e-Toro Review |
|
📅 Year founded |
2006 |
📈 Multiple top-tier regulation |
Yes |
📍 Headquarters |
Limassol, Cyprus |
🌍 Country of regulation |
United Kingdom / Gibraltar / Cyprus / Australia / Seychelles / United Arab Emirates |
✅ Regulators |
FCA / GFSC / FSC / CySec / ASIC / FSA / FSRA |
📈 Execution Type |
Market Execution |
💰 Minimum Deposit |
$10 USD |
🛡️ Negative Balance Protection |
Yes |
📉 Trading Platforms |
eToro Investing Platform / eToro Mobile App |
☪ Islamic account |
Yes |
📉 Trading Instruments |
Forex / Commodities / Stocks / Indices / ETFs / Cryptocurrencies / NFTs / Smart Portfolios |
📱 Mobile trading |
iOS / Android / |
💳 Payment Types Accepted |
Credit and Debit Cards / eToro Money / PayPal / Neteller / Skrill / Rapid Transfer / iDeal / Klarna / Bank Transfer / Online Banking / Przelewy |
🎮 Demo Account |
Yes |
ⓒ Copy Trading |
Yes |
🎁 Bonus Offer |
Invite a Friend / eToro Club |
💰 Account Currencies |
USD |
📈 Minimum Trade |
0.01 Lots |
📈 Account Types |
PAMM / MAM / STP |
📈 Margin Trading |
Yes |
📈 Trading fees |
Low |
📈 Inactivity fee |
After 12 Consecutive Months |
💰 Withdrawal fee |
$5 USD |
☎ Customer Support |
24/7 |
💰 Max. Leverage |
400:1 |
✔️ Hedging Allowed |
Yes |
✔️ Scalping Allowed |
Yes |
💰 Commission |
Zero |
💰 Spreads |
From 1.0 pips |
💰 Leverage |
Variable |
💰 Currency Pairs (Total Forex pairs) |
55 + |
🔢 Number of clients |
30 000 000 + |
🥇 Instruments Offered |
4 500 + |
📙 Education |
eToro Academy / eToro Plus / Digest and Invest / Retail Investor Beat / News / Analysis |
WHAT IS ETORO?
Found in 2006, eToro is a respectable forex and CFD brokerage firm with its headquarters located in Cyprus. The online broker is regulated by FCA, FSC, CySec, ASIC, FSA and FSRA.
At eToro, clients can trade a range of trading instruments, such as forex, commodities, stocks, indices, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, NFTs and Smart Portfolios. The broker also offers the proprietary eToro trading platform to its traders.
INTRODUCTION
In 2006, eToro was founded by 3 partners, who wanted to develop a financial trading platform that can be used by traders of all experience levels, providing user-friendly trading tools.
Today, eToro is one of the best brokers in forex and serve over 30 000 000 customers from over 100 countries globally, confirming its status as an industry frontrunner.
The company is a social trading community and specialises mostly in CFD assets trading. eToro also offers both demo and live accounts with cutting-edge trading capabilities.
Even though eToro is a frontrunner in cryptocurrency and CFDs trading, they also provide a lot more. eToro has steered the fintech revolution for many years and developed a reputation as one of the top social trading platforms globally. Each day there are thousands of new traders across the world that are joining eToro’s growing community.
eToro started as a general trading platform but then included cryptocurrency along with other trading instruments to stay on top of changing markets and rising demands. eToro is one of the pioneers in incorporating social features (CopyTrading and CopyPortfolios) to their platform.
Since 2007, they have regularly taken steps to make sure their platform allows for accessible investing and online trading to anyone. eToro’s tools are user-friendly and they have made all of the information on the platform available on their mobile app and web interface.
eToro is a highly rewarded broker, which does not only get good reviews from global traders, but are also awarded by some of the world’s most reputable international magazines. eToro has previously received awards such as the Best Broker for Social Trading, Best Broker for Cryptocurrencies and many others discussed below.
In this eToro review, we found that the broker offers a swift and easy account opening process and has a social trading option available to copy the trading strategies of experienced and expert traders.
PROS & CONS
PROS
- Free ETF trading.
- Free stock trading.
- Easy broker account opening process.
- Social and copy trading available.
- Low trading and CFD fees.
- User-friendly trading.
- Clear brokerage fee report.
- Two-step (safer) login.
- Negative balance protection.
- Swift customer service.
- No deposit fee.
- Low minimum deposit of $10 USD.
- Highly regulated broker.
CONS
- Slow withdrawal of funds.
- Merely a single account base currency.
- Restricted customisability of charts and workspace.
- eToro has a withdraw fee of $5 USD.
- High non-trading fees charged.
- Higher spreads than its competition (although they do not charge commissions on top of that).
- No MetaTrader platform available.
TRADING INSTRUMENTS
eToro offers many different financial assets to trade under a few categories: forex, commodities, stocks, indices, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, NFTs and Smart Portfolios. Each trading instrument has its own features, and can be traded by means of a range of investment strategies.
Forex
The forex market is the largest market globally, with over $6 trillion USD being traded each day. Forex is also an extremely volatile market, with fluctuations that can occur within seconds. Fluctuations in currency are measured in small components, namely “pips” (0.0001), and traders need large amounts of capital to make noticeable profits.
Currencies are affected by a number of factors, including a particular country’s export figures, central banks’ interest rate decisions as well as a myriad of other events.
On eToro, currencies are only traded as CFDs, which means that a trader does not need to take ownership of the underlying asset in order to trade currencies. Some of eToro’s most popular currencies consist of: EUR / USD, GBP / USD, AUD / USD, USD / JPY and USD / CAD.
Commodities
Commodity trading is one of the oldest trading practices globally that started many years ago. Commodities are unique, since they have an actual physical representation. Commodities, such as a precious metals like platinum, silver or gold and other commodities such as oil, are affected by actual and real-life events.
On eToro, a trader can trade commodities only as CFDs, meaning a trader will not take ownership of the underlying asset in order to trade. On eToro, a trader can invest $100 USD in gold, although a unit of gold costs over $2 000 USD (accurate as of 24 January 2024). Some of eToro’s most popular commodities consist of gold, oil, natural gas, silver and platinum.
Stocks
On eToro, when a trader/investor purchase a stock by opening a BUY (long), non-leveraged position, means that the trader/investor is investing in the underlying asset, and the stock is bought and held in his/her name.
eToro also provides other functions by means of CFD trading. With CFDs, a trader can open SELL (short) positions, use leverage, and purchase fractional shares. For instance, on eToro, a trader can invest $100 in a stock that in reality costs $500. Some of eToro’s popular stocks include Apple, Tesla, Google, Facebook, and Amazon.
It must be noted that all trades that are made by eToro’s clients are executed as CFDs under the ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission), without taking ownership of the underlying assets.
Indices
Each major stock market in the world has an index, or a number of indices, which shows the status of a particular piece of that market. Indices are known to be steadier than individual stocks, as they consist of various different assets, which are likely to balance each other out.
Since companies differ in market cap and size, every stock has a different influence on the index, which means that some carry greater weight. For example, since Amazon has greater weight than less significant companies within the NASDAQ index, if Amazon’s stock increases significantly, it may possibly boost the whole index’s value.
On eToro, indices are traded on as CFDs, since they are not financial assets that can be directly invested in. Some of eToro’s most popular indices consist of: GER30, NSDQ100, DJ30, SPX500 and FRA40.
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
An EFT (Exchange Traded Fund) is a financial instrument consisting of a number of assets that are combined to serve as a single tradable fund. Each ETF follows a particular market index or approach and is created to either match the hedging needs of a particular financial institution, or to be a low-risk alternative for investors.
ETFs are developed by financial organisations through a team of professionals who shape each ETF to meet its goal. The assets in a fund are owned by its developers, and dividends can occasionally be allocated to investors.
ETFs are generally considered as long-term investment tools, since they are aimed towards low risk, and are created to produce steady profits in the long run. Some of eToro’s most popular ETFs consist of: SPY, VXXB, TLT, HMMJ and QQQ.
Cryptocurrencies
On eToro, a trader can trade popular cryptocurrencies through CFDs. Cryptocurrency CFD is an excellent instrument since it fluctuates widely and provides benefits because of its inexpensive and secured nature. It also allows trading Bitcoin, Binance Coin, Ripple, Ethereum, Dash, Litecoin and many more.
Cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum and Bitcoin, have developed into the main investment preference for many traders. eToro offers many options for traders that want to invest in the cryptocurrency market.
Cryptocurrencies display exceptionally high volatility, and fluctuations of double-digit percentages can easily take place in a single day. When a trader purchases crypto on eToro, it means the trader is investing in the underlying asset, but the crypto is essentially bought and held by eToro on the trader’s behalf.
eToro offers the following cryptocurrencies, amongst others: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Cardano (ADA), and XRP. eToro was one of the first companies to enter the cryptocurrency world by presenting Bitcoin trading by means of CFDs in 2013.
TRADING PLATFORMS
Etoro has created a proprietary trading platform that is accessible on mobile and web. Their web trading platform is extremely customisable, whereby traders can choose what commodities, stocks, currencies and cryptocurrencies they want to show on the user-friendly dashboard.
Web and Desktop Trading platform
As indicated, eToro uses a proprietary trading platform that they’ve created in-house. eToro’s web and desktop trading platform allows for social trading and individual trading. A trader does not need to download or install any software in order to use their platform. The platform can directly be accessed by a web browser and is considered as the broker’s best trading platform.
eToro’s trading platforms is easy to use and simple to understand. With a range of price alerts and notifications, a trader will remain updated with regards to the direction he / she set, which can be extremely useful as it provides easy tracking of the price fluctuations.
eToro’s charting has great visual characteristics with various tools that can be used for better analysis. There are also numerous orders together with stop-loss configurations that control the trading process better. Traders will also have the option to enable icon trade or one-click trading.
Traders can also find all their trading data defined by any specified timeframe as well as cash flows, fees and order history under the ‘Portfolio” tab.
Mobile Trading Platform
eToro has created a mobile-friendly version of its social trading platform. The mobile app can be downloaded for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, subject to the type of operating system of a trader’s mobile device.
With the app, a trader can access all the main features of the web-based trading platform. These features include: browsing strategies and assets, traders, executing trades, checking real-time feeds and account managing.
eToro mobile trader allows traders to remain connected at whatever time through the eToro App. iOS and Android mobile devices are supported. In our opinion, it is regarded as the best mobile trading app in the industry.
ACCOUNT TYPES
eToro offers three trading accounts which are regulated by the entities in the above table. eToro provides a fully digital and hassle-free process when opening an account with them. Furthermore, traders are able to swiftly open an account that can be done within a day.
Retail Clients Account
eToro offers an account for a Retail Client who is not a professional.
Retail Clients have access to all eToro’s trading assets and they may trade by themselves or by using Copy Trade. Although Retail Clients’ leverage is limited, these clients receive certain securities such as recourse to the FOS (Financial Ombudsman Service) and coverage by the ICF (Investor Compensation Fund). In addition, retail clients get margin closeout restrictions and negative balance protection.
The Retail Clients Account or Retail Investor Account is created by eToro for non-professional traders. The Retail Clients Account offers both manual trading and Copy Trade functions. This account has strict margin closeout limitations and negative balance protection. With this broker account, a trader’s losses will not exceed his / her initial deposit.
Professional Clients Account
The Professional Clients Account is created for experienced and professional traders. Leverage for professional clients at eToro can be equal to 400:1 with negative balance protection.
In order to be eligible for a Professional Clients Account, a trader needs to successfully pass a test in order to decide if the trader can be seen as a professional client.
A Professional Client at eToro may open leverage positions of up to 400:1 for particular trading instruments and will get a saving in his / her current margin rates.
Islamic Account
With an Islamic Account, eToro ensures that there are swap-free options available to Muslim clients, enabling them to comply with Sharia law. An Islamic account can be opened on eToro by opening a real account and depositing at least $1 000 USD in the account.
HOW TO OPEN AN ACCOUNT
The broker’s account opening process is easy, fast and fully digital. Furthermore, traders can expect to register and open an account within a single day.
In order to open a trading account with eToro, you can follow the steps below:
- On their website, select the option “Trade Now” or “Join Now”.
- Provide eToro with all your personal information on the electronic form provided.
- Read through eToro’s privacy policy and ‘Terms & Conditions’.
- Confirm your agreement with eToro by selecting the applicable box.
- Select the “sign-up” option by submitting your information.
Verification of eToro account:
As a result of eToro’s policy and other regulatory requirements, it is essential for traders to complete their profile’s verification procedure and upload the required documents.
For verification purposes, traders need to provide eToro with the following:
- A clear copy of a government-issued ID or a valid passport; and
- A clear copy of a recent bank statement or utility bill that is not older than 6 months.
SOCIAL TRADING, DEMO ACCOUNTS AND COPY TRADING
eToro is considered as one of the world’s best social trading networks with countless users from more than 100 countries. They have been able to use put their experience into creating useful trading tools.
Their CopyTrader system and CopyPortfolio investment strategies both rely on their user-base, and are created to assist traders in discovering innovative techniques to make earnings.
Copy Trader eToro
eToro’s CopyTrader allows traders to follow, like and copy the trading activities of experienced and professional traders in real-time. The system offers a great way to automate traders’ trading habits. Traders can take advantage of CopyTrader to develop their trading skills by means of copying expert traders’ trading activities.
Follow these steps, if you are ready to start with copy trading:
- Open an eToro broker account.
- Use the eToro platform to search for the top social investors.
- When you’ve spotted a trader you’d like to copy, allocate a portion of your funds for copying him and let the copy trading begin.
Before you start copying, you should take note of the following points:
- A trader must invest a minimum amount of $200 USD.
- A trader can only copy a maximum amount of 100 traders at the same time.
- A trader can only trade a minimum amount of $1 USD for a copied trade.
- A trader can copy other traders in his / her virtual portfolio.
- A trader can only copy real portfolios.
CopyPortfolios
eToro’s CopyPortfolios or CopyFunds is an innovative, thematic approach to investing and is developed to assist traders in expanding their portfolios, to benefit from existing market opportunities and to reduce long-term risk.
e Toro offers the following three types of CopyPortfolios:
- Top Trader CopyPortfolios.
- Market CopyPortfolios.
- Partner CopyPortfolios.
Demo Accounts
eToro also offers a demo account suitable for traders who are just starting out, or those who are looking to test new strategies.
LEVERAGE
Leverage is the total amount of times that a trader can invest beyond his/her current balance. For instance, if a trader’s balance is $500 USD and he / she is trading with leverage of 30:1, then that trader may invest $15 000 USD. When trading on leverage, the money is in actual fact borrowed from the broker.
With eToro, leverage can be used when trading forex, commodities, stocks, indices, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies (in some situations). It must be noted that each trading instrument has its own maximum and minimum leverage limits. A higher leverage is allowable for eToro’s Professional Clients account holders.
COMMISSIONS & FEES
At eToro, traders can expect to trade on accounts with zero commission charged. All commissions are built into the spread. While this may sound like you save money, the reality is that it results in higher spreads and makes it more difficult to keep track of your profit and loss.
WITHDRAWALS AND DEPOSITS
How to deposit into your eToro trading account?
eToro provides a range of payment options for its clients. A client may decide on any preferred payment option with the following instructions:
- Login to the applicable trading platform.
- Choose the ‘Deposit Funds’ option.
- Put in the total amount that you want to deposit and choose your preferred currency.
- Choose your preferred payment option.
What is the minimum amount that a trader can deposit with e Toro?
With eToro, traders can start trading with a minimum deposit amount of $10 USD for traders based in the USA, for other countries, the minimum deposit can be found here. Except for the first-time deposit, all other deposits are required to be a minimum of $50 USD. eToro offers a range of deposit options, such as:
- PayPal.
- Skrill.
- Credit Card (Diners Club, Visa, MasterCard, Maestro).
- Neteller.
- Wire Transfer (minimum deposit of $500 USD).
It must be noted that a minimum deposit of $10 000 USD is necessary when opening a corporate account with eToro.
How to withdraw from your account?
eToro’s clients can withdraw funds from their account whenever they like. The entire balance value in an eToro account can be withdrawn, excluding the amount of margin used. Funds can be withdrawn, and paid to the matching account as formerly used for deposits. It must be noted however, that eToro does charge a $5 USD withdrawal fee.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
eToro’s customer service team is reachable 24/5 to provide professional support to their clients. Their client services are really good and they can be reached on a number of channels to get fast answers. A client can reach eToro’s client service through live chat and by a web-based ticketing system where the client will be answered by email.
eToro provides customer service in over 21 different languages that are offered on both mobile and web trading platforms. They can also be reached through social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Linkedin, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
The greater part of eToro’s customer support is done through their Help Centre, which has an option to submit a help ticket and contains a FAQ section.
SAFETY AND SECURITY
Is eToro safe?
eToro wants their clients to think smartly when making investment choices, since trading involves risks. Therefore, eToro’s trading platform provides a variety of responsible trading tools. The broker is also completely regulated, following the strict guidelines that are set out by FCA, CySEC and ASIC amongst others.
At eToro, traders that are just starting out will get assistance when trading online for the first time. Professional traders have access to risk-management tools to assist them in order to trade sensibly.
eToro makes use of the highest cyber security standards to ensure that their clients’ money and personal information are safe and protected. Their clients’ moneys are kept safe in top-tier banks and their clients’ personal information is secured under SSL encryption.
RESEARCH & EDUCATION
Research
eToro provides research in 21 different languages. The broker has decent technical analysis tools as well as certain analyst recommendations and market sentiment indicators.
- Decent interactive chart.
- Trading ideas.
- User-friendly.
- Analyst recommendations.
- A lack of fundamental data.
- Lack of / poor quality news flow.
There is a lack of recommendations for certain popular stocks, such as average price target, analyst consensus, hedge fund and insider trading sentiment.
The broker’s platform has a lack of fundamental data on stocks and there are no fundamental data available for asset classes. In order to receive a list of daily market highlights, traders can sign up for eToro’s market analysis newsletter.
The broker has a great charting tool available with many technical indicators to choose from. Traders do not have to spend any time setting up their indicators as the broker’s charts are automatically saved.
In our opinion, eToro’s news feed is not considered an official news feed. The news feed is rather a X (Twitter) feed with messages posted by the public.
Research papers are available on the website and can be downloaded for free. These user-friendly papers provide decent interactive charts and trading ideas.
Education
The education offering from eToro is fantastic. They offer access to the eToro Academy on their website, which is highly recommended for new traders starting out. In addition to their renowned academy, eToro also posts articles and hosts podcasts where traders can learn from a range of guests brought onto the podcast.
GLOBAL AWARDS
The broker has been nominated for the following global awards:
- 2024 Best Crypto Broker Award – BrokerChooser.
- 2023 Best Broker for Cryptocurrency Trading – Investopedia.
- 2023 Best Social Trading Platform – Investing in the Web.
- 2023 Most Innovative Broker – Investing in the Web.
- 2022 Education Materials / Program – 1H Australia Online Investing Report.
- 2022 Best Multi-Asset Investment Platform (Europe) – Business Vision World.
PROMOTIONS
Promotions on offer at eToro are fairly limited, with only the Refer a Friend program on offer. However, for traders that stay with the broker for a longer period of time, they also offer the eToro Club, which has various incentives and rewards on offer for loyal clients.
SAFE OR A SCAM?
Is eToro legit?
- Trust – The broker is fully regulated by the CySec and FCA.
- Security – Clients’ funds are secured by several security protocols.
- Privacy – eToro will not share its clients’ private information without permission.
Traders should take note of the following points before considering trading with eToro:
- The company is regulated, by CySEC, FCA and ASIC, as well as the other entities listed in the table above. These regulations are there to ensure that all investors are protected. Regulated trading platforms like eToro act under strict supervision and can therefore not be considered as a scam.
- The company is safe and secure. Traders should at all times try to find security signs on their browser prior to trading. At eToro, clients’ funds are protected by tier 1 banks. Clients’ personal data is also protected under SSL encryption.
- The company offers all-day support. Customer support is 24/5 available and clients will always be assisted, no matter the extent of the problem.
- The company has real clients. In order to guarantee transparency, the broker encourages its clients to use their actual names and photo. New clients also have to follow strict verification procedures.
- Technology and design. The broker has an easy to use interface that provides some of the best fintech instruments and online educational courses on trading.
- The company warns its clients of the risks. All trading includes risk, whether it is old-style stockbroker trading or CFD (Contract for Difference) trading. It is therefore essential for clients to make sure that they take the necessary precautions for avoiding risk while trading sensibly. eToro also provides several tools for its traders to lower their risks when trading.
- Trading is not the same as gambling. Unforeseen events can always result in a loss. At eToro, clients are kept updated and informed in order for them to expand their portfolios and to lower risk.
CONCLUSION
With one of the most comprehensive reviews on eToro, Brokersuggest.com can conclude the following:
Over many years, the broker has proven itself as trustworthy within the trading industry and is highly recommended. They have also developed a strong rapport between their clients.
Even though eToro focuses on several trading instruments, traders will find the platform very valuable for trading or investing in cryptocurrency. eToro’s extra features, such as CopyPortfolios and many graphs, surely gives the platform an edge above its competition.
eToro is a great option for traders that are interested in using the platform for both crypto and forex trading. eToro is an excellent platform for trading forex and stocks, or for traders that merely want to invest in pre-built portfolios in various industries.
With eToro, traders do not have to concern themselves with the safety of their funds, while deposits and withdrawals are processed swiftly and reliably.
eToro is a frontrunner in the industry with regards to design, versatility and user-friendliness of their platform. Their range of social trading products also have a nice touch to them. eToro is also regulated by some of the top-tier regulating bodies in financial regulation.
Although they lack the world renowned MetaTrader platforms, their own proprietary platform has proven a massive success, while their social trading environment remains one of the best on offer, attracting millions of clients to this broker, and we highly recommend you join them.