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Alison Heyerdahl is the Head of Content at FxScouts, a Chartered Market Technician (CMT), and an experienced trader, as well as a financial writer with extensive expertise in Forex trading, broker analysis, and market research. She has reviewed 100+ brokers, publishes weekly YouTube trading videos, and co-hosts the “Let’s Talk Forex” podcast.
In the fast-paced world of forex trading, choosing the right broker is crucial. XTB and Plus500 are two popular options, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. This comparison will dive into the key features of both platforms,helping you decide which one best suits your trading style and goals.
The radar chart above illustrates the comparison between XTB and Plus500 across several key metrics, with the highest possible score being 100 in each category.
At FxScouts, our mission is to assist traders in finding the broker that best suits their needs. Comparing brokers side-by-side is an effective method to achieve this goal. We evaluated XTB and Plus500, using our standard criteria: trust and regulation, trading platforms, costs and trading conditions, and educational and market analysis resources.
Trust and regulation are crucial when selecting a Forex broker. A broker’s credibility is largely built on its regulatory status. We spend considerable time verifying the safety of each broker by examining their regulatory licenses. We also consider numerous factors when deciding which tier a regulator belongs to. Regulators that we rank as the world’s top regulators, gets a tier 1 rank, while regulators who only scores a tier 5-rank, provide virtually no regulatory oversight. The more top-tier authorities regulating a broker, the higher its trust rating. Read more about regulation and our tier system here.
In our comparison:
Based on these findings, Plus500 earned a higher trust rating than XTB.
When comparing brokers, trading costs are a significant factor. We consider the minimum deposit required to open an account and ongoing costs, including spreads and commissions. We measure the cost to trade one lot of EUR/USD using the broker’s account with the lowest minimum deposit, including both the spread and any commission charged.
We found that XTB has overall lower trading costs than Plus500.
Trading Platforms Offered Traders prefer brokers that offer a variety of trading platforms. We rate brokers higher if they support multiple platforms like MetaTrader4, MetaTrader5, cTrader, and proprietary platforms.
Copy trading is beneficial for beginner traders or those unable to trade full-time. In this case both Plus500 and XTB offer copy trading.
A broader range of CFD instruments provides more trading opportunities. Plus500 offers a greater variety of instruments compared to XTB:
For those interested in trading cryptocurrencies, XTB offers 49 cryptocurrencies, while Plus500 offers 18 cryptocurrencies. Therefore, XTB is the better choice for cryptocurrency trading.
Traders prefer brokers with quick and cost-effective deposit and withdrawal processes. We favor brokers that process withdrawals within 24 hours using multiple methods without charging fees.We found that neither Plus500 nor XTB charges a withdrawal fee. Overall, Plus500 has better deposit and withdrawal processes than XTB.
We often find that brokers offer very little in the way of educational materials, forcing traders to use other third-party sites or self-educate elsewhere. Beginner traders need well-structured, well-presented materials in multiple formats to get a good start at trading. More experienced traders also benefit from webinars led by experts in the field and advanced trading strategy sections with new trading ideas.
XTB has better educational support than Plus500. Both Plus500 and XTB offer educational support for more experienced traders.Access to frequent and high-quality market research and analysis is crucial.
We found that XTB offers better research analysis than Plus500 and that both Plus500 and XTB offer frequent webinars.
A well-regulated broker, XTB appeals to traders looking for a wide choice of tradable instruments, top-class educational materials and excellent market analysis. However, traders should note that support is only offered for XTB’s proprietary platform, xStation5.
XTB offers trading on over 2400 financial assets, a wider range than is typically seen at other brokers. Tradable assets include Forex, indices, commodities, stock CFDs, ETF CFDs, and cryptocurrencies. XTB provides excellent educational support for traders, with a comprehensive library of articles and freely available content on its YouTube channel. XTB also provides frequent market commentary and trading ideas in its Market News section, and its responsive customer service is available to help traders with technical or account-related queries.
The account choice at XTB is limited, with only one live account available, but with lower than average trading costs. Spreads average at 0.70 pips on the EUR/USD, and no commissions are charged.
One drawback is that XTB no longer supports the MT4 trading platform so all clients have to use XTB’s proprietary platform, xStation 5 - though it has won awards for its functionality, fast execution speeds, and intuitive design.
A trustworthy CFD provider with regulation from eight national authorities and a listing on the London Stock Exchange, Plus500 is a good choice for traders looking for a simple account structure, reasonable trading fees, a wide range of tradable assets, and a well-designed mobile trading app.
Plus500 only offers one trading account, but its trading costs are low compared to many brokers, with spreads starting at 0.8 pips* on the EUR/USD and a minimum deposit of 100 USD. Most traders will also be satisfied with the number of financial assets available, including over 70 Forex pairs and 1900 share CFDs.Unlike other CFD providers that provide support for a variety of trading platforms – such as MT4, MT5, or cTrader – Plus500 only offers support for its own in-house platform. However, the platform is sleek and well-designed. Available as a mobile app or on the web with no need for any downloads, the platform is equipped with a number of useful risk management tools.
We were disappointed that Plus500’s education and market analysis materials are virtually non-existent, but its award-winning customer service is available 24/7, which is exceptional for an industry where the norm is 24/5.
*spreads correct as of 09:00, 21/06/2022
For more detailed reviews, please read our comprehensive assessments of XTB and Plus500.
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Broker | Overall Rating Our overall rating evaluates brokers on platform quality, fees, service, regulation, and instruments. Higher scores reflect better performance and reliability. | Official Site Click to visit the broker’s official website for more information and to open an account. | Min. Deposit The minimum amount of money required to open an account with this broker. | Min. Spread | Trading Cost | Licenced by Displays the financial regulators licensing the broker, shown by national flags, ensuring compliance with financial standards for safer trading. | Accepts Traders from %s | Compare Select two brokers using the checkboxes to compare their features, fees, platforms, and more side by side. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | USD 0 | 0 pips | USD 7 |     | jp, es, us, ca | |||
 | USD 3 | 0.10 pips | USD 7 |      | at, be, bg, cy, cz, de, dk, ee, el*, es, fi, fr, hr, hu, ie, it, lt, lu, lv, mt, nl, pl, pt, ro, se, si, sk, us, ca, au, nz, il, iq, sy, ir, kp, my, ye, sg, pr, gu | |||
 | USD 0 | 0 pips | USD 10 | | jp, be, el, lt, pt, bg, es, lu, ro, cz, fr, hu, si, dk, hr, mt, sk, de, it, nl, fi, ee, cy, at, se, ie, lv, pl | |||
| USD 5 | 0.60 pips | USD 6 | | us, es, ca, ir, il | |||
 | USD 100 | 0.90 pips | USD 9 |     | es, be, cu, ir, kp, sy, us, nz, ru, by, lb, ye, im, uk, je, gg, af, dz, iq, ps, in | |||
 | USD 100 | 1 pips | USD 10 |  | jp, es | |||
 | USD 100 | 0.40 pips | USD 14 | | es | |||
 | USD 100 | 0 pips | USD 6 | | jp, es | |||
 | USD 200 | 0.10 pips | USD 8 | | jp, es | |||
 | USD 0 | 0.80 pips | USD 7 | | us, es |
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Alison and Chris cover a range of topics, including how to choose a Forex broker, safety and regulation, how to reduce your risk, trading psychology, trading platforms, and trading strategies, among others.
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