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eToro Review

Minimum Deposit: $200 VISIT BROKER

Between 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

eToro allows you to trade stocks with no commissions. The account opening process is quick and painless. It includes a number of unique features, such as social trading and imitating the strategies of other (successful) traders. Is eToro worth your investment? Overall, we like eToro because of its social trading function and low-cost stock trading.

Investing Brokers

March 7, 2023

eToro is an Israeli fintech company and an established forex & CFD broker. The broker is well-known for its transparent copy trading benefits. This broker was founded in 2007 and has been providing industry leading social trading platforms and apps for many years now. eToro is well known for its remarkably diversified portfolio offers and jurisdictions of FCA, CySEC, ASIC, DNB, FSAS, and FinCEN regulations. The broker offers a generous range of more than 2000 instruments from a wide range of asset classes such as forex, commodities, cryptocurrencies, stocks, indices, ETFs and options to choose from thousands of copy trading portfolios. eToro has its own web trading app and mobile trading app. Traders can start trading with zero commissions and tight spreads with this broker. The broker offers plenty of educational resources for beginners to learn more about the markets.

eToro’s ultimate advantage is that it offers an excellent combination of manual and automated trading solutions to users of all experience levels. Not only can you choose from thousands of prebuilt portfolios, build your own and copy the trades of other users, they also have a good selection of real stocks and ETFs to trade starting with zero commissions. The broker is very fluent in sharing its financial statements in public. Traders can enjoy social trading and copy trading in one place. The broker offers a seamless account opening process that should only take a few minutes to complete whilst you can also open a free demo account to get a feel for trading and investing online without the risk.

On the other hand, the broker does not offer a desktop trading platform as it is web based. This means that the functionality you may be used to from some other trading platforms might be restricted. On top of that, the broker charges a handsome amount in terms of inactivity fees if you do not trade that often. The broker only offers one base currency for its clients no matter where they reside in what part of the world and charges conversion fees to US dollars from non-US clients. The broker has limited customer support available, not 24/7. On the positive, educational resources are plentiful with this broker.

eToro offers a lot of instruments from a wide range of financial assets. You can trade forex, CFDs, cryptocurrencies, commodities, shares, indices and ETFs with this broker. The broker has a massive community of Social trading, copy trading and copy portfolios. It’s great for novice traders entering the trading industry. The clients of this broker can enjoy a cryptocurrencies portfolio. The broker does not offer options or bonds to trade. It would be great if the broker offered these in the future as well to keep up with competitors such as AvaTrade.

eToro Instruments Summary

Commission and Spread Fees

eToro offers very impressive spreads and commissions when compared to its competitors. You can enjoy commission-free shares and ETFs trading with eToro. Customers with low investments can even trade fractional shares with the broker, something you want find many other brokers providing although it is something RoboForex offer as an alternative option. eToro charges 2% as management fees from its investors for copy trading, but on the other hand, the broker offers 100% spread rebates. The broker offers very competitive spreads to its customers, starting from 1.0 pip for trading CFDs. Whilst these are acceptable spreads, you can get 0 pip spreads from IC Markets. The broker charges low to average overnight fees as well. Customers from the Muslim faith can enjoy swap-free and interest-free Islamic accounts with this broker. eToro charges fees starting from 0.09% for stock and ETF CFDs and fees starting from 0.75% for trading cryptocurrency CFDs. Traders with low investments can choose a retail trading account, and traders with higher investments can enjoy a professional trading environment with a professional trading account.

Deposit and Withdrawal Fees

eToro offers the US dollar (USD) as the only base currency for its clients. Therefore, deposits that are not made in USD are charged with a conversion fee for converting local currency to USD. However, the broker does not charge any deposit fees. The broker charges a minimum of $5 withdrawal fees while withdrawing from all payment methods, which is a drawback for eToro’s customers. Although the broker offers a variety of payment methods for deposits and withdrawals, it requires the use of specific payment methods while making the first deposit, which might limit the payment methods for some customers. Transaction duration varies from one payment method to the other. If you are looking to deposit in a currency other than USD and want more options, Plus500 have a similar service but support more currencies for your accounts.

Inactivity Fees

The broker charges a considerable $10 inactivity fee after 12 months of inactivity from its customers’ remaining balance, which is a considerable downside. The inactivity status is based on no login activity on the account for consecutive 12 months.  However, no open positions are closed to cover this inactivity fee. If you are planning to take frequent breaks from trading, you might want to consider a broker that does not charge any inactivity fees such as Trading 212.

The broker offers its state-of-the-art web trading platform and mobile trading application to its users. However, the broker lags in providing its clients with other popular trading platforms, such as MetaTrader and cTrader. On top of that, there is no desktop trading platform offered by eToro, which limits the options for its customers. Although the eToro trading platform has great features like trading in one place for all, charts do not have many options of customizability compared to other platforms. Some asset classes, such as equities and crypto assets, provide direct ownership of the underlying assets, which eToro acquires and keep in each client’s name to give traders and investors direct access to the market. The broker stands out in providing the opportunity for copy trading and social trading compared to its competitors. eToro offers demo trading for its customers but lag very much behind in providing sufficient trading tools. If you are just looking to perform basic market analysis or copy other traders, I don’t really think this is a deal breaker. However, if you want to build complex systems and develop your own automated strategies, then you may want to look at another broker with alternative platforms such as Pepperstone.

eToro Social Trading Platform (WebTrader)

eToro stands apart from most other online brokers by offering its own unique “social trading” platform instead of the more common MetaTrader and cTrader. The eToro platform is straightforward and stress-free to use, and it provides a fun and engaging trading experience. It comes with a number of handy guides and video tutorials to assist you in getting acquainted with how to make the most of the platform and what it can offer. However, as mentioned above, the trading platform lags in terms of customizability of charts and overall funtionality compared to the best trading platforms. Here are some salient features of the eToro WebTrader:

eToro Mobile Trading application

Traders can enjoy using eToro’s mobile trading app on the go to access all of the platform’s capabilities, which are free to download from the respective app stores for both Android and iOS smartphones. You can easily manage your portfolio, watch markets, be social with other traders, and execute trades conveniently from your smartphone or tablet using the eToro mobile trading app. The mobile app is handy for individuals who want to trade from various devices and on the go from any location with an internet connection across the world. I found the app very modern and intuitive, making it a breeze to navigate and keep up to date with the latest market happenings.

Copy Trading

Traders can connect with other traders in the eToro community to see, compare, and discuss trading methods. CopyTrader technology of eToro allows traders to automatically replicate trades from another trader’s portfolio, allowing them to create their own custom portfolio based on their specific needs. Traders can copy other traders and place and manage their own deals, which you can then offer to other traders to copy. Traders have an option to copy trade a specific instrument from other traders, or they can replicate complete portfolios of other traders with the help of CopyPortfolio feature. Traders can trade as little as $200 in a single trade and as much as $500,000 in copy trading. Furthermore, traders can also replicate 100 traders at the same time. One disadvantage of CopyTrader is that traders can only close the entire positions but not a fraction of it. If you are looking for a copy trading solution, then eToro is an excellent choice and the industry leader in this respect.

CopyPortfolio

CopyPortfolio is a CFD portfolio that looks like an investment fund on the surface. While CopyTrader only allows you to follow one trader, CopyPortfolio allows you to invest in a topic or a portfolio of top eToro traders. Investing in a portfolio of large banks or cryptocurrency, for example, is an example of investing in themes. The Crypto Portfolio is made up of the most valuable cryptocurrencies, weighted by market capitalization. A portfolio consisting of many star traders is another option to invest using CopyPortfolio, and the crypto CopyPortfolio option is also available. However, CopyPortfolio requires a $5,000 investment to get started. eToro also evaluates a trader’s financial expertise to see if CopyPortfolio is a good fit for you.

eToro Platforms Summary

eToro offers research and educational resources. However, an economic calendar or fundamental data is not readily available for eToro’s customers. That being said, there is a generous selection of guides and videos to help familiarise yourself with the products and services provided by the broker.

Demo Trading

Traders can open a demo trading account to practise and experience eToro’s trading environment.

Trading Academy

eToro offers a trading academy to its customers with a variety of educational resources such as videos, manuals, webinars, and more. These cover a wide range of trading topics, including online and social trading, and can help traders improve their trading knowledge regardless of their skill level. At eToro, other educational tools are perhaps limited compared to some competitors. A tutorial video on how to utilise the site is included, and some basic educational videos on investing and the financial markets. Traders can also participate in webinars. The information presented is solely for educational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice. If you are looking for a broker with more content for beginners, you might want to have a look at Admirals.

News and Market Analysis

eToro offers a news and market analysis section to its customers, where financial market analysis are posted quite frequently to help traders keep up with the market trends. It’s worth mentioning that eToro’s platform for stock trading does a fantastic job of combining fundamental analysis. However, eToro is currently behind industry heavyweights as there are few publications from eToro’s in-house team in this category.

eToro Research and Education Summary

eToro provides its customers with a lot of payment options to choose from for deposits and withdrawals. The broker requires a minimum deposit of $200 to start trading and accepts deposits from bank transfers, credit/debit cards, popular electronic wallets and also offers a cryptocurrency wallet to its clients. Despite no deposit fees, the broker charges a $5 withdrawal fee per transaction, and there is a limit of $30 as a minimum withdrawable amount. Deposit and withdrawal requests from customers can take up to one business day to be approved. Moreover, transaction time varies for each payment method. If a $200 deposit is out of your reach, XM Group are another top broker with good trading conditions who only require a $5 deposit to get started.

eToro Funding Summary

Because eToro is regulated in various jurisdictions, they must follow the stringent requirements of some of the most well-known financial authorities, including FCA, CySEC, ASIC, DNB, FSAS, and FinCEN. This stringent regulation ensures that traders are dealing with a reliable, honest, and transparent broker. The Cyprus Securities Exchange Commission has authorised and regulated eToro (Europe) Ltd. (CySEC). The Financial Conduct Authority has approved and regulated eToro (UK) Ltd. (FCA). The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has approved eToro AUS Capital Pty Ltd. (ASIC). eToro USA LLC is registered with FinCEN in the USA and with the Dutch national bank (DNB) in the Netherlands. The broker takes all necessary steps to guarantee that client money is kept safe and secure using industry-leading security standards. They adhere to the greatest levels of cyber security and will never release your personal information without your consent. Client money is stored in separate bank accounts at well-known European tier 1 banks.

eToro Regulation Summary

eToro Safety

eToro is regulated by some of the most renowned regulatory authorities globally. The broker provides negative balance protection to its customers in the UK, EU and Australia, who fall under the jurisdiction of FCA, ASIC, and CySEC. The broker shares its financial statements in public that is a huge upside. But on the other hand, the broker does not currently hold a banking license and is not listed on any stock exchange in the world. Never the less, I think that they are very well regulated and have no problem trusting them. If regulation is also important to you, Forex.com are a comparable broker in terms of regulation.

Customer support at eToro is available via live chat and a web-based ticketing system, with an email response. When we gave it a try, it was always speedy and dependable. On the other hand, customer assistance is unavailable on weekends, and the live chat feature is difficult to locate on the website since it is concealed in the FAQ section under the ‘Help Center’ link. In principle, eToro customer support is available in all 21 languages offered by the web and mobile trading platforms. Only English was used to measure customer service. The online help centre offers a large number of articles that can quickly address any of your queries. Additionally, they provide clients with special trading programmes as well as regular financial news updates. If you are looking for a broker with 24/7 support, FP Markets are an option.

eToro is the world’s largest social trading platform, with a variety of ways to trade and invest in other traders. They provide a diverse choice of trading instruments across a variety of asset classes and a very user-friendly trading interface with a large number of essential trading tools for doing extensive and in-depth research. For investors, eToro is the go-to social trading site.

eToro Review

Minimum Deposit: $200

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