eToro Review

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eToro is a leading social trading platform providing you with an excellent range of ways to invest in assets and copy the signals other traders. The eToro platform is very intuitive and user-friendly with a fantastic collection of analytical tools to assist traders of all experience levels with investing in stocks and cryptocurrencies, as well as trading CFD assets. You can get started with a minimal deposit of just $200 or try them out with a risk-free demo account that comes preloaded with virtual funds. I like how they support quick and easy funding through a variety of payment options. The fact that they are regulated in multiple jurisdictions around the globe gives me confidence they are secure so that I can focus on my trading activities. They have been around for many years and are continuously innovating their technologies to ensure that they remain at the forefront of the brokerage industry. When it comes to a social trading network, I don’t think it gets much better than this.

Summary

eToro is the leading global social trading platform with millions of traders and investors from over 140 countries copying and sharing signals from within its vast online community. You can choose to invest and trade in Forex, Commodities, Cryptocurrency, Stocks, Shares, Indices, Metals, Energies, ETFs & CFDs. There have been hundreds of millions of trades opened through the eToro platform.

Stock Trading

eToro Europe Ltd. and eToro UK Ltd offer zero commission on a large selection of stocks with no limits on trading volume, no additional mark-ups and no ticketing or management fees. This effectively means that you can invest in stocks with no broker fee charged when opening or closing a position. It should be noted that zero commission is not applicable to short or leveraged stock trades.

Trading Signals

The eToro community lets you connect with other traders, to view, compare and discuss trading strategies. The patented CopyTrader™ technology allows you to automatically copy trades from another trader’s portfolio, creating your own bespoke portfolio according to your own requirements. In addition to copying other traders, you can also place and manage your own trades which can also be offered to other traders for them to copy.

Investor Program

eToro have a “Popular Investor Program” that recognises talented, savvy and responsible traders who have unique investment strategies. The top-tier Popular Investors can earn a second income up to 2% annually on their assets under management by being followed and copied by other users on the eToro platform.

Company

Founded in Israel in 2006 by 3 entrepreneurs, eToro’s primary mission is to make the financial markets accessible to everyone, anywhere. They want to make trading and investing for everyone simple and transparent, reducing the dependency on traditional financial institutions. They have an array of innovative trading and investment tools to help them achieve this.

eToro Club

The eToro club offers an array of exclusive benefits, services, and tools to customers according to membership tier. This includes a dedicated account manager, market analysis, live webinars, expert investment support, premium trading tools, exclusive VIP events and more. eToro Club membership is determined according to the clients equity. Provided that you meet the equity requirement, you will be automatically accepted.

• Silver: $5,000
• Gold: $10,000
• Platinum: $25,000
• Platinum+: $50,000
• Diamond: $250,000

Our #1 Broker 2023

AvaTrade is an award-winning and multi-regulated broker offering a great selection of trading instruments including Forex, Cryptos, Stocks and Commodities. You can trade on all of your devices via user-friendly platforms with excellent trading conditions and no commission fees.

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

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Regulation

eToro is fully regulated in multiple jurisdictions, therefore they must adhere to the strict guidelines of some of the most respected financial service regulators, CySEC, FCA and ASIC. This strict regulation helps to give me confidence that they are a trustworthy, honest and transparent broker. I personally wouldn’t have any problems trading with them. If you are looking to compare them with another broker, AvaTrade are also a well-regulated broker with a social trading platform.

eToro (Europe) Ltd. is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities Exchange Commission (CySEC) with license # 109/10.

eToro (UK) Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with license FRN 583263.

eToro AUS Capital Pty Ltd. is authorised by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to provide financial services under Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) 491139.

Security

eToro take all of the necessary precautions to ensure that client funds are secured and protected by industry-leading security protocols. They employ the highest standards of cyber security and will never share your private data without your permission. Client funds are held in segregated bank accounts at reputable tier 1 European banks.

Countries

eToro accepts clients from all over the world, excluding some countries such as Canada, Japan, Brazil, Turkey, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Albania, Serbia, Sudan and Syria. If your country is not supported, please feel free to browse our broker reviews for an alternative option.

Platforms

In terms of trading platforms offered, eToro differentiates from most other online brokers by providing its very own proprietary “social trading” platform, rather than the usual choices such as MT4 and cTrader.

The eToro platform is intuitive and user-friendly, offering a simple and interactive trading experience. All of the information on the platform is accessible from both the web interface and mobile application. It includes a series of guides and tutorials to help familiarise yourself with the platform.

eToro Trading & Investing Platform

The current eToro trading platform is the culmination of their ongoing efforts to provide an online trading experience that is unique and intuitive. The platform incorporates some of the latest innovative trading technologies, including the eToro CopyTrader™ system, Popular Investor Program, and CopyPortfolios™ investment strategies.

eToro Trade Markets

The trade markets section of the platform displays an overview of the wide range of markets and instruments that eToro offer for trading. They can be filtered according to the market that you wish to view and there is a search function to easily find specific instruments. When you select an instrument, you are taken to its individual page overview from where you can conveniently view all of the most important information.

eToro Trade Markets

eToro Instrument Feed

Each trading instrument has its own feed which shows the latest updates from the eToro community that users can like, comment and share as per most popular social media sites. You can also make your own posts to relevant feeds.

The feed also gives a brief explanation of the instrument and displays the number of followers and percentage of investors. You can view the sentiment to see what percentage of investors are buying and selling. Also displayed are related markets and people investing in the instrument.

eToro Instrument Feed

eToro Instrument Statistics

The statistics section shows you an overview of the instrument from 1 day to 3+ years, including detailed financial summaries and profile.

eToro Instrument Statistics

eToro Instrument Chart

This section displays a chart of the instrument that can be enlarged. Once enlarged you are presented with a vast range of features and tools to assist with conducting chart analysis.

You can choose from multiple chart styles and timeframes. There is a good range of technical indicators and graphical objects to analyse the market. The buy and sell buttons can be used to efficiently place trades.

There is also a research tab that is only available to accounts which have made a deposit. This tab shows the analyst consensus and price targets of the chosen instrument.

eToro Instrument Chart

eToro Watchlist

You can add instruments to your watchlist for easy access and a quick overview. Watchlist displays the percentage change, sentiment and bid/ask prices. One click trading can be enabled to trade directly from the watchlist.

eToro Watchlist

eToro Portfolio

The eToro portfolio shows you all your trading activity. You can view information about all of the markets, traders and CopyPortfolios that you are currently investing in.

Clicking on each line allows you to see the breakdown of individual trades whilst clicking on the clock icon lets you see the history of your closed trades, previously copied traders and CopyPortfolios.

eToro Portfolio

eToro News Feed

The eToro news feed displays the latest news from the eToro community. You can filter to display only saved posts, posts from popular traders or posts in English. Users can like, comment and share posts as well as create their own. Eventually you can customise the feed to display only the news relevant to you. You can get notifications that appear both on the web platform and as push notifications straight to your mobile device.

eToro News Feed

eToro Copy People

The eToro copy people section lets you view millions of traders on the eToro platform that you can choose to copy using the copy button. You can locate traders by using the search tool and filtering the results. There is a variety of parameters to choose from, such as gain, risk score, location and many others. Each trader has their own portfolio and statistics for you to compare performance and to help determine if there is anyone who you would like to copy.

eToro Investor Profile

You can view investors chosen by editors, popular investors, top investors, trending and most copied. Clicking on an investor gives you an individual detailed overview of their account including news feed, statistics and portfolio. It should be noted that past performance is by no means any guarantee of future performance.

eToro Copy People

eToro CopyPortfolios

CopyPortfolios is a portfolio management product. Investing in CopyPortfolios will automatically copy multiple markets or traders. Once you invest in a CopyPortfolio, your capital is professionally managed by eToro’s investment committee. Each CopyPortfolio’s performance is analysed in depth and rebalanced automatically to maximise its gain potential.

Clients can invest in two types of CopyPortfolios: Top Trader Portfolios which comprise of the best performing and most sustainable traders on eToro, and Market Portfolios that bundles together CFD stocks, commodities or ETFs under one individually chosen market strategy.

Users choose the CopyPortfolio that fits their strategy and enter the amount they wish to invest. Once confirmed by clicking the invest button they will then have a fully allocated portfolio.

eToro CopyPortfolios

eToro’s Mobile Trading App

Users can conveniently access all of eToro’s platforms features via eToro’s mobile trading application which is freely available for both Android and iOS devices from the relevant app stores.

Using the eToro trading app, you can manage your portfolio, follow markets, copy traders, and perform any action available on the platform from your smart device.

The mobile app is useful for those who wish to trade from multiple devices and whilst on the go from any location in the world with an internet connection. I find trading apps great for checking my account at any time and following what is happening in the markets without needing to switch my computer on.

eToro Mobile Trading App

Tools

eToro do not offer any standalone trading tools which is perfectly fine considering the vast array of trading tools within the eToro trading platform. This includes multiple chart analysis tools, technical indicators, graphical objects, annotations, news feeds and much more. I think there will be more than enough to meet your needs. However, if you plan on running complex trading strategies and require more detailed market analysis, you can take a look at Saxo Bank.

It is easy to access and use the tools from within the platform. You can navigate to the relevant sections using the side menu and choose from a wide range of different tools and features. There are tutorial videos and guides on the website that help to explain how to get the most out of the platform.

Education

eToro have a dedicated trading academy with a series of educational materials including videos, guides, webinars and more. These cover many trading subjects including online and social trading, helping to increase your trading knowledge whatever your current level of expertise. I found a good range of content and feel they are more suited towards beginners.

eToro Trading Academy

Markets

eToro have hundreds of different financial assets which you can trade using a variety of investment strategies across multiple asset classes including forex, commodities, cryptocurrencies, stocks, indices & ETFs. The have a great range with everything that you would expect from a top broker. This includes major currency pairs, popular cryptos and shares in some of the largest companies. If you like variety, Swissquote also have an excellent range of markets for you to choose from.

Some positions on eToro involve ownership of underlying assets, such as buy (long), non-leveraged positions on stocks and cryptos. Other employ CFDs, which enable a variety of options, such as leveraged trades, sell (short) positions, fractional ownership and more.

Stocks

The global stock market provides a wide range of options for traders and is usually considered as a mid-long term investment. Economic events can affect stocks moving up or down, this includes earnings reports, new products, and changes in competitors’ stock prices.

Buying a stock on eToro by opening a buy (long), non-leveraged position, means you are investing in the underlying asset and the stock is purchased and held in your name.

However, eToro also offers additional functions using CFD trading. With CFDs, you can open sell (short) positions, use leverage, and buy fractional shares. For example, on eToro you can invest as little as $100 in a stock that actually costs $500.

You can trade stocks with eToro who have a great selection of thousands of stocks based on US, UK and EU companies, including Apple, Amazon, Tesla, Google, Facebook and many more.

Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrency is an online digital currency that is decentralised and based upon complex mathematical algorithms. eToro offer a unique CryptoPortfolio investment strategy that offers exposure to the market and is managed by eToro’s investment committee.

Buying crypto on eToro means you are investing in the underlying asset, and the crypto is purchased and held by eToro on your behalf. These trades are unleveraged. Buying and selling the underlying assets are unregulated and have no investor protection.

eToro have an ever-growing selection of cryptos being added to the platform including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

Commodities

Commodity trading is one of the oldest forms of trading that dates back thousands of years. Commodities are unique in the sense that they have real world physical representation and are affected by real world events.

Commodities are traded on eToro as contract for differences (CFDs) thus you do not need to purchase the underlying asset in order to trade them. In addition, CFDs enable sell (short) positions, leveraged trades, and fractional ownership.

eToro offer a range of popular commodities including oil, gas and precious metals such as gold & platinum.

Currencies

The foreign currency exchange (forex) market is the biggest market in the world in terms of volume, with an average of more than $4 trillion a day in trading volume. It is also known for its volatility, with changes happening in a matter of seconds.

Forex currency is traded in pairs such as the EURUSD & GBPUSD. Currencies are affected by a variety of different factors, including central banks interest rates, a certain country’s export statistics, and other economic events.

Due to the fact that it is such a dynamic market, forex traders are usually very active and can sometimes open and close trades within a few minutes. Currency movements are measured in small units which are commonly referred to as “pips” (0.0001).

Most online brokers offer leveraged forex trading at a fixed ratio, e.g. 1:30. In this instance, for each $1 invested, the trader can hold a $30 position. Leverage can be very dangerous and is considered a double-edged sword as losses are also leveraged which can result in funds depleting rapidly.

Forex currencies are traded via the eToro platform as CFDs, meaning you don’t need to purchase the underlying asset to trade them. In addition, CFDs enable sell (short) positions and leveraged trades.

eToro have over 40+ minor, major and exotic currency pairs including EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, USDJPY, EURJPY & USDCAD.

ETFs

An Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) is a financial instrument created by financial bodies using a team of experts who tailor each fund to meet its goal. They comprise of several assets grouped together to serve as one tradable fund. ETFs are usually considered as a long-term investment. Each ETF follows a certain market strategy or index and is designed to either suit the hedging needs of a specific financial institution, or to be a low-risk option for investors.

Investing in ETFs on eToro by opening a buy (long), non-leveraged position, means you are investing in the underlying asset, and the ETF is purchased and held in your name (all leveraged ETF positions in the UK, under FCA regulations, and all positions in Australia, under ASIC regulations, are executed as CFDs). However, eToro also offers additional functions using ETF trading. With CFDs, you can open sell (short) positions, use leverage, and buy fractional shares. US ETFs are offered as CFDs to users from European countries.

eToro’s ETF offering includes SPY, VXXB, TLT, HMMJ & QQQ.

Indices

All of the major global stock markets have an index, or several indices, which reflect the status of a specific segment of that market. Indices contain different assets from particular sectors. E.g. The NASDAQ index on Wall Street includes major companies from the technology sector, such as Apple and Google. It also contains rival companies, thus in the instance if one falls, sometimes its competitor will rise, which can maintain the index’s overall balance. Some companies carry more weight than others and they can therefore have a larger impact on the index’s value as a whole.

eToro provide trading indices as CFDs, so traders can open leveraged buy (long) or sell (short) positions. Popular indices offered by eToro include GER30, NSDQ100, DJ30, SPX500 & FRA40.

Accounts

Clients of eToro Europe Ltd. and eToro UK Ltd can open or close a stock position with zero commission charges – although this does not apply to short or leveraged stock trades. There is no mark-up, no ticket fee and no management fee. eToro’s costs are covered in the spread and there are overnight/weekend fees for CFD positions. This does mean that spreads tend to be higher than some other brokers can offer. eToro offer 2 main types of accounts, the retail and professional account. There are also free demo trading accounts.

Retail Account

Clients with a retail account get access to all trading assets for trading manually or copy trading (subject to suitability). The retail account is simply for those who do not qualify as a professional trader. Although leverage is restricted for retail clients, they are protected by the Investor Compensation Fund and recourse to the Financial Ombudsman Service. In addition to this, they receive negative balance protection and margin closeout restrictions. The minimum deposit required for this account type is $200. If this is too high for you, Trade Nation have a $1 minimum deposit and provide trading signals.

Professional Account

Those who qualify as professional clients can apply for the professional account which gives increased leverage for certain instruments and a reduction on current margin rates, allowing you to trade with more leverage, as opposed to the limitations imposed by ESMA on retail clients. The minimum deposit required for this account type is $200.

To qualify as a professional client requires meeting 2 out of the 3 following guidelines, 1) Have a portfolio of greater than $500k (not including property or cash) 2) Have a verified history of placing significant sized positions (down to broker discretion) 3) Have worked in the capacity of a professional position related to derivatives / speculation / trading.

It is important to note that negative balance protection, Investor Compensation Fund and recourse to the Financial Ombudsman Service is removed should you qualify for a professional account as you are then classified as professional trader under ESMA regulation.

Demo Account

They also offer a free practice demo account that enables you to trade online using virtual money. Every trader who signs up with eToro receives a virtual-money account that is credited with $100,000 and lets you practice your trading strategies and hone your skills before trading with real money. I would always practice trading on a demo account to begin with. I think it is a great way to test different trading strategies and see if a broker can meet your needs.

Account Signup

Opening an eToro account is a quick and easy process. There is a short online form to complete on the eToro website, after which you will need to verify your email and upload your documents for KYC purposes. This can be a form of identification such as a passport or driver’s license and proof of address such as a utility bill. Once your documents have been verified you can fund your trading account and commence trading. I didn’t have any problem completing the process and it only took me a few minutes from start to finish.

Support

The eToro customer support team are available 24/5 to answer any technical or general questions that you may have. They operate a ticketing system and can also be reached via email or live chat. The online help centre has a wide range of articles to help immediately answer many questions that you may have. In addition to this, they provide clients with exclusive trader programs and frequent financial news updates. I have always found the support to be top class although it would be great if they could extend these hours to 24/7 like Trading 212 do.

Funding

eToro have a variety of convenient methods for depositing and withdrawing funds from your trading account. This includes bank wire, credit card and online payment systems such as PayPal, Neteller and Skrill. Please note that some methods may only be available to specific countries and not all are available for both deposit and withdrawal.

I really like the great variety of payment options available. Whether you prefer the security of bank payments or the convenience of digital wallets, there should be something for everyone. I personally like the eWallet method. This is because they can give me quicker access to my funds which may be important if there is some market news that I wish to try and take advantage of and need to act fast.

Some payment systems may have transaction limits, restrictions, and requirements which are indicated on their respective websites. You may need to verify your account to remove limits on particular methods in some countries. eToro strictly does not accept third-party payments. All funds deposited into your trading account must be under the same name as your trading account. The transactions are communicated using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology, ensuring that your personal information is kept safe.

Fees

eToro do not charge any deposit or trading fees other than spreads. eToro charges a fixed withdrawal fee of $5 USD and the minimum withdrawal amount is $30 USD. The withdrawal time can vary depending on the payment provider and method. Bank transfers may take a few business days to clear whilst some methods can be instant.

All deposits apart from the first-time deposit (which varies from country to country) are required to be at least $50. Deposits made via wire transfer are subject to a minimum $500 requirement. Unverified accounts are limited to a total deposit amount of $2,250. In order to upgrade your account to verified status, you will need to contact eToro customer service.

Currencies

The eToro platform operates in USD, so they do not charge any fees for USD deposits. They also accept deposits in a good selection of seven other currencies; EUR, GBP, JPY, AUD, RUB, CNH & CAD. When converting the funds to USD, a conversion fee is charged which you can see prior to submitting payment.

Conclusion

eToro is the largest social trading platform, offering flexible methods of trading for yourself and investing in other traders. They provide you with a wide range of trading instruments across multiple asset classes with a very user-friendly trading platform that implements a vast collection of useful trading tools for conducting thorough and in-depth analysis. eToro are the “go to” social trading platform for investors.

I feel they are very beginner friendly with all of the resources that you would need to get started, including plenty of educational content and demo accounts. You can learn from experienced traders and share your ideas with a global trading community. The account opening process is smooth and there are plenty of funding options to choose from. I also really like how they are regulated by top-tier regulators as this makes me feel I am in safe hands.

eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFDs.

Please note that CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 77% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Past performance is not an indication of future results. Trading history presented is less than 5 complete years and may not suffice as basis for investment decision.

Copy Trading does not amount to investment advice. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.

Cryptoasset investing is highly volatile and unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.

eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs and makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication, which has been prepared by our partner utilizing publicly available non-entity specific information about eToro.

$200

eToro is a leading social trading platform offering flexible methods of investing in a wide range of assets and copying other traders. The eToro platform is very intuitive with a vast collection of analytical tools and convenient funding options.

77% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

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