Summary Order Execution Policy
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Terms of Use
Summary Order Execution Policy
1. Introduction
1.1. This Policy is provided to you (our Client or prospective Client) in accordance with Provision
of Investment Services, the Exercise of Investment Activities, the Operation of Regulated
Markets and Other Related Matters Law 87(I)/2017, as subsequently amended from time to
time (“the Law”).
1.2. By agreeing to the terms of our User Agreement, you are also agreeing to the terms of this
Summary Order Execution Policy ("Policy") which forms part of the Client Agreements as
defined in the User Agreement and this policy should be read in conjunction with the User
Agreement (the contractual agreement that a client enters into when opening an account
with Plus500CY Ltd); if there is anything you do not understand please contact our
Customer Support department.
1.3. In the event of a disagreement between this policy and the User Agreement, then the User
Agreement shall prevail.
2. Plus500CY Ltd (“Plus500”, “we”, “our”, “it”, “Company”)
2.1. Plus500 offers retail and professional clients only, contracts for differences (CFDs) across
a range of asset classes: FX, Equity, Commodity, Indices, ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds),
Options and Cryptocurrencies.
2.2. Trades are directly booked with Plus500 via an online trading platform only (there is no
facility for telephone or face-to-face trading), and Plus500 is the counterparty to clients’
trades. In other words, Plus500 transacts with clients as principal on the basis of a quote.
This means that you must open and close every trade with Plus500 and cannot close an
open trade with a third party. Plus500 is therefore the sole execution venue for trades
executed by it for you.
2.3. Plus500 decides which CFDs to make available on the Plus500 Trading Platform and to
publish the quotes at which such financial instruments can be traded. CFDs are derivatives
- bilateral and bespoke products - traded over-the-counter (“OTC”), thus by placing an
order on the Plus500 platform, you are providing your explicit consent to your orders being
executed outside a regulated exchange or multilateral trading facility (MTF).
2.4. All prices offered by Plus500 are provided by its parent company, Plus500 Ltd.
2.5. All trades are executed by Plus500 using the Plus500 Ltd trading platform and for each
trade an identical hedge trade takes place between Plus500 and Plus500 Ltd.
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2.6. Plus500 acts as the sole execution venue and as principal in all your trades which are
bilateral transactions between it and you (as defined in Commission Directive 2006/73/EC
implementing MiFID). Accordingly, there is no aggregation, allocation or re-allocation of
your and/ or Plus500’s own account Orders or transactions.
2.7. All trading activity is 100% automated, in respect of both you and Plus500, which ensures
the prompt, fair and expeditious execution of client Orders, relative to other Orders or
Plus500’s own trading interest. All Orders are promptly and accurately recorded and
allocated in strictly sequential order, unless the characteristics of the Order or prevailing
market conditions make this impracticable or your interest requires otherwise. Plus500 will
promptly inform you about any material difficulty relevant to the proper carrying out of
Orders upon becoming aware of the difficulty.
2.8. All executed trades are immediately viewable on your account, as is the ‘profit and loss’
associated with closed trades, and as processes are fully automated all sufficient steps are
taken to ensure accuracy, which is guaranteed subject to quality of the raw data.
2.9. Plus500 is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission
(CySEC) and, as a regulated entity, it is required to take all sufficient steps to ensure the
best possible result when executing your instructions.
2.10. When executing your orders, we will take all sufficient steps to achieve the best possible
outcome for you by executing those orders according to this Policy and subject to any
specific instructions received from you. This Policy comprises a set of procedures that are
designed to obtain the best possible execution result, subject to and taking into account
the nature of your orders, the specific instruction you have identified to us in relation to
filling of those orders. The client acknowledges that our price may differ from any price
which is or might have been available elsewhere.
3. Order Execution Policy
3.1. In providing best execution Plus500 is required to take into account certain execution
factors. Where Plus500 executes an order on behalf of a client, the best possible result is
determined in terms of the total consideration representing the price of the financial
instrument and the costs associated with the execution, which must include all expenses
incurred by the client which are directly related to the execution of the order.
3.2. In assessing the relative importance of the execution factors, the following criteria are
taken into account:
• The characteristics of the clients (including the client’s categorisation);
• The characteristics of the client order (including, the size and nature of the order);
• The characteristics of the financial instruments that are the subject of that order; and
• The characteristics of the execution venue to which that order can be directed.
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Not all of these criteria will be relevant in each case or are relevant to the Plus500 business
model, for example: Plus500 is the sole execution venue for trades executed by it for its
clients.
Based on relevant regulatory requirements, the Company publishes every quarter a report
that contains data of our execution quality at [Link] as
follows:
a) by 30 June, information regarding the time period 1 January to 31 March;
b) by 30 September, information regarding the time period 1 April to 30 June;
c) by 31 December, information regarding the time period 1 July to 30 September;
d) by 31 March, information regarding the time period 1 October to 31 December.
The Company also publishes at least on annual basis by the end of April each year, its
Execution Quality Summary Statement on execution arrangements for CFDs at
[Link]
3.3. The execution factors that are considered and their relative importance are set out below.
We have rated price and costs as the most important execution factor, followed by: speed,
likelihood of execution and settlement, size and nature and market impact. The relative
importance attached to these execution factors does not differ across the asset classes
traded by Plus500.
4. Price
4.1. The price for a given contract is calculated by reference to the price of the relevant
underlying financial instrument. For any given financial instrument Plus500 will quote two
prices: the higher price (ASK) at which the Client can buy (long) that financial instrument,
and the lower price (BID) at which the Client can sell (short) it.
4.2. This price is obtained through Plus500 Ltd from a range of independent third party
reference sources, various nominated independent financial market data providers, who
source their price feeds from relevant exchanges (for more information please refer to
Paragraph 10.2.(i) below).
4.3. Various providers are used in order to avoid over-reliance on a single provider and to ensure
protection against data redundancy, and are prioritised for each individual financial
instrument according to past performance in providing a consistent service, taking into
account factors such as frequency of updates and reliability.
4.4. Where this is a futures price it is impacted by relevant market factors such as, but not
limited to, proximity to the expiry of the current contract.
4.5. All current prices can be found on the Company’s website
([Link] or trading platform.
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4.6. The Company updates its prices as frequently as the limitations of technology and internet
connectivity allow. The Company reviews its third party external reference sources to
ensure that the data obtained continues to remain competitive. Certain ex-ante and ex-
post quality checks are conducted by the Company to ensure that prices obtained and
subsequently passed on to clients remain competitive. Such checks include, but not limited
to, reviewing system settings/parameters, comparing prices with reputable price sources,
ensuring symmetry of spread and checking the speed of price updating.
4.7. If the price reaches an order set by you such as: Close at loss, Close at Profit, Trailing stop,
Market Order, these orders are instantly executed. Under certain trading conditions it may
be impossible to execute orders at the Client's requested price. In this case, the Company
has the right to execute the order at the first available price. This may occur, inter alia,
for example during the market opening, during news time, during volatile markets where
prices may move significantly up or down and away from declared price and at times of
rapid price fluctuations if the price rises or falls in one trading session to such an extent
that, under the rules of the relevant exchange, trading is suspended or restricted.
4.8. If a Limit Order is placed to Buy a certain instrument at a price higher than the current
market price, the order will be executed at a price, which can be the same or higher than
the price indicated by you. Similarly, if a Limit Order is placed to Sell a certain instrument
at a price lower than the current market price, the order will be executed at a price, which
can be the same or lower than the price indicated by you. If a Limit Order is placed to Buy
a certain instrument at a price lower than the market price, the order will be executed at
a price, which can be the same or lower than the price indicated by you. If a Limit Order
is placed to Sell a certain instrument at a price higher than the market price, the order
will be executed at a price, which can be the same or higher than the price indicated by
you.
5. Costs
5.1. In most circumstances a fixed spread is applied by the Company on the quoted prices and
no other charges or commissions are payable by clients. The spread is dynamic for certain
financial instruments, and may take into account factors such as liquidity and volatility
conditions in the underlying markets.
5.2. Further information in relation to the spreads for each instrument may be found via the
‘details’ link for each specific instrument on the trading platform and the FAQ section of
the website. In certain circumstances (such as increased volatility or illiquidity in relation
to the underlying market concerned) Plus500 reserves the right to alter the spreads
offered.
5.3. In other circumstances, clients may be charged overnight funding, and adjustments made
in respect of dividend payments and other corporate action. Further information on the
commission calculations is set out in the User Agreement, the ‘details’ link for each specific
instrument on the trading platform, the Key Information Document which can be found on
the Company’s website and the FAQs section of the website.
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5.4. Any open futures trade held at the end of the contract may be rolled over to the next
trading period. Where an automatic rollover occurs, the original position remains open and
continues trading on the next contract. In these cases, an adjustment is made to the
client’s equity in order to reflect the difference between prices of the expired and new
contract. Plus500 may also make a spread adjustment at the time of rollover, in which case
the client will be notified both before and after the rollover. Further details are available
via the ‘details’ link for each specific instrument on the trading platform and the FAQs
section of the website.
5.5. Plus500 will also charge a premium for Guaranteed Stop Orders, via a wider spread. This
feature forces trades to close at the client’s chosen rate (price) even if the market price
surpasses it (gaps). Once the stated level is reached, the trade automatically closes. This
feature is not available for all instruments, and full information is provided to clients both
in the FAQs on the website and in the instrument details on the trading platform prior to
the placing of the trade.
5.6. Plus500 strives to charge clients competitive costs and fees for the provision of its services.
6. Speed and Likelihood of Execution and Settlement
6.1. In almost all circumstances, under normal market conditions and as long as the client has
sufficient margin available on their account for the trade and so long as the trade size
requested is equal to or under the maximum size permissible, the trade will be executed
at the level requested.
6.2. In certain circumstances, for example: speed of internet communications and market
volatility; where the quoted price is no longer representative of the ‘underlying market’
price, but within a predetermined permitted tolerance level, then the client’s trade will
be executed at the best price available at that time, irrespective of whether the market
movement is in a beneficial or detrimental direction, in accordance with Plus500’s Order
Execution Policy. However, when volatility is such that the price has moved more than the
predetermined permitted tolerance levels, then the client’s trade request will be rejected.
6.3. Slippage can occur at any time, but is most likely to occur during periods of high volatility,
overnight and at market open.
(i) It occurs when the market moves suddenly in any direction, and in the time taken
for a client’s acceptance of a price to be received, that price is no longer available
and the client’s trade is executed at the best price available at that time.
(ii) This applies in the event of either advantageous or disadvantageous price
movements.
(iii) Slippage is the difference between the expected price of a trade, and the price at
which the trade was actually executed.
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(iv) The price is then said to have ‘slipped’ from one level to another, as the market
has ‘gapped’ from one level to another.
(v) In most cases an Order, when triggered by market price action, will be filled at the
same, or very close to the same price as requested.
(vi) If the market ‘gaps’ overnight, it will open at the start of the trading day at a price
different to the closing price of the previous trading session.
(vii) Any Order whose activation price is between Plus500’s closing quote of the previous
day’s trading and their opening quote of the next day’s trading session, will be
filled at the first price Plus500 can reasonably obtain with reference to the
‘underlying market’.
(viii) If any market gaps from one quoted price to another due to any market sensitive
piece of information (such as a profit warning or an economic data release), then
any Order in place between these prices will be activated.
6.4. The execution price of any Order affected by price sensitive information will be subject to
general exchange rules.
6.5. The likelihood of execution of Clients orders depends on the availability of prices of other
market makers/financial institutions and certain risk management limitations and defence
levels (i.e. maximum order size). In some cases it may not be possible to arrange an Order
for execution during abnormal market conditions, for example but not limited to the
following cases: overnight, during news times, trading session start moments, during
volatile markets where prices may move significantly up or down and away from declared
prices, where there is rapid price movement, where there is insufficient liquidity for the
execution of the specific volume at the declared price, a force majeure event, as defined
in section 16.1 of the User Agreement, has occurred.
6.6. In the event that the Company is unable to proceed with an Order with regard to price or
size or other reason, the Order will not be executed. In addition, the Company is entitled,
at any time and at its discretion, without giving any notice or explanation to the Client, to
decline or refuse to transmit or arrange for the execution of any Order or request or
instruction of the Client in circumstances explained in the User Agreement.
6.7. A trade which has a Guaranteed Stop Order set against it will be closed at the exact
specified level if it is reached.
6.8. Plus500 does not accept any Market Orders outside the market hours of the relevant
underlying financial instrument. All CFD instruments are traded in accordance with the
trading hours of the exchange on which the underlying financial instrument is traded.
6.9. Plus500 will accept Limit Orders outside the market hours of the relevant underlying
financial instrument; the execution of your Limit Order will take into account the
conditions offered at the time the Order would be expected to execute, as opposed to the
time the Order is placed. This includes but is not limited to the leverage ratio or the
maximum number of units, which may be different from the time the Order was placed.
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6.10. The Financial Instruments offered by the Company are CFDs which do not involve the
delivery of the underlying asset. CFD trading can only be settled in cash. The Company
shall proceed with the settlement of all transactions upon the execution and/or time of
expiration of the specific transaction.
6.11. At times of low or zero liquidity, or a halt or suspension of trading on the markets or
Exchange on which the underlying product is traded, we reserve the right not to execute
your order.
6.12. In order to improve speed and likelihood of execution, the Company carries out certain
ex-ante and ex-post quality checks relating to, for example, symmetric slippage, number
of trades subject to slippage and comparison of our average speed of execution with
industry standards.
7. Trade size and nature
7.1. The actual minimum size of an order may be different for each type of Client Account.
7.2. Plus500 will not make a ‘partial fill’ of any trade.
7.3. Plus500 allows you to ‘partially close’ any of your open positions given that the size of your
position is above the minimum size possible. If you choose to use this feature, you will be
able to choose the size (amount) of an open position you wish to close as an alternative to
closing an open position in its entirety.
7.4. Every market quoted by Plus500 has an absolute minimum and maximum permitted trade
size. The minimum size of trade can be found by selecting the ‘financial instrument details’
tab on the trading platform; and the maximum size of trade is dependent not only on
normal market size and market conditions, but also internal risk management factors and
is, at all times, at the discretion of Plus500.
8. Trades and Orders
8.1. There are three types of instructions/orders that you may give to execute or initiate a
trade with Plus500.
8.1.1. Market Order (trade request) - This is where you give an instruction to immediately
buy or sell at a currently available price.
8.1.2. Limit Order (Pending Order) - This is where you give an instruction to open a buy or
sell position if the price reaches at a specific price which is pre-set by you. You can
set this specific price above or below the current market price and the position will
automatically open only once the requested rate is reached or surpassed. This
instruction will expire in 90 days if a position has not been opened.
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8.1.3. Stop Orders
[Link]. Close at Loss Order (Stop Loss Order) – This instruction allows you to set a
specific rate at which your position will close at, in case the price moves
against the position in order to limit its loss. Once the ‘Close at Loss’ rate
is reached, the stop order will be executed and the position will close.
Close at Loss orders do not guarantee that a position will close at the exact
specific rate you have specified. In cases where the market gaps up or down
and the market price surpassed the designated stop level, the position will
close at the next best available price. If the ‘Close at Loss’ rate is not
reached or surpassed then the stop loss order will not be executed.
[Link]. Close at Profit Order (Take Profit Order) - This instruction allows you to set
a specific rate at which your position will close at, in order to protect the
position’s profits. Once this specific rate is reached, the take profit order
will be executed and the position will close. Close at Profit orders do not
guarantee that a position will close at the exact specific rate you have
specified. In cases where the market gaps up or down and the market price
surpassed the designated take profit level, the position will close at the
next best available price. If the ‘Close at Profit’ rate is not reached or
surpassed then the take profit order will not be executed.
[Link]. Trailing Stop Order – This instruction is a stop loss order which allows you
to lock profits and limit losses by enabling a position to remain open as long
as the price is moving in your favour, but as soon as the price changes
direction and moves against the position by a specified amount of pips, the
position will automatically close at the Trailing Stop level. The Trailing stop
level can be set at a number of pips from the current market price and is
automatically updated when the market moves in client’s favour. Trailing
Stop orders do not guarantee that a position will close at the exact Trailing
Stop level. In cases where the market gaps up or down and the market price
surpassed the designated Trailing Stop level, the position will close at the
next best available price. If the ‘Trailing stop’ rate is not reached nor
surpassed then the trailing stop order will not be executed.
[Link]. Guaranteed Stop Order – This instruction allows you to set a stop loss order
which will force the position to close at the exact specific rate you have
set in case the price moves against the position in order to limit its loss.
Guaranteed Stop order is not available for all instruments and a fee is
charged via a wider spread.
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9. Specific Instructions
9.1. When a client provides Plus500 with specific instructions as to how to execute an Order,
Plus500 shall take all sufficient steps to obtain the best possible result when executing that
Order, by following the client’s instructions.
9.2. However, specific instructions provided by clients as to how to execute an Order may
prevent Plus500 from taking the steps described in its Order Execution Policy to obtain the
best result for the client.
9.3. Where a client gives instructions via the use of a Guaranteed Stop Order, specifying the
price at which a position is to be closed if the market moves against them, those
instructions take precedence over other aspects of Plus500’s Order Execution Policy.
9.4. To the extent that specific instructions do not cover every aspect of the Order, as is the
case with Market Orders, Plus500 will apply the Order Execution Policy to those parts or
aspects of the Order not covered by the client’s instructions.
10. Monitoring and Review
10.1. Plus500 will regularly monitor the effectiveness of its Order Execution Policy in order to
identify and, where appropriate, correct any deficiencies and to ensure that it complies
with all regulatory requirements and obligations.
10.2. The monitoring is conducted at various frequencies and covers trading on the trading
platform of all asset classes, and focuses on three key execution factors: price, costs and
speed.
(i) Price:
a) Ensuring due regard to its bid/ offer prices being reflective of the market price
and movement for the underlying reference product to which the CFD relates.
b) To aid clients to seek reassurance primarily for futures contracts, there is a link
on the trading screen to prices on the relevant exchange on which the underlying
financial instrument is traded. This facilitates the easy comparison of Plus500’s
prices and the exchange’s prices. Where the underlying instrument is not traded
on a specific exchange, there is a link to Yahoo Finance/ Google Finance for
illustrative purposes only.
c) The price for a given contract is calculated by reference to the price of the
relevant underlying financial instrument. This price is obtained through Plus500
Ltd from a range of independent third party reference sources, various nominated
independent financial market data providers, who source their price feeds from
relevant exchanges. Each provider’s price feed is subjected to numerous defined
checks and verifications, which are carried out by Plus500 Ltd at individual
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financial instrument level, before being presented to Plus500, and onto their
clients.
d) In the event that the price is outside acceptable defined parameters when
compared to the previous price received from the same provider, an alert is
triggered for the gap to be investigated by Plus500 Ltd prior to a price being
presented to Plus500 and onto their clients. Where the price is verified, as the
gap is as a result of, for example, market volatility, the price is presented to
Plus500 and is available for clients to trade.
e) Price feeds that do not comply to spread limitations are not provided by Plus500
Ltd to Plus500 and therefore are not presented to clients, until they are within a
prescribed variance of the prevailing market spread. Instruments with continual
low trading volumes and poor market value that result in a wide bid-ask spread
will not generally be available to trade.
f) As the price is obtained through Plus500 Ltd from a range of independent third
party reference sources, various nominated independent financial market data
providers, who source their price feeds from relevant exchanges, there are various
contingency arrangements that preserve the existence of a price feed from
Plus500 Ltd to Plus500, and onto clients.
(ii) Costs and Spreads:
a) As there is only one execution venue, cost is deemed the most important aspect
to the client, assuming price movements track the underlying market fairly.
b) Spreads and costs are monitored via numerous internal protocols, processes and
examination of records.
(iii) Speed:
In the event of price slippage between the time that a client requests a trade and
its execution, Plus500 operates symmetric price slippage, and closely monitors this
aspect to ensure absolute adherence to this philosophy.
10.3. These checks and verifications are separately monitored by Plus500, as ownership of best
execution monitoring resides with Plus500.
10.4. Additional monitoring reviews and investigation of any anomalies is undertaken by a senior
independent person at Plus500, from the person(s) carrying out the more frequent
reviews.
10.5. The best execution obligation requires Plus500 to take all sufficient steps to deliver the
best possible result for clients. There may be instances where it will be apparent that
best execution was not provided. There may be legitimate reasons for this, or it may be
that Plus500 could have improved the service provided to the client. Plus500 will learn
from all incidents, take remedial action to rectify any client detriment and correct any
deficiencies identified as a result of its best execution monitoring to ensure that best
execution is maintained on an on-going basis.
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11. Review of the Order Execution Policy
11.1. Plus500CY reviews this Policy and its order execution arrangements at least annually. A
review will be carried out whenever a material change occurs that affects the firm’s
ability to continue to obtain the best possible result for its client orders on a consistent
basis using the methods described in this Policy.
11.2. Any material changes/updates to this Policy and to the Company’s order execution
arrangements will be notified to you accordingly, as necessary.
12. Contact Details
12.1. Full details of the trading conditions, including trading hours, for particular products are
available through the details link for each instrument on the Plus500 Trading Platform.
12.2. Should you require any further information and/or have any questions and/or reasonable
requests for information about the Company’s execution policies and arrangements and
how these are reviewed, please direct your request and/or questions to our Support Team
via our Contact Us page and we will answer you within a reasonable timeframe.
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Plus500CY Limited is authorised and regulated by the
Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, CIF Licence No 250/14.
Plus500CY Ltd. 1 Siafi Limassol 3042
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