Eightcap vs Plus500

Eightcap is a no dealing desk broker with 40 forex pairs, 250 cryptos and MT4 and MT5 trading platforms, Plus500 is a market maker with 72 forex pairs, options and ETFs and the plus500 platform. See our Eightcap vs Plus500 review.

Justin Grossbard

Justin Grossbard has been investing for the past 20 years and writing for the past 10. He co-founded Compare Forex Brokers in 2014 after working with the foreign exchange trading industry for several years. He also founded a number of FinTech and digital startups including Innovate Online and SMS Comparison. Justin holds a Masters Degree and an Honours in Commerce from Monash University. He and his wife Paula live in Melbourne, Australia with his son and Siberian cat. In his spare time, he watches Australian Rules Football and invests on global markets.

Updated: 07/05/2022

What Changed?

Each month we update average spreads data published by the brokers the retail brokers lose %

Fact Checked

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Our Rating

8.50

5.83

Eightcap review

Review Of Plus500

Eightcap don't provide % of clients who lose money

77% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Regulations and Licenses

ASIC (Australia)

FCA (UK)

MAS (Singapore)

CYSEC (Cypus)

FMA (New Zealand)

FSA (Seychelles)

SCB (Bahamas)

Brokerage

EUR/USD Avg. Raw Spread

0.06

GBP/USD Avg. Raw Spread

0.73

AUD/USD Avg. Raw Spread

0.27

EUR/USD Standard Spread

1.06

EUR/USD Fixed Spreads

Commissions (USD Base)

$3.50

Minimum Deposit

$250 (Raw)
$500 (Standard)

$100

Swap Free Account

No Inactivity Fees

Funding Methods

No Funding Fees

Markets and Instruments

Currency Pairs

40+

71+

Cryptocurrency CFDs*

250+

15+

Index CFDs

10+

67+

Share CFDs

400+

1816+

Commodities CFD

22+

Stockbroking

Retail Max Leverage (Australia)

Major Pairs 30:1
Minor Pairs 20:1

Pro. Max Leverage (Australia)

500:1

300:1

Retail Max. Leverage (The United Kingdom)

Major Pairs 30:1
Minor Pairs 20:1

Pro. Max. Leverage (The United Kingdom)

300:1

Retail Max. Leverage (Europe)

Major Pairs 30:1
Minor Pairs 20:1

Pro. Max. Leverage (Europe)

300:1

Retail Max. Leverage (Singapore)

Major Pairs 20:1

Retail Max. Leverage (With offshore regulators)

500:1

300:1

*Cryptocurrency CFDs are not available to retail traders in the UK due to FCA regulations

Trading Platforms + Tools

MetaTrader 4 (MT4)

MetaTrader 5 (MT5)

cTrader

TradingView

Proprietary Platform

Automated Trading

Social + Copy Trading

Standard Stop Loss

Guaranteed Stop Loss

Demo Account

Unique Feature

Low ECN Spreads

Trade cannabis index

Overall

Our Rating

8.50

5.83

Eightcap review

Review Of Plus500

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Is EightCap Or Plus500 The Cheaper Broker To Trade On?

EightCap offers you the use of both a standard account and a STP-style account with commissions. Since Plus500 is a market maker, they only have a standard account.

A standard account has no commission fees in addition to the spread which is why spreads are wider than STP style accounts.

Overall, you will find both EightCap and Plus500 are good choices for no commission trading however there are better brokers to choose from.

Only Eightcap have an STP-style no dealing desk account and the spread Eightcap offer makes them one of the more competitive brokers in the forex trading industry.

EightCap And Plus500 Both Have Competitive ‘Standard Account’ Spreads

Minimum spreads with EightCap start from 1 pip for the most popular currency pairs like the EUR/USD, AUD/USD and GBP/USD.

Plus500 does not advertise minimum or average spreads but the EUR/USD was around 0.8 pips which is slightly lower than Eightcaps minimum when we checked. Other forex pairs like the AUD/USD or the EUR/AUD were 0.8 pips and 2.5 pips respectively at the time we checked.


1.06	1.27	1.42	1.73	1.23
3.00	4.00	4.00	4.00	2.00
0.62	0.77	1.27	0.83	0.74
0.75	0.85	1.40	1.19	0.86
0.86	0.74	1.19	1.19	0.83
0.70	1.30	1.30	2.20	1.40
0.80	0.90	1.70	1.80	0.80
1.20	1.10	1.10	1.70	1.40
1.30	1.50	1.80	2.00	1.30
1.10	1.20	1.40	1.50	1.20
1.30	1.40	1.50	1.50	1.40

Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 01/05/2022

Eightcap Review >>Visit Eightcap >>

Only EightCap Has An STP-Style Account

A Straight-Through-Processing (STP) style account is where your broker connects all of your trades with their liquidity providers to bring you spreads at market prices. To facilitate this, brokers charge a commission fee for each lot you trade as a service fee.

Spreads on EightCap’s STP-style account – the Raw Spread Account, are 0.0 pips for major currency pairs around 50% of the time meaning you may only pay commission cost if you time your trade right.

Minor and exotic pairs start from a minimum of 0.1 to 0.4 pips but there are exceptions The EUR/TRY starts from 6.8 pips and the USD/SGD starts from 1.0 pips.

The spreads table below compares published spreads from some of the biggest forex brokers in the industry and is updated each month.


0.23	0.20	0.06	0.42	0.27
0.14	0.25	0.02	0.27	0.17
0.30	0.40	0.20	0.40	0.30
0.26	0.47	0.17	0.40	0.24
0.20	0.30	0.20	0.40	0.20
0.50	0.60	0.30	0.50	0.50
0.30	N/A	0.30	0.50	0.40
0.20	0.83	0.44	0.40	0.42
0.24	N/A	0.17	0.54	0.30
0.30	0.70	0.20	0.50	0.40
0.30	1.10	0.10	0.60	0.50

Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 01/05/2022

Eightcap Review >>Visit Eightcap >>

Commission costs are also low, at AUD/USD/NZD/CAD/SGD $3.50/7.00 side-trip/round-turn. For GBP and EUR, you pay £2.25/4.50 and €2.75/5.50 side-trip/round-turn respectively. Other currencies will be converted to USD $7.00 round-turn at the spot foreign exchange rate.

Will You Be Safe If You Trade On EightCap Or Plus500?

The best way to stay safe when you are trading forex or other CFDs is to trade with a broker who is regulated by your country or region’s financial regulator.

Both EightCap and Plus500 have offered their brokerage services for over a decade and are regarded as among the top online forex brokers available. You will be safe trading with either broker.

Plus500 Is More Widely Regulated Than EightCap

Plus500 has subsidiaries operating in a number of countries along with supervision from the appropriate regulator.

Plus500 regulators include:

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC, Australia)
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA, United Kingdom)
The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC, European Union)
Financial Markets Authority (FMA, New Zealand)
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS, Singapore)

Clients joining Plus500 from outside the above-mentioned countries/regions will join the Seychelles subsidiary which is regulated by the Financial Services Authority of Seychelles (FSA).

EightCap, as an Australian-based broker, is also regulated by ASIC. Outside Australia, Clients of EightCap will join Eightcap Global Limited which is regulated by the Securities Commission of the Bahamas which is the financial regulator for the Bahamas.

EightCap Has Better Reviews Than Plus500 On TrustPilot

Trustpilot reviews give EightCap a score of 4.4/5 stars, enough to designate EightCap as ‘Excellent’. Users lauded the low costs of trading on EightCap, as well as their incredible customer support.

Meanwhile, Plus500 is only classified as ‘Great’, with a 4.1/5-star ranking. Although they have many positive ratings about their platform, the primary negative ratings were related to how difficult their proprietary platform was to use.

There Is More Risk Management Available On Plus500

Eightcap only provides clients with negative balance protection where required by the financial regulator of the subsidiary you join. This means Eightcap will guarantee the trading account of all retail clients in Australia will not go into negative. Clients outside Australia are not so fortunate and will not receive such protection.

It is also worth noting that if you are an Australian client trading as a professional, you will lose such protection.

Plus500 provides negative balance protection to all clients regardless if this is required by the appropriate regulator.

What makes Plus500 unique compared to many brokers is the inclusion of a guaranteed stop loss order (GSLO), allowing you to minimise losses from unsuccessful trades. Just keep in mind that the spreads will be wider to cover the risk Plus500 takes on to provide this.

View Plus500 Review >>Visit Plus500 >>

Is A Minimum Deposit Required To Use EightCap Or Plus500?

Yes, both EightCap and Plus500 have a minimum deposit requirement for you to open an account.

On EightCap, Australian traders need a minimum deposit of $500 and $250 for their Standard and Raw accounts respectively. If you are trading from outside of Australia, your minimum deposit will be $100 for either account.

Plus500 requires that you have a minimum deposit of $100 in your base currency before you can trade.

This minimum deposit will go toward your first trade to cover initial margin requirements.

When it comes to account funding, both brokers provide a range of methods for you to deposit money into your accounts with, however Plus500’s range is slightly more restricted.

You can deposit funds into either broker via Visa/Mastercard, Bank Transfer or E-Wallets like PayPal or Skrill. EightCap also allows you to deposit using POLi or BPay in Australia, UnionPay (China), or even with different cryptocurrencies.

Neither EightCap nor Plus500 has any deposit fees, and EightCap also does not have withdrawal fees. However, Plus500 only allows you to withdraw funds 5 times per month, and every time you withdraw money after that, you are charged a fee of $10 USD (or equivalent).

Products Offerings

Both brokers offer an excellent range of CFD products for trading. Eightcap has the more unique offering with their Cryptocurrency suite but Plus500 also has some interesting products especially when it comes to sector indices.

EightCap Has An Exceptional Cryptocurrency Offering

We have awarded EightCap our 2022 award for best cryptocurrency broker. EightCap’s various cryptocurrency offerings and the tools they provide to enhance your crypto trading experience are simply unparalleled.

You can trade over 250 different cryptocurrencies on EightCap, ranging from popular picks like Bitcoin or Ethereum to smaller options such as Algorand and Dogecoin.

Around 120 of these options are coins vs the USD, with 20 coins also available to trade against other fiat currencies such as AUD, GBP, EUR, CAD and MXN. You even have the option of trading cryptocurrencies against themselves- such as the Ethereum/Bitcoin pair.

The list of options is endless, but if you can’t decide on which coin to trade, EightCap has 5 crypto indices allowing you to track a diversified group of coins.

In addition to crypto, Eightcap has the standard trading instruments you find with most brokers. This includes 40 Forex pairs, 10 indices, 400+ Stocks and 4 Commodities.

Plus500 Is A CFD Provider With Some Alternatives To Eightcap

Plus500 prefers to call itself a CFD provider than a broker and its product range is more extensive than EightCaps.

Along with 71 forex pairs they also have 1100+ stocks (covering 25 global stock exchanges), 30 indices, 98 ETFs and 308 options.

Plus500 crypto range does pale compared to Eightcaps but then so do all brokers.

Eightcap Review >>Visit Eightcap >>

What Platforms Are Available On EightCap And Plus500?

MetaTrader 4 and 5 available for you to use on EightCap. This is extremely useful if you are trying to find a new broker to use, as both of the MetaTrader platforms (Metatrader 4 especially) are popular free options with many forex brokers.

Meanwhile, Plus500 offers its own proprietary trading platform. This allows them to provide features unavailable on MetaTrader 4 or 5, such as a guaranteed stop-loss order.

You Can Only Use MetaTrader Trading Platforms With EightCap

The two most popular platforms used to trade forex and contract-for-differences (CFDs) in the world are MetaTrader 4 and 5 (MT4 and MT5). Despite its popularity, Plus500 does not offer it. This makes EightCap a much better option if you are looking for continuity if you wish to switch between brokers.

There is a wide range of tools you have access to if you choose to use MetaTrader on EightCap. Their vast network of traders means you get the largest library of Expert Advisors (EAs) to help automate your trading or simply provide technical analysis.

EightCap goes above and beyond with its MetaTrader offerings by partnering with companies such as Fx Blue Labs, Capitalise.ai, Cryptocrusher and The Automated Trader to bring you a superior trading experience with the platforms. All products integrate with MetaTrader.

Fx Blue Labs contains 11 trading apps and 17 indicators that can help with your trading.

Capitalise.ai allows you to write programs code-free to automate your trading.

The Amazing trader can also help automate your trading with a charting algo and comes with built-in risk management.

Lastly, Cryptocrusher is useful to find crypto trade ideas, scan the markets and determine crypto market sentiment.

MetaTrader 4 is the worlds most used trading platform so is a safe choice, it has all the features you will need when trading forex However if you wish to take full advantage of Eigthcaps’ range of crypto (or share) products then it is essential to use MetaTrader 5 since the range is limited on MT4. MetaTrader 5 has much in common with MT4 but has more powerful features such as extra indicators, and 64 bit for backtesting.

Eightcap Review >>Visit Eightcap >>

Plus500 Has Their Own Proprietary Trading Platform

While Plus500 does not offer MT4 or MT5, they do have a proprietary trading platform. However, this might take a while to get used to if you are switching over from a broker which allows you to use MetaTrader.

The Plus500 platform has a reputation for its simple user interface that makes it a good experience for new traders. You can even access mobile versions to trade on-the-go.

By using their own platform, Plus500 can provide you with guaranteed stop-loss orders, which MetaTrader does not have, giving you an extra layer of risk protection.

One limitation with the Plus500 trading platform is that there is no automation or algorithmic trading nor does it permit social or copy trading. Other limitations are that you cannot integrate 3rd party applications or engage in scalp trading.

Plus500 Offers A Geo-Restricted Islamic Account

Under Sharia Law, Muslims are forbidden from paying or accepting interest payments, also known as a ‘riba’, as this does not comply with sharia law. Since brokers charge overnight swap fees which is a form of interest Muslim traders must find trading accounts designed for their needs.

To allow traders who practice Islam to access the forex and CFD markets, Plus500 provides an Islamic or swap-free account, which has no overnight swap fees. However, this appears to only be available in a select few countries, primarily in the Middle East.

One benefit with the Plus500 swap-free account is that they do not charge an admin fee or widen the spread in place of swaps which some other brokers do.

EightCap does not provide any form of an Islamic or swap-free account for Islamic traders to use.

View Plus500 Review >>Visit Plus500 >>

About the author: Justin Grossbard