Plus500 reports ‘positive momentum’ despite customer growth slowdown

Online trading platform Plus500 today reported positive momentum in its half year trading update, following a bumper 2020.

The global fintech group, operating a trading platform for contracts for difference (CFDs), noted a “very strong period of customer acquisition” up to June this year.

This followed an “unprecedented” performance in 2020, driven by the pandemic and the memestock saga.

Plus500 shares rose over 1 per cent, rising to 1,386 by mid-morning.

The platform saw 61,000 fewer customers join in the first half of this year compared with that of 2020. It said 136,980 new customers joined, while this figure was 198,176 in 2020 and 47,540 in 2019.

Customer income was also down on the previous year at $379m in the first half of this year, compared with $557m in 2020 and $175m in 2019.

Earlier this month, Plus500 launched a new share dealing platform, Plus500 Invest. The company said this was part of its vision to become a “global multi-asset fintech group”.

In April, the company also moved into the US market, with a $30m deal to buy futures trading platform Cunningham Commodities.

In recent years, companies have been targeting retail investors on futures exchanges. Since 2017, there has been an 84 per cent jump in retail trading on the US futures and options on futures market. It is estimated to be worth $2bn globally.