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<p>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.</p>
In the fast-paced world of forex trading, choosing the right broker is crucial. ThinkMarkets 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 ThinkMarkets 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 ThinkMarkets 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 ThinkMarkets.
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 Plus500 has overall lower trading costs than ThinkMarkets.
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 ThinkMarkets offer copy trading.
A broader range of CFD instruments provides more trading opportunities. Plus500 offers a greater variety of instruments compared to ThinkMarkets:
For those interested in trading cryptocurrencies, ThinkMarkets offers 27 cryptocurrencies, while Plus500 offers 18 cryptocurrencies. Therefore, ThinkMarkets 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 ThinkMarkets charges a withdrawal fee. Overall, ThinkMarkets has better deposit and withdrawal processes than Plus500.
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.
ThinkMarkets has better educational support than Plus500. Both Plus500 and ThinkMarkets offer educational support for more experienced traders.Access to frequent and high-quality market research and analysis is crucial.
We found that ThinkMarkets offers better research analysis than Plus500 and that both Plus500 and ThinkMarkets offer frequent webinars.
An internationally, ThinkMarkets appeals to experienced traders who value a broad range of tradable assets and an extensive suite of trading tools, though trading costs are higher than average on its entry-level account.
ThinkMarkets offers trading on a wider range of tradable assets than other brokers, including 46 Forex pairs, 27 indices, 13 commodities, 1541 share CFDs, and 20 crypto pairs. The ThinkMarkets Standard Account, with no minimum deposit requirement, has high trading costs compared to other brokers, at 12 USD per lot EUR/USD. On the other hand, the 500 USD minimum deposit ThinkZero account delivers better pricing at 8 USD per lot EUR/USD, which may interest more experienced traders.
ThinkMarkets offers support for the MT4, MT5, and inhouse ThinkTrader platforms, and traders have access to some of the best trading tools in the industry, including Autochartist, Trading Central, Zulutrade, and a VPS hosting service. AutoChartist and Trading Central are offered free of charge to account holders. The Zulutrade copy-trading service requires a subscription of 30 USD per month, and the VPS service has a subscription fee unless traders trade over 15 lots per month.
The ThinkMarkets education package targets all traders levels and is a good place to start for beginners. Daily market commentary is missing from the website, but real-time news from FX Wire Pro is integrated into the ThinkTrader platform, along with advanced order management, risk management tools, charts, and more.
NOTE: Currently, Plus500 does not accept traders from Uganda. This review is for information purposes only. For trading options, explore our list of top brokers here.
Founded in 2008, Plus500 is a well-regulated market maker that is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange. It offers a wider range of tradable instruments than is available at other CFD providers, including over 70 Forex pairs, cryptocurrencies, indices, commodities, shares, options, and ETFs.
Although Plus500 only offers one live account, which is limited compared to other CFD providers, its trading costs are average, with spreads starting at 0.8 pips on the EUR/USD, no commissions, and a minimum deposit requirement of 100 USD.
Additionally, 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 proprietary platform. The platform is web-based with no need for any downloads or setup, making it a good choice for beginner traders, but Plus500 does not offer hedging, scalping, or copy trading.
Plus500’s education and market analysis materials are virtually non-existent, making it a poor choice for beginner traders, but its award-winning customer service is available 24/7, which is exceptional for an industry where trading is usually offered 24/5.
For more detailed reviews, please read our comprehensive assessments of ThinkMarkets and Plus500.
Select another broker to another broker to compare features, fees, and platforms side by side.
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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