Is Plus500 Legit Or Not?

Plus500 exhibits a very high standard of legitimacy for online brokers. In our assessment of 20 safety indicators, it scored 88/100.

Written By
James Barra

Fact Checked By
Tobias Robinson

Edited By
William Berg

Updated
September 9, 2026

Professional Opinion

Plus500 is about as legitimate as they come. It’s regulated by over 10 respected bodies, it’s listed on the London Stock Exchange, has tens of millions of clients, and receives overwhelmingly positive ratings from tens of thousands of reviews across third-party platforms like the App Store, Google Play, and Trustpilot.

While it has faced regulatory penalties and litigation over the years, including a 2012 FSA fine, a 2015 FCA onboarding freeze, a class action in Israel over Brexit option freezes, and a class action in Australia over its CFD distribution, it maintains high financial transparency as a public company.

Ultimately, I would feel comfortable depositing my own money with Plus500. I’ve reviewed hundreds of trading providers, and there are many I’d be cautious about, but Plus500 is not one of those.

Plus500 Legitimacy Assessment

This is the methodological approach we took to decide whether Plus500 is legit or not, with the broker getting a score from 0 to 5 (5 is better) in each category, with scores added up to a total out of 100.

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Plus500 Legitimacy Indicators
Feature	Score (0-5)	Plus500 Details
1. Regulations & Licenses	5/5	Yes – FCA (UK, FRN 509909), NFA (US, 0001398), ASIC (Australia, AFSL 417727), CySEC (Cyprus, 250/14), MAS (Singapore, CMS100648), DFSA (Dubai, F005651), SCA (UAE, 20200000232), ISA (Israel, 515233914), FMA (New Zealand, FSP 486026), FSCA (South Africa, 47546), JFSA (Japan, No. 156) EFSA (Estonia, 4.1-1/18), CIRO (Canada), BAPPEBTI (Indonesia, 587/BAPPEBTI/SI/XII/2004), SCB (Bahamas, SIA-F250), and FSA (Seychelles, SD039). Mostly Category A regulators, though FSA and SCB are Category C.
2. Investor Compensation Schemes	4/5	Yes – UK FSCS protection up to £85k for eligible investment claims and Cyprus ICF protection up to €20k. Protection varies by entity and country.
3. Age	5/5	Founded in 2008, giving Plus500 a long track record. Scam brokers tend to disappear within a year.
4. Listed On Stock Exchange	5/5	Yes – Plus500 Ltd is listed on the London Stock Exchange under ticker PLUS and is a FTSE 250 constituent. High levels of financial transparency. Fewer than 5% of brokers tested are publicly listed.
5. Registered As A Bank	0/5	No. Brokers that also operate as banks often have to meet high compliance requirements regarding capital and financial management.
6. Third-Party User Reviews	5/5	Large library of user testimonials, including around 20,000 on Trustpilot alone, where Plus500 scores over 4/5. Thousands more are available on the App Store and Google Play. More user reviews with high ratings than most brokers we track.
7. Withdrawal Complaints	4/5	Some complaints concerning withdrawal delays, verification and accessing funds. Normal for a broker of Plus500’s size to have some, especially due to KYC and AML requirements.
8. Handling Of Complaints	5/5	Plus500 actively responds to significant complaints on platforms like Trustpilot, including withdrawal and account-access issues.
9. Regulatory Fines & Infractions	2/5	Yes – Plus500UK was fined £205,128 by the FSA in 2012 for transaction-reporting failures covering more than 1.3 million transactions. In 2015, the FCA also forced it to halt onboarding new UK clients until it fixed AML/KYC issues. In 2018, it was hit with a class action lawsuit regarding its operations following Brexit that impacted a customer. In 2026, it faced ongoing legal action in Australia concerning its CFD offerings.
10. Accounts Audited By Big Four	5/5	Yes – Plus500’s financial statements are independently audited by PwC. Reassuring sign that a Big Four auditing heavyweight scrutinizes its financials.
11. Hands-On Testing Experience	5/5	BrokerListings.com’s team has spent 50+ hours using Plus500 – we’ve placed trades, tested its proprietary platform, and tried its research tools. No serious stability or performance issues.
12. Working Support	4/5	Yes – 24/7 customer support through live chat and email in multiple languages. We’ve directly tested support with multiple queries and received prompt responses, often within several minutes. No telephone support is a drawback.
13. Secure Website	5/5	Yes – SSL encryption and secure account controls. Plus500 operates proprietary platforms rather than relying on unknown third-party software. No widely reported major client-data breach.
14. Realistic Marketing	5/5	Plus500 does not guarantee profits. Clear risk warnings are displayed, and retail CFD leverage follows applicable regulatory caps, e.g. 1:30 in the UK, EU, and Australia.
15. Industry Reputation	5/5	Plus500 is one of the best-known global CFD providers, operating since 2008, listed on the LSE and used by millions of customers globally.
16. Segregated Client Accounts	5/5	Yes – client funds are held in segregated bank accounts in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements. Plus500 states it uses its own money for hedging and does not use client money for this purpose.
17. Negative Balance Protection (NBP)	5/5	Yes – Plus500 provides negative balance protection for retail CFD clients, preventing losses exceeding the funds in the trading account. A regulatory requirement in many jurisdictions.
18. Number Of Clients	5/5	Over 33 million registered customers globally. One of the largest trading providers we track.
19. Transparent Fees	5/5	Clear Fees & Charges information before sign-up covering spreads, overnight funding, currency conversion, and guaranteed stops. Spreads published for every prominent asset. Inactivity fee is up to $10/month after three months without logging in.
20. Company Transparency	4/5	Clear parent company (Plus500 Ltd), regulated subsidiaries, addresses, and senior management. CEO David Zruia, CFO Elad Even-Chen and other executives are publicly identified, with extensive financial disclosures as an LSE-listed company.
Total	88/100

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Is Plus500 Safe?

Whilst no trading brokerage can be labelled fully safe, Plus500 is as close as they come. Being regulated, publicly listed, using segregated client accounts, and providing negative balance protection so you can’t lose more than your account balance provides peace of mind.

It also offers guaranteed stop loss orders (GSLOs), so you can lock in an exit price that can’t be impacted by sharp market movements. These can be toggled on, in return for a wider spread, in the order panel of the platform, as you can see below.

GSLO order

The main safety risk is the trading products Plus500 offers. It’s primarily a CFD broker, and CFDs are high-risk derivatives with most retail investors losing money dealing in these products. Also, Plus500 is a market maker broker – meaning it takes the opposing side of your trades, and thus technically profits from losing clients’ positions.

For new clients, starting with Plus500’s demo account is sensible, and the virtual bankroll can be replenished. And if you do upgrade to a real-money account, start with small deposits and test that withdrawals go through smoothly.