Plus500 vs HFM 2024

Trust Score is a data-driven rating system that provides an at-a-glance rating of a broker’s overall trust by tracking 60+ brokers and over 100 regulatory jurisdictions across the globe. To make things clearer for everyday traders, we’ve created a five-tier system for regulators and Trust Score rating labels. Learn more about Trust Score, and check out our country guides to see the most trusted brokers in your country of residence.

Plus500 has a Trust Score of 99, giving it a "Highly Trusted" Trust Score Label.

HFM has a Trust Score of 86, giving it a "Trusted" Trust Score Label.

Plus500 is a highly-trusted broker that holds six Tier-1 regulatory licenses from reputable jurisdictions around the globe and has a Trust Score rating of 99. Traders at Plus500 gain access to share trading via the Plus500 Invest platform, and CFD traders will find good selection of CFDs available via the broker’s separate Plus500 CFD platform. Though Plus500 does not provide access to the popular MetaTrader suite, we found its proprietary trading platform to be intuitive. While its educational content and range of research trails category leaders, Plus500 is still a great choice for less demanding traders.

HFM is a trusted broker that offers an enhanced MetaTrader experience. Traders at HFM gain access to both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 alongside third-party upgrades like Premium Trader Tools from FX Blue Labs and trading signals via the Autochartist plugin. HFM also offers its own proprietary copy trading platform, HFcopy, and a proprietary mobile trading platform, the HFM app. It's worth noting that you'll need to hold a Premium account with HFM to use the HFM app for trading.

Tier-1 is reserved for the strictest, most stringent regulatory jurisdictions in the world. Tier-1 regulators impose additional capital requirements and require a tougher initial screening process. Plus500 holds regulatory licenses in the following Tier-1 jurisdictions: Australia (ASIC Authorised), Japan (SFC Authorised), Singapore (MAS Authorised), New Zealand (FMA Authorised) and United Kingdom (U.K.) (FCA Authorised). HFM, on the other hand, is licensed in these Tier-1 regulatory jurisdictions: United Kingdom (U.K.) (FCA Authorised). Neither have Canada (CIRO Authorised), Hong Kong (SFC Authorised), CBI Authorised (Ireland), Switzerland (FINMA Authorised) and USA (CFTC Authorized)

Tier-2 and tier-3 licenses are still important in evaluating the overall trustworthiness of forex brokers. As far as tier-2 licenses go, Plus500 is Cyprus (CySEC Authorised), Israel (ISA Authorised), South Africa (FSCA Authorised) and UAE (DFSA/Central Bank Authorised), while HFM is Cyprus (CySEC Authorised), South Africa (FSCA Authorised) and UAE (DFSA/Central Bank Authorised).. Neither have China (CBRC Authorised), India (SEBI Authorised), Russia (CBR Authorised) and Thailand (SEC Authorised). When comparing tier-3 licenses Plus500 is none, while HFM is Mauritius (FSC Authorised).. Neither have Bahamas (SCB Authorised), Belize (FSC Authorised), Bermuda (BMA Authorised), British Virgin Islands (FSC Authorised), Cayman Islands (CIMA Authorised) and Vanuatu (VFSC Authorised).

Whether your broker develops its own proprietary platforms or provides access to popular third-party platforms, you should make sure you can use your preferred type of trading platform. In our testing, we found that Plus500 offers a Proprietary Platform, whereas HFM supports a Proprietary Platform and Desktop Platform (Windows). Neither have cTrader, DupliTrade and ZuluTrade

For MetaTrader Plus500 provides neither of these, while HFM provides MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). If MetaTrader is a must for you, read our guides on the best MT4 brokers or best MT5 brokers.

Plus500 requires a minimum deposit of €100, while HFM requires a minimum deposit of $0. It's also important to ensure your broker accepts the funding options and deposit methods that work best for you. In our research, we've found that Plus500 supports Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw), Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit), PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) and Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) for funding and deposit methods, whereas HFM supports Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw), Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit) and Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw)

When choosing a forex broker, it’s important to consider each broker’s available investment products and tradeable asset classes. We’ve researched each broker’s individual offering of investments to help you pick the right broker for what you want to trade. During our testing, we found that Plus500 delivers a more diverse selection of investment options than HFM, offering tradeable asset classes and investment types such as Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs), Metals, Energies, Agriculturals, ETF and U.S. Stocks (CFD). Neither have Spread Betting.

We also keep track of each broker’s total number of tradeable symbols; Plus500 offers 5500, and HFM offers a total of 500 tradeable symbols.

Crypto trading has become popular among forex traders across a range of international jurisdictions. As a result, many forex brokers now offer crypto products to their clients; most crypto assets are offered either as an underlying physical asset (such as when you own actual bitcoin assets, for example) or as a derivative product like a CFD. If you are looking to trade physical cryptocurrencies, you’ll find that neither Plus500 nor HFM allow you to trade physical cryptocurrencies.

Market research plays a huge role in any forex trader’s ability to conduct analysis within the global forex market. We test each broker’s research offering to help you decide which broker is right for your technical or fundamental analysis needs. Plus500 delivers the following research tools: Daily Market Commentary, Stock Charts and Trading Central (Recognia). HFM, on the other hand, provides the tools listed here: Autochartist, Daily Market Commentary, Stock Charts, Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) and Social Trading / Copy Trading

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