Plus500

Is Plus500 safe?

Your money at Plus500 is reasonably well protected, but Plus500 is a different kind of broker from a share platform. It is mainly a CFD provider: it quotes the prices and takes the other side of your trades. The group is listed on the London Stock Exchange, made a net profit of $281.3 million in 2025, and its main companies are regulated by the FCA, CySEC and ASIC. Client money is held in segregated trust accounts. We score it 73/100, a little below eToro and Trading 212.

The score is held back by thin cover for EU clients (€20,000), the CFD model itself, and a record that includes a 2015 FCA intervention over anti-money-launderingAnti-money launderingThe rules and checks that stop criminals from moving illegal money through banks, payment firms and crypto exchanges.More in the glossary checks.

Which Plus500 company am I with?

Where you live	Company	Regulator	Compensation if money is missing
United Kingdom	Plus500UK Ltd	FCA (FRN 509909)	FSCSDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary, up to £85,000
EU and EEA	Plus500CY Ltd (CFDs and Plus500 Invest shares)	CySEC (250/14)	Cyprus ICF, 90% up to €20,000
Australia, New Zealand, South Africa	Plus500AU Pty Ltd	ASIC (AFSL 417727), FMA, FSCA	No equivalent scheme
United States (futures, prediction markets)	Plus500US Financial Services LLC	CFTC, NFA (ID 0001398)	Segregated under CFTC rules; no SIPC
Some other countries	Plus500SEY Ltd, Plus500BHS Ltd	Seychelles FSA, Securities Commission of The Bahamas	None comparable

We score the UK and EU companies, which serve most of Plus500's retail clients outside the US. In the UK the share-dealing product, Plus500 Invest, was not available when we checked; EU clients get it through Plus500CY. If your documents name the Seychelles or Bahamas company, you are under a much lighter regime than the FCA or CySEC.

How Plus500 holds client money

All of Plus500's regulated companies keep client money in segregated accounts. The 2025 annual report says these accounts have statutory trust status, which is why the $257.5 million held for OTCOver-the-counterA medicine you can buy without a prescription, in a pharmacy or shop, with directions on the pack for safe use without a doctor.More in the glossary clients at the end of 2025 does not appear as Plus500's own asset. Retail CFD accounts cannot go into negative balance, so a market crash cannot leave you owing money.

What you own is the weak point for this kind of broker. A CFD is a contract with Plus500, not a share held at a custodian. If Plus500 failed, your claim would be the cash value of your account and open positions, recovered from the client money pool and, if needed, topped up by the FSCSDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary or the Cyprus fund. In the US, futures margin is held in CFTC-segregated customer accounts ($918.2 million at the end of 2025); SIPC does not cover futures.

The 82% warning

Plus500's website said in October 2026 that 82% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with it, a figure regulators make every CFD provider publish and update. The UK page showed 76% in December 2025. That is a product risk: leveraged CFDs lose most retail traders money. It does not mean client money is unsafe, so it does not lower the score by itself. It does explain why regulators and claimant lawyers watch Plus500 closely.

Regulatory record

• UK, May 2015. After a review of its anti-money-launderingAnti-money launderingThe rules and checks that stop criminals from moving illegal money through banks, payment firms and crypto exchanges.More in the glossary controls, Plus500UK applied for an FCA requirement that froze all client accounts until clients completed new due-diligence questionnaires and stopped it taking new clients until its checks met the Money Laundering Regulations. Frozen accounts could not deposit, trade or withdraw until the checks were done. New UK sign-ups resumed in January 2016.
• UK, 2012. The FSA, the FCA's predecessor, fined Plus500UK £205,128 for inaccurate transaction reporting in 2010–2011.
• Belgium, 2017. Plus500 paid €550,000 to settle with the FSMA, which said it had sold CFDs without a prospectus and without submitting adverts; it had to offer Belgian clients free account closure.
• Israel and Australia. A Tel Aviv court approved a class action in 2021 over trading limits after the Brexit vote, reported at $29 million. In Australia, a funded class action filed in 2023 claims CFD clients were sold the product unfairly between 2017 and 2021. In December 2025 the Federal Court ruled Plus500AU's arbitration clause an unfair term, so the case stays in court. We found no judgment in either.

Plus500's US futures arm reported no enforcement actions in the past three years.

How strong is the company?

Very strong on paper. Plus500 has been listed in London since 2013, has no debt and held more than $860 million in cash in June 2026. Each regulated company holds capital above its requirement: £54.4 million at Plus500UK and €125.1 million at Plus500CY, 554% of its Pillar 1 requirement. The catch is that its income depends on client trading, including clients' losses, so profits swing with market volatility.

How to stay safe on Plus500

1. Check which Plus500 company your account agreement names. It decides your regulator and your compensation scheme.
2. Turn on two-factor authenticationTwo-factor authenticationSigning in with a second proof of identity on top of your password, such as a code from an app, a security key or a passkey.More in the glossary in the security settings, and keep your registered phone number current.
3. Treat any CFD balance as at risk: the protection schemes cover a failed broker, not trading losses.
4. Ignore "account managers" on social media or messaging apps promising returns with Plus500; check the site address before you log in.

How we scored it

Financial strength (84) is the strongest factor: a listed, debt-free and highly profitable group. Regulation (80) reflects FCA, CySEC, ASIC and CFTC oversight, less points for offshore entities. Investor protection (68) loses points for the €20,000 EU cap and CFD counterparty exposure, and conduct (64) for the 2015 FCA freeze, the Belgian settlement and the open class actions.