bonus.