Both eToro and Plus500 are great online trading brokers with excellent reputations. But you cannot trade with both, so you have to pick one that is best for you. This comes down to a variety of factors, and you can use these 5 critical criteria on broker services to choose between these two companies.
eToro came out as a winner in this comparison between eToro and Plus500. However, it was a close call, and some of you might value one metric over all others and still decide to go with Plus500.
| eToro vs Plus500 | ? Winner |
|---|---|
| Regulation | Plus500 has more jurisdictions |
| Deposit methods | eToro |
| Assets available | eToro |
| Fees | Plus500 |
| Trading platforms | eToro |
Regulation
eToro operates under several subsidiaries so that they can provide their services in as many jurisdictions as possible. To operate in the UK, the FCA licenses this broker with the reference number FRN 583263 as eToro UK. For the rest of Europe, eToro got their license from CySEC as eToro Europe with the license number 109/10. Australian law requires brokers to get a license from ASIC, which eToro did there too. Thus, eToro is allowed to operate in most countries with Japan and the US as exceptions.
Meanwhile, Plus500 is licensed in these and more jurisdictions. Their headquarters are in the UK where Plus500 UK has had the reference number 509909 since 2010. Here, the broker is even listed on the London Stock Exchange. For the rest of Europe, Plus500 CY is licensed by CySEC with the license number 250/14. This broker is also licensed in Australia by ASIC, Israel, by ISA, and Singapore by MAS.
? Winner here is Plus500
Deposit methods
Making deposits on eToro is very easy, as they have provided various funding methods. These range from the most common such as credit/debit cards to payment service providers like PayPal, Skrill, and Neteller, wire/bank transfers, and local electronic wallets like Giropay, China Union Pay, WebMoney, and Yandex. Plus500 doesn’t have as many funding options, allowing for deposits only through bank transfer, PayPal, Skrill, and debit/credit card (only Visa and MasterCard).
? Winner of best broker services for withdrawal is eToro.
Assets available
Trading with both of these brokers gives you access to a lot of financial markets, including Forex pairs, stocks, indices, commodities, cryptocurrencies, and ETFs. However, there are still some differences to distinguish between their broker services. Plus500 only offer these assets through CFD’s. eToro has chosen to offer actual stock, ETF, and crypto trading real when you decide not to use leverage on these products. This means you can actually own these assets and not just as CFDs.
? Winner: eToro, since you can own the assets you pay for and not only trade CFDs.
Fees
Charges on Plus500 are very low as there are absolutely no commissions or deposit and withdrawal fees. Only the spreads are incurred, and these are very low, as well as overnight/weekend swaps and inactivity fee if you don’t trade for 90 consecutive days. With eToro, you have to be prepared for a few extra charges when making withdrawals and placing sell orders for actual stock and ETF trades as per the law. Besides, the spreads are much higher.
? Winner of best services and low fees is Plus500
Trading platforms
eToro has become popular for providing social trading, which they do through their own proprietary software. But neither do Plus500 offer MetaTrader or any of the other popular trading software, choosing to use their own software too.
? Winner: Both have a great platform for both mobile and desktop but we landed with eToro as theirs is more user friendly and pleasing to work with.
