eToro is a forex broker with a social trading Platform to copy trade with the best traders. Plus500 is a CFD provider with its own CFD trading platform and risk management tools. Our experts’ review eToro vs Plus500 to find the best broker.
Updated: 16/01/2021
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Plus500 and eToro are both market maker brokers that offer no commission forex trading on major and minor currency pairs. Market makers set their own bid-ask prices and act as the counterparty to your trade, using their own liquidity to fill orders. This compares to ECN brokers like IC Markets, or NDD brokers like Pepperstone, that use multiple external liquidity providers to determine spreads and fill orders.
Although both market maker brokers that charge no commission fees, Plus500 and eToro forex spreads and execution models vary slightly. Plus500 is a pure market maker and offers both variable and fixed spreads. Fixed spreads do not change with market and trading conditions (i.e. volatility, liquidity, financial market news, economic events etc), while variable spreads fluctuate with market conditions.
eToro offer variable spreads only and utilises aspects of straight-through processing (STP) and no dealing desk (NDD) execution. This means that some trades are directly passed onto liquidity providers, while orders are absorbed by eToro.
As market makers, both eToro and Plus500 only offer commission-free spreads, with no ECN spreads or account types available. When the two brokers’ average no commission spreads are compared, Plus500 is significantly more competitive. eToro minimum spread for the EUR/USD is 3.0 pips, while Plus500 offers an average spread of 0.7 pips for the EUR/USD.
Both brokers are market makers that offer commission-free trading, but overall, Plus500 provides access to much lower spreads than eToro. Although Plus500 follows a traditional market maker brokerage model and eToro a market maker that utilises STP/NDD execution, Plus500 offers much tighter forex spreads. For the EUR/USD Plus500 average 0.7 pips, and eToro over three times wider at 3 pips.
View Plus500 Review >>Visit Plus500 >>
*Your capital is at risk ‘76.4% of retail CFD accounts lose money’
In this section, we compared the CFD account types offered by the two online brokers. Our team of experts will analyze for you the most important features so you can choose the right CFD account type.
Unlike other online brokers, Plus500 and eToro only offer a live trading account type for:
Additionally, you can open a free demo account that comes with zero risks. More, Muslim traders have the option to apply for a swap-free account that complies with the Sharia law.
You can review the Plus500 vs eToro trading features in the comparison table below.
Note* The eToro Club membership program offers personalized VIP service for loyal clients. There are 5 different membership tiers (Silver, Gold, Platinum, Platinum+, and Diamond) that can unlock more competitive trading conditions and features.
With Plus500, account funding via a credit card or a debit card is associated with a minimum deposit of USD 100, while funding via bank transfer requires a minimum deposit amount of USD 500. Plus500 allows 10 different base currencies, including USD, GBP, EUR, CAD, AUD and CHF among others.
With eToro, the minimum deposit for CFD trading is:
However, there are certain exceptions. Israel-based clients are required to deposit as little as USD 10,000, while clients from Australia and the United States are required to make a first-time deposit of at least USD 50. At the same time, clients from countries such as China, Hong Kong, Russia and Taiwan are required to make a first-time deposit of at least USD 500.
eToro allows deposits only in US Dollars. Deposits in other currencies will have to be converted to USD and will incur a conversion fee.
Both online brokers offer an equal amount of financial instruments (+2,000 CFD instruments) across several asset classes, including currency pairs, indices, shares, ETFs, commodities, cryptocurrencies and options.
Trading CFDs can be done on:
Note* Options CFD trading is the only additional market that you can trade with Plus500, but not with eToro.
Depending on your favourite market, traders have more tradable instruments with Plus500 if they want CFD trading in currencies, indices commodities and options. For CFD trading in stocks, cryptocurrencies and ETFs, traders have more options with eToro.
For a side-by-side comparison of eToro vs Plus500 range of CFD markets, please view the comparison table below.
Note* The FCA ban on cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ripple, Ethereum, etc.) prohibits FCA regulated brokers from offering crypto assets to retail traders. Traders outside the UK can still enjoy trading digital currencies.
eToro will start charging an inactivity fee of USD 10 per month if clients do not log in to their live account for 12 months.
At the same time, Plus500 will charge an inactivity fee of up to USD 10 per month, in case clients do not log in to their trading account for a period of at least 3 months.
Both CFD providers allow practice trading risk-free with paper money. Plus500 allows clients to open and use a Demo Account for as long as they wish. It has USD 40,000 in virtual funds.
eToro also offers a free Demo Account, which comes with USD 100,000 in virtual funds. Since it mimics real market conditions, it is suitable for testing trading strategies with no risk of losing real money as well as for testing the broker’s social trading feature.
Both brokers have a swap-free account option (Islamic Account) for clients of the Muslim faith.
Overall, Plus500 has a slight edge over eToro’s account features. Our team of FX experts has noted a lack of account types diversification. Both CFD brokers combine all their trading features into a single trading account that is suitable for all types of traders. Claim your free demo account by clicking the button below.
Plu500 and eToro are CFD providers with different focus. While Plus500 aims to ensure the simplest, most transparent trading conditions for retail clients on an easy-to-use CFD platform, eToro focuses on the social side of trading and its benefits for retail customers.
eToro has a well-designed, user-friendly web-based trading platform provides higher security with a two-step login, executes trade orders at a reasonably fast speed and has a good search function. However, it does not offer much in terms of workspace or chart customizability.
On the other hand, Plus500’s trading platform has some notable features such as trade alerts. Clients can receive real-time email, SMS and push notifications, based on:
Meanwhile, eToro’s copy trading technology enables retail clients to automatically replicate the activity of top-performing traders without the need to pay management fees or other hidden costs. Clients are able to search through eToro’s vast active trader base (more than 3,000,000 traders) by using certain parameters such as return, risk score, number of copiers or preferred markets to trade.
Once a top-performing trader is located, clients can exactly copy his/her trading positions. We should note that every copied position has to be at least $1 in value.
At the same time, experienced traders with proven strategy are able to earn an additional income each month by being followed and copied by other platform users. They can participate in eToro’s Popular Investor Program. When copied, traders will receive a fixed payment equal to 2% of their annual assets under management (the total amount allocated by other clients to copy trades).
eToro’s Popular Investor Program includes four different levels that have their own specifications – Cadet, Rising Star, Champion and Elite.
Plus500’s mobile apps are compatible with both iOS and Android-based devices, as well as for Windows Phone. Plus500 trading App supports 31 languages and has the same features as the broker’s Webtrader. The most important tools and trading features include:
The broker’s mobile apps also feature a secure two-step login and biometric authentication.
eToro’s intuitive and innovative mobile trading app is also available for iOS and Android devices. It supports 21 languages and has the same functionalities as eToro’s web-based platform (Webtrader), including the following features:
eToro’s mobile apps also provide good touch interactions, with clients being able to access charts or open trades with a simple swipe to the left and to the right in their portfolio.
We found Plus500 trading platform to provide a better user experience for purely CFD trading. On the other hand, eToro offers a better experience for social trading. Finally, both trading platforms are designed with the tools and capabilities to serve the trading needs of CFD traders vs copy trading. We should note that both Forex brokers do not allow Hedging and Scalping on their platforms.
Both Forex brokers comply with strict regulatory standards of some of the most reputable Forex authorities across the globe. As such, both Plus500 and eToro can be considered safe.
eToro and its corporate arms are authorized to conduct online trading services business in the following jurisdictions:
At the same time, Plus500 and its corporate arms are authorized to provide financial services in the following jurisdictions:
In addition, both Forex brokers assure that they keep client funds fully segregated from their own corporate accounts, which minimizes the risk of misuse.
Listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), Plus500 is regulated across over 6 forex regulatory authorities (3 global Tier-1 licenses and 3 global Tier-2 licenses). Plus500 complies with the local regulatory standards of each country it does business, which is why it gained more points in our star scoring system. Nevertheless, it’s also safe to trade with eToro, which has strong regulation.
Contracts for Difference (CFDs) are complex instruments, enabling retail traders to speculate on price movements of financial instruments. However, trading CFDs carries a high risk of losing capital rapidly, because leverage is used. Leverage is a double-edged sword, as it amplifies both potential gains and potential losses.
Note* Trading CFDs with high leverage ratios can lead to blowing up your CFD account, which is why clients need proper tools to minimize risk.
In this line of thought, with Plus500 retail investors can use three valuable trading tools in order to manage high leverage:
In comparison, eToro’s trading platform offers the Stop Loss, Stop Limit, and Trailing Stop tools only. eToro doesn’t offer guaranteed SL, in which case your SL may incur negative slippage due to unfavourable market conditions (gaps, spikes or whipsaws).
Another risk management tool, which is not offered by all Forex brokers, includes negative balance protection. Both CFD providers Plus500 and eToro offer negative balance protection. If your account equity falls into negative territory, the broker will swallow up the loss and bring your balance to zero. With negative balance protection in place, retail investor accounts cannot lose larger amounts than initial deposits.
Overall, Plus500 offers a full suite of risk management tools aimed to protect your money. Plus500’s risk tools will help you better control your risk and better respond to the constant unfavourable market conditions.
Plus500 offers professional 24/7 customer support service via email or live chat in the majority of jurisdictions where it conducts business. The live chat service turned out to be quick and reliable, while we received relevant answers to our inquiries about trading and non-trading fees. The customer support team’s response by email was also timely (within an hour) and the information we were provided – relevant.
Additionally, retail clients can also contact the broker’s support department through the WhatsApp messaging platform.
On the downside, Plus500 offers no client support over the phone.
In comparison, eToro offers 24/5 customer support service via live chat or a web-based ticketing system. With the latter, clients will receive an answer to their query via email.
We should note that the live chat link is not immediately found on the broker’s website. It turned out to be located below the FAQ in the “Help Center” section. Another circumstance we found as inconvenient was that the chat function appeared offline too frequently.
Similar to Plus500, eToro does not offer client support over the phone, which is a drawback given nowadays’ relentless dynamics.
Plus500 has a slight edge over eToro because its customer service is faster and open even on the weekends. Thanks to their superior customer support, Plus500 scored more points in this category surpassing eToro.
Both brokers offer a range of account funding methods and will charge no fees on deposits. The most popular payment options include:
Note* Plus500 offers 13 different payment options compared to eToro’s 9 different payment options.
eToro also allows funding via Neteller, China UnionPay, RapidTransfer, Webmoney and Klarna/Sofort Banking. Despite that, the broker will not charge a deposit fee, there will be a conversion fee (as little as 50 pips) when clients deposit in base currencies (EUR, GBP, AUD, RMB, THB, IDR, MYR, VND, PHP) different from USD.
Wire transfer deposits are usually processed within a period of 4-7 business days, but there are no limitations for the maximum amount. On the other hand, deposits via Credit/Debit Cards and electronic wallets are instant, but there are limits for the maximum amount:
eToro requires all deposits following the First Time Deposit to be at least $50, while for bank wire transfers the required minimum deposit is $500.
As far as withdrawals are concerned, Plus500 will charge no fees on the first five withdrawals made every month. Any subsequent withdrawals during the month will incur a $10 withdrawal fee. Plus500 has a minimum withdrawal amount requirement, which includes:
If clients withdraw lesser amounts than the above-mentioned, there will be a $10 fee.
In comparison, eToro will charge a $5 withdrawal fee and has a minimum withdrawal amount requirement of $30. Depending on the payment method used, clients will be able to receive their funds on average between 1-2 business days.
Both brokers eToro and Plus500 offer a good selection of payment gateways. There is no meaningful difference between the two brokers except the small USD 5 withdrawal fee charged by eToro. This alone is the reason why Plus500 won this broker comparison category.
View eToro Review >>Visit eToro >>
For CFD trading, Plus500 is the better option, while for social trading, eToro is the best pick. You should always choose a broker based on your trading needs. For example, Plus500 offers a great selection of risk management tools, more currency pairs, stronger regulation, and a user-friendly trading platform. On the other hand, eToro offers more stocks, more crypto pairs, ETFs and options that can’t be found with Plus500.
For a full comparison of the Best Forex Social Trading Platform see our complete review.
Yes, your funds are safe with eToro. Client’s money is kept in segregated accounts separate from the company’s money in top-tier banks. The regulatory framework also protects retail investors via FCA’s FSCS that overs coverage up to GBP 85,000 respectively EUR 20,000 from the CySEC’s ICS. Additional money protection features include a Two Factor Authentication (“2FA”) option, SSL encryption, and $1 million free investment insurance policy.
For a complete review of eToro’s pros and cons please see eToro Review 2021.
Plus500 is a well-respected CFD provider listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and regulated by global regulatory bodies. The broker also offers a good selection of CFD instruments (+2,000 CFDs), 70 currency pairs, average EUR/USD spread of 0.8 pips, and so much more.
All in all, when it comes to CFD trading, Plus500 turns out to be the better choice for retail clients, as it offers more competitive spreads, more tools to manage risk, more reliable customer support service and charges no fees on deposits and withdrawals.
Learn how CFDs work before you risk your money and start trading with a live account. Our team at Compare Forex Brokers doesn’t provide any investment advice. We only use our expertise to help you find a broker that better suits your needs. Below show head-to-head comparisons, including providers such as eToro.
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.
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