Plus500 lately revealed that its non-over-the-counter (non-OTC) income for 2025 exceeded $100 million and now accounts for about 14 per cent of the group’s complete income. This surge got here from no non-OTC income simply a few years in the past.
The rising income clearly reveals how the contracts for distinction (CFD) dealer is increasing its footprint past its core income stream, which continues to be CFD.
CFD Brokers Push for Non-OTC Income
The development to push non-CFD choices is seen amongst different brokers as effectively. In line with a current Acuiti survey performed for CME Group, 4 out of 5 corporations that don’t but provide listed derivatives are both planning to or actively contemplating doing so.
IG Group, which has been providing non-OTC buying and selling income for years, can be witnessing robust development in its figures lately.
The rationale behind Plus500’s and IG’s push into non-OTC income is similar: their entry into the US futures and choices market.
IG first entered the US market by buying tastytrade for $1 billion in mid-2021, a platform with a big person base. Beneath the brand new proprietor, the US-focused platform additionally grew strongly: its income doubled to over £200 million in comparison with the pre-acquisition professional forma determine of £100.6 million.
The efficiency of tastytrade additionally helped IG increase its non-OTC income, which the corporate studies as income from exchange-traded derivatives (ETD) and inventory buying and selling investments. The London-listed dealer generated £191 million from non-OTC streams within the final fiscal yr, in comparison with £63.1 million within the yr previous to its tastytrade acquisition.
The ETD stream was additionally boosted by IG’s launch of Spectrum Markets in Europe, however the platform was closed final yr. IG, in the meantime, entered the non-OTC market after the worldwide monetary disaster by way of its acquisition of HedgeStreet, which was later rebranded as Nadex.
Learn extra: How Does Shifting to Futures and Choices Have an effect on Dealer Income?
Following the US Playbook
Plus500, then again, operated largely as a pure-play CFD supplier. It started diversifying into non-OTC merchandise with the 2021 rollout of Plus500 Make investments, a futures and share-dealing platform in some European markets. It later expanded its non-OTC providing with the acquisition of Cunningham Commodities, which gave it entry to the US futures markets. It now presents retail providers there beneath the Plus500 Futures model.
Regardless of coming into non-OTC markets after the COVID-19 pandemic, the dealer began to report its non-OTC income solely in 2024, when it generated $76.8 million from this stream, about 10 per cent of its complete income. It may be assumed that, earlier than non-OTC revenues appeared on the corporate’s financials, enterprise from these streams was negligible.
Plus500 is now additionally eyeing the regulated Indian derivatives market. It closed the $20 million acquisition of an area derivatives dealer earlier this month, however didn’t share particulars of its plan for probably the most populous nation. Notably, India is the most important derivatives market by way of common day by day turnover.
In the meantime, retail demand for futures and choices buying and selling within the US can be rising. In 2024, complete US choices quantity jumped 10.6 per cent. By Q3 2025, Cboe stated general listed-options exercise was operating at document ranges (59 million contracts per day by way of September 2025) and linked a part of the surge to rising retail engagement.
Non-OTC, however in Non-US Markets
CMC Markets is among the many early entrants within the non-OTC markets. Its growth past CFDs dates again to 2008, when it entered Australian stockbroking following the acquisition of Andrew West & Co, which turned CMC Stockbroking.
Lord Peter Cruddas-led platform has maintained a double-digit share from its non-OTC income for years. Within the final fiscal yr, non-OTC streams, that are primarily investing providers for this platform, introduced in £44.4 million, 13.1 per cent of its complete income. This share improved to 14.1 per cent within the first six months of the continuing fiscal yr.
Associated: CMC Markets Joins Different CFD Brokers with “Tremendous App” Ambition, Floats a 3-Section Plan
For Switzerland’s Swissquote, nevertheless, securities buying and selling is core, producing virtually 86 per cent of its complete income in 2024.
In the meantime, like Plus500, Poland’s XTB, which remained CFD-focused for years, is now slowly increasing into non-OTC merchandise, together with shares and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Nevertheless, only one.6 per cent of its complete 2024 income got here from non-OTC streams, though this was up from 0.7 per cent.
The push by Plus500 and IG Group in the direction of non-OTC futures buying and selling reveals two issues: the necessity for these brokers to diversify past CFDs, and the robust demand within the US retail futures buying and selling market.
FinanceMagnates.com additionally lately identified that transferring from OTC CFDs to exchange-traded futures and choices adjustments how brokers generate income and what dangers they face. Though CFDs are high-margin merchandise as a result of the dealer controls pricing and internalisation of trades, they’re closely scrutinised by regulators.
Nevertheless, income from non-OTC merchandise is pushed primarily by commissions and change charge mark-ups fairly than by consumer buying and selling losses. Margins per contract are usually thinner however extra predictable. Brokers don’t management spreads in the identical approach as in OTC merchandise as a result of costs are shaped in a central order e book.
Regardless of the rising recognition of non-OTC markets, massive CFD brokers are additionally increasing into institutional providers, as many function as prime brokers and liquidity suppliers. Plus500 is even instantly and not directly coming into new markets, reminiscent of prediction markets and prop buying and selling.
This text was written by Arnab Shome at www.financemagnates.com.
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