Plus500 (LON: PLUS), the London-listed trading platform group, has conditionally agreed to buy Hedge Capital Markets, a US broker-dealer, to move into American stocks, options and ETFs. The shares were up about 2% in early trading after the announcement at 7am.
At 8.06am the shares were at 3,390p, up 66p or 1.99% on yesterday’s close of 3,324p, within a day’s range of 3,358p to 3,400p. They remain 31.4% below the 10th of July close of 4,938p. The announcement came before the open, though timing alone does not establish what moved the price.
Hedge, founded in 2021, offers US retail investors stocks and ETFs. A broker-dealer is a US firm licensed to trade securities for clients, and Hedge’s is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US securities regulator, and is a member of FINRA, the industry’s self-regulatory body, and of SIPC, the US investor-protection scheme.
Plus500 is funding the deal entirely from existing cash, which stood at over $860m at 30 June. It has run a US futures and prediction-markets business since 2021, regulated by the CFTC, the US futures regulator. Hedge is its first step into SEC-regulated securities.
Chief executive David Zruia said the deal gives the group something new.
It strengthens the scaled, CFTC-regulated business we have built and provides, for the first time, direct access to the US securities market, the world’s largest retail investment market.
David Zruia, Chief Executive Officer, Plus500
The plan is a US “super-app”, one app covering many financial products, expected in the first quarter of 2027 and backed by a new New York hub alongside Chicago. Management expects deeper engagement, higher retention and monetisation, and a larger addressable market.
For UK traders, this is our own reading rather than anything in the announcement: it is a US growth bet funded from Plus500’s cash, and it leaves the UK CFD offer unchanged today while moving earnings away from CFDs alone. The super-app is US-first, and the announcement says nothing about UK customers.
Closing needs the notice period to expire and FINRA approval under its Rule 1017, the rule covering a change of ownership. Plus500 has not disclosed a price, Hedge’s revenue or profit, or any earnings impact, so the financial effect cannot yet be judged.
