Plus500 is an Israeli-founded London-based firm that provides online trading services in

contracts for difference In finance, a contract for difference (CFD) is a financial agreement between two parties, commonly referred to as the "buyer" and the "seller." The contract stipulates that the buyer will pay the seller the difference between the current value o ...

(CFDs), share dealing,

futures trading In finance, a futures contract (sometimes called futures) is a standardized legal contract to buy or sell something at a predetermined price for delivery at a specified time in the future, between parties not yet known to each other. The item tr ...

and options on futures. It is listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

and is a constituent of the

FTSE 250 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 250 Index, also called the FTSE 250 Index, FTSE 250, or, informally, the "Footsie 250" , is a stock market index that consists of the 101st to the 350th mid-cap blue chip companies listed on the London Stock ...

History

The company was founded in 2008 by six alumni of the Technion. In 2013, Plus500 became a publicly traded company on the

Alternative Investment Market AIM (formerly the Alternative Investment Market) is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange that was launched on 19 June 1995 as a replacement to the previous Unlisted Securities Market, Unlisted Securities Market (USM) that had been in opera ...

of the

. Its market cap was $202 million. The company launched its

Windows Store app Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps (formerly named Windows Store apps, Metro-style apps and Modern apps) are applications that can be used across all compatible Microsoft Windows devices. They are primarily purchased and downloaded via the ...

in 2014. In 2014, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) launched a review into how the organization signed up new customers. The investigation came about due to concerns raised by its rivals. Allegedly, Plus500 only verified client identities when they withdrew funds rather than during account registration.

2016–2024

In January 2016, Plus500UK resumed onboarding new customers in the UK. In the same year, Plus500IL Ltd., the company's Israeli subsidiary, received a Trading Arena Licence from the Israel Securities Authority ( ISA). In September, Plus500 launched an

Apple Watch The Apple Watch is a brand of smartwatch products developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple. It incorporates activity tracker, fitness tracking, Health (Apple), health-oriented capabilities, and wireless telecommunication, and integrates wit ...

app to trade and view account details. In the fall of 2016, Plus500's founders sold 13% of the company's shares, raising £100.75 million but causing a 16% stock drop. They retained a 22% stake. In December 2017, Plus500's

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

subsidiary, Plus500SG Pte Ltd., obtained a Capital Markets Services license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore ( MAS) to trade in securities and leveraged forex. In June 2018, Plus500 launched an Economic Calendar, providing global financial events and indicators in partnership with

Dow Jones & Company Dow Jones & Company, Inc. (also known simply as Dow Jones) is an American publishing firm owned by News Corp, and led by CEO Almar Latour. The company publishes ''The Wall Street Journal'', '' Barron's'', '' MarketWatch'', ''Mansion Global'' ...

, along with a list of impacted instruments per event. That same month, shares of Plus500 were listed in the main market of the London Stock Exchange, and the company joined the

of leading mid-cap firms. By 2018, Plus500's trading apps supported 32 languages, including English, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Chinese. By the end of 2018, Plus500 reported a 33% increase in revenue, reaching $437.2 million (£314.7 million) compared to $327.9 million in the previous year. Net profit rose by 70% to $199.7 million. In 2021, Plus500 appointed

Jacob A. Frenkel Jacob Aharon Frenkel (; born 8 February 1943) is an Israeli economist and the chairman of JPMorgan Chase International. He served as governor of the Bank of Israel between 1991 and 2000. Biography Frenkel was born in Mandatory Palestine. He ear ...

, former chairman of JP MorganChase International and former governor of the

Bank of Israel The Bank of Israel (, ) is the central bank of Israel. The bank's headquarters is located in Kiryat HaMemshala in Jerusalem with a branch office in Tel Aviv. The current governor is Amir Yaron. The primary objective of the Bank of Israel is to ...

, as chairman. the company announced its agreement to acquire Cunningham Commodities LLC and Cunningham Trading Systems LLC, finalizing the acquisition by July as part of its expansion into the U.S. futures market. During the summer of 2021, Plus500 opened a new R&D center in Tel Aviv and introduced "Plus500 Invest," a stock-trading platform featuring over 2,000 instruments. By the third quarter of 2021, the company reported having 166,310 active clients. In March 2022, Plus500 acquired Japan-based EZ Invest Securities, specializing in securities and derivatives trading. Later, in September, it launched TradeSniper, a futures trading app for U.S. retail clients. In August 2024, Plus500 announced plans to return $185.5 million to shareholders through a $110 million share buyback and $75.5 million in dividends. The company benefited from global volatility driven by events like the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, and a conflict in Gaza since 7 October 2023 and expects to benefit from the U.S. elections in November 2024. Plus 500 also intends to focus on expanding into the U.S., UAE, and Japanese markets.

Model

Plus500's customers trade

(CFDs) on their smartphones or computers. While companies operating in high-risk sectors use hedging to limit their exposure to market volatility, Plus500's model relies less on this practice than comparable businesses in this sector.

Licenses

The company became an FCA-regulated company in the UK in 2016.

Marketing and sponsorships

Plus500 uses an affiliate marketing model and to target potential clients on social media platforms like

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

and

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

. The organisation's aggressive affiliate marketing programme has attracted scrutiny from the financial industry. Their affiliate marketing programme allowed website owners to earn commissions for new client referrals. In 2015, Plus500 became the

Atlético de Madrid Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

's main sponsor and kept that title for the next 7 years until June 2022. The company expanded its sports sponsorships in 2016 with the

ACT Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005 to 2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the brumby, feral horses wh ...

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

, in 2020, signed with three football clubs: Swiss Super League champions Young Boys, and Poland's champions

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

. In 2023

beIN Sports beIN Sports ( ) is a Qatari multinational network of sports channels owned and operated by the media group beIN. The network has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and its ...

blacked out

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

and Young Boys broadcasts due restrictions on CFD advertising by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). In 2022, Plus500 entered a multi-year partnership with the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

and launched an advertising campaign featuring actor

Kiefer Sutherland Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland (born 21 December 1966) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his starring role as Jack Bauer in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox drama series ''24 (TV series), 24'' (2001–2010, 20 ...

in the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and Australia.

References

External links

Official site
{{Online brokerages Financial services companies based in the City of London Trading companies Online brokerages Electronic trading platforms Financial services companies established in 2008 Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Financial derivative trading companies Foreign exchange companies Israeli brands Companies in the FTSE 250 Index