eToro is a renowned multi-asset and social trading broker that offers direct trading and copy trading services to traders of all experience levels. The platform provides access to Forex, stocks, cryptocurrencies, and a range of other financial assets.
This review will address the important factors you need to consider to decide whether eToro is the right broker for you. The brand boasts a Great status on Trustpilot’s website where it has received an aggregate score of 4.2/5. At the time of writing this, eToro has received 27,550 customer reviews, with 65% of them giving the broker 5 stars and 21% rating eToro with just 1 star.
eToro Overall Summary Table | |
---|---|
Year Founded | 2007 |
Minimum Deposit | $50 – $10,000 (varies in different jurisdictions) |
Tradable Instruments | Forex, Crypto, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, ETFs, NFTs |
Open an Account | How to Open an Account at eToro |
Trading Costs | Spreads, Fees, and Commissions at eToro |
Key Pros and Cons
First, let us take a quick look at some of the merits and demerits that come with trading with eToro:
Key Pros
- Top Copy Trading Platform
- Social trading tools
- Zero commissions on FX trades
- Leverage of up to 1:400
- Proprietary web, mobile, and desktop trading platforms
- Regulated in various jurisdictions
- Multiple financial assets (7,000+ instruments)
- A good selection of educational resources
- Segregated client funds
- Staking Crypto
- eToro club
- Multilingual client support team
- eToro Portfolios (Smart Portfolios)
- Free $100,000 demo account
Key Cons
- No MetaTrader trading platforms
- Does not support scalping
- $10 inactivity fee after 12 months
- Relatively high spreads
- Exorbitant non-trading fees
- No third-party technical analysis tools, such as Trading Central
- No Economic Calendar
- Poor customer support
- $5 withdrawal fee
Company Information
Established in 2007, eToro is an online trading broker that aims to make online financial trading accessible to traders across the globe. The brokerage firm was founded by Yoni Assia, Ronen Assia, and David Ring, and has significantly grown over the years to include several team members with amazing portfolios.
At eToro, customers can trade and invest in various financial assets, including forex, stocks, commodities, and cryptocurrencies, while also having the option to copy the trades of other investors.
The eToro brand is used by multiple entities with regulated offices in the United Kingdom (London), Cyprus (Limassol), Seychelles (Mahe), USA (New Jersey), and Australia (Sydney), among others. These entities are as follows:
- eToro (Europe) Ltd, regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC): office address: 4 Profiti Ilia Street, Kanika Business Centre, 7th floor, Germasogeia, 4046, Limassol, Cyprus.
- eToro Money Malta Ltd, regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA): office address: 68, Northfields, Penthouse 10 63, Independence Avenue MST 9024 Mosta, Malta.
- eToro (UK) Ltd, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA); office address: 24th floor, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London E14 5AB, United Kingdom.
eToro Money UK Ltd holds a license from the FCA allowing for the provision of electronic money and payment services; office address: Maclaren 3b – Lancastrian Office Centre Talbot Road, Stretford, Manchester, M32 0FP, England. - eToro Australia, regulated by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC), office address: Level 3, 60 Castlereagh Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia.
- eToro USA LLC, regulated by Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), office address: 221 River St., 9th Floor, Hoboken NJ 07030 USA.
- eToro Seychelles, regulated by the Financial Services Authority of Seychelles (FSAS); office address: Suite18, 3rd Floor, Vairam Building, Providence, Mahe, Seychelles.
- eToro (ME) Limited, regulated by the Abu Dhabi Global Market (“ADGM”)’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (“FSRA“); office address: Office 207 and 208, 15th Floor Floor, Al Sarab Tower, ADGM Square, Al Maryah Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (“UAE”).
With a community of over 35 million clients from across 140 countries, eToro is one of the leading social trading networks worldwide. They are built on the core values of simplicity, innovation, transparency, and quality.
One of eToro’s stand-out features is that it created a community of traders and investors, which is in contrast to the usual solitary feeling of trading online. Also, the CopyTrader functionality allows traders to copy the trades of talented, experienced, and professional investors.
Why Trade with eToro?
Here are some of the key features we like about trading with eToro:
Aspect | What we like |
---|---|
Regulation | The broker is regulated in multiple jurisdictions: FCA, CySEC, ASIC, the FSA of Seychelles, and more. |
Pricing | Transparent pricing with no hidden charges on trades |
Trading | Multiple financial instruments across different asset classes, such as stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, and CFDs on forex, indices, commodities, and more. |
Platforms | A proprietary trading platform that is available in web and mobile versions |
Education | A good selection of educational resources, such as trading guides, learning articles, FAQs, news, videos, webinars, and more |
Social Trading | CopyTrader functionality and a wide social trading network that makes use of the wisdom of the crowd sentiment to benefit traders |
Execution | Market Maker |
Customer Support | A multilingual client support team that is available via various contact channels |
Regulation
eToro is a multi-regulated online financial services provider:
In the United Kingdom, the broker is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
In the EU, it is licensed and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). eToro (Europe) Ltd is also registered with the French Financial Markets Authority (the Autorite des Marches Financiers, AMF) as digital assets services provider, with CySEC’s Register of Crypto-Assets Service Providers, and with the Bank of Spain.
In Malta, eToro Money Malta Ltd is authorized by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) as an electronic money and payment services provider.
In the Middle East, eToro (ME) Limited is regulated by the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM)’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA).
In Australia, the broker is licensed and regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), which is a tier-1 financial service regulator.
In the US, eToro is registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
The broker’s services to traders in other parts of the world are handled by eToro (Seychelles) Ltd, which is regulated by the Financial Services Authority of Seychelles (FSAS).
Here’s a breakdown of eToro’s regulation in different regions:
Region | Entity | Authority | License | |
---|---|---|---|---|
United Kingdom | eToro (UK) Ltd | Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) | License No. 583263 | |
Cyprus | eToro (Europe) Ltd | Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) | License No. 109/10 | |
Malta | eToro Money Malta Ltd | Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) | Company No. C97952 | |
Middle East | eToro (ME) Limited | Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM)’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) | Financial Services Permission Number 220073 | |
Australia | eToro AUS Capital Ltd | Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) | License No. 491139 | |
Seychelles | eToro (Seychelles) Ltd | Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSAS) | License No: SD076 | |
USA | eToro USA LLC | FinCEN, SEC, FINRA | FinCEN #31000204884179, SEC #8-70212/SEC CIK #0001753042, FINRA/CRD #298361 |
eToro’s strict regulation in multiple jurisdictions (with ASIC, FCA, CySEC, and others) is an indication of the broker’s reputation and its capacity to operate in various countries around the world, including in regions where other brokers are prohibited. For instance, some brokers are restricted from operating in certain countries due to their lack of regulatory licenses.
eToro takes the necessary precautions to ensure that clients’ funds are secured and protected by industry-leading security protocols. Client funds are held in segregated bank accounts at reputable tier 1 European banks. The broker employs the highest standards of cyber security and will never share clients’ private data without permission.
Overall, we can say that eToro’s regulation is commendable and can significantly help to improve trust.
KYC Procedure for Account Creation and Depositing
Registering with eToro is easy; it will take you only a few minutes to complete your profile. But you will have to provide some KYC documents for account verification, which can take a day or so.
Go to the broker’s website and scroll to the top-right corner; click on the “Sign Up” button, and then follow these steps:
- Personal contact details: Fill in your name, email address, and telephone number. Alternatively, you can sign up with your Facebook or Google logins.
- Additional contact details: Fill in your date of birth and address.
- Choose a password: You are required to choose a strong password to ensure the security of your trading account.
- Choose your trading platform: eToro offers an in-house-developed trading platform that is available as a WebTrader and a mobile app.
- Declare financial status and funding: At this point, you are required to disclose your estimated annual income, the level of your savings, how much you will invest, and the source of your funds. While this might feel pretty uneasy, it is the industry standard.
- Check the relevant box: By checking the relevant box, declare that you have read and agree with all the legal documentation of eToro, including Terms and Conditions, Order Execution Policy, Privacy Policy, and Risk Disclosure Notice.
- Upload other KYC documents for verification: You are required to upload some ID documents, such as a Passport, National ID card, or Driver’s License, as well as proof of residency (utility bill or bank account statement), to complete your account verification process.
When you have completed your profile and uploaded your documents, you will need to wait for the broker to approve your account. This review is done within one business day. When the broker has approved your trading account, you will need to fund your account using any of the payment methods provided by the broker. Once your account is funded, you can start trading immediately. The minimum deposit required to start trading at eToro is region-specific and varies between $50 and $10,000.
Account Types
The following trading account options are available at eToro: Retail, Professional, Islamic, and Demo accounts. While the retail and professional accounts are live trading account options, the demo account is explicitly designed for practice purposes.
Retail Account
With a minimum deposit requirement of $200 for most served regions, the Retail account is best suited for retail clients who do not qualify for the Professional account. Holders of this account type are allowed to trade all the available financial assets or use the copy trading functionality to replicate the trades of expert traders.
The Retail account has a limited leverage offer, especially for EU clients (1:30). However, it provides traders with certain protections such as coverage by the Investor Compensation Fund, recourse to the Financial Ombudsman Service, negative balance protection, and margin closeout restrictions.
Professional Account
The Professional account type at eToro is only available to traders who qualify as Professional traders. Eligible customers must meet at least 2 out of 3 conditions, including 10 transactions of significant size per quarter over the previous four quarters, investment portfolio exceeding €500,000, and at least 1 year of professional experience in the financial sector. As expected, the Professional account comes with many perks, including increased leverage of up to 1:400 for certain instruments, as opposed to the limitations imposed by ESMA on retail clients, as well as access to more features.
Note that professional traders must waive certain protections, such as civerage by the Investor Compensation Fund and negative balance protection.
Islamic Account
eToro also offers a swap-free account type suitable for clients of Muslim faith, as there will be no interest fees credited or debited. After a 7-days grace period the broker charges daily administrative fees for CFD positions held overnight. The fees vary per CFD instrument and refer to a daily charge for a standard lot size of 100,000 units.
Opening an Islamic account involves three easy steps: registering for a real account, depositing a minimum of $1,000, and submitting identification documents for account verification. With eToro’s swap-free account, traders have access to over 5,000 financial instruments, advanced trading tools, and the CopyTrading functionality.
Demo Account
In addition to the live trading account, the broker provides traders with the opportunity to register for a demo account. It is a practice account that comes loaded with $100,000 in virtual funds. New traders can use it to familiarize themselves with the broker’s platform before opening a real account.
Seasoned traders can also use the demo account to test-run their trading strategies before implementing them on the live trading account. The entire range of 7,000+ financial instruments across Stocks, Crypto, Commodities, Currencies, Indices, and ETFs is at the disposal of demo account holders.
Trading Fees and Other Costs
Fees matter a lot in trading because they can affect profitability. This is why it is advisable to choose a broker like eToro with competitive fees. Just like other brokers, eToro’s fees can be categorized into two groups:
- Trading fees: spreads, commissions, and overnight financing rates;
- Non-trading fees: account management fees, deposit and withdrawal fees, inactivity fees.
Here is a breakdown of those two categories to know whether eToro really charges competitive trading fees.
Costs/fees | What is this? | with eToro |
---|---|---|
Spreads | The cost is incorporated into the price of what you trade. A wider bid-ask spread means higher costs. | eToro offers competitive spreads across its available assets, including spreads as low as 1 pip on major Forex pairs. |
Commission | A flat fee paid per position is often used as an alternative to charging via the spread. | As of August 2024, when investing in stocks, a fee of $1 or $2 may apply, based on traders’ country and the stock exchange. |
Financing charges | The cost of holding a position active overnight. | The broker charges for holding a position active overnight. The financing charges are dependent on the financial assets. |
Deposit fees | Fees charged by the broker to fund your account. | None (see more in Deposit Methods below) |
Withdrawal fees | Fees charged by the broker to withdraw money from your account. | Withdrawals incur a low fee of $5, and conversion fees apply to non-USD deposits and withdrawals. (see Withdrawal Methods below) |
Inactivity fees | Fees charged on dormant trading accounts. | After 12 months with no login activity, a $10 monthly inactivity fee will be charged on any remaining available balance. |
Spreads
eToro’s costs are covered in the spread, and there are overnight/weekend fees for CFD positions. The implication is that their spreads are a bit higher than those of other brokers that offer raw spreads.
At eToro, spreads start at 1.0 pip for currency CFDs. Here are the spreads for various major currency pairs:
Instrument | eToro Account Spreads |
---|---|
EUR/USD | 1.0 pips |
GBP/USD | 2.0 pips |
USD/JPY | 1.0 pips |
USD/CHF | 1.5 pips |
AUD/USD | 1.0 pips |
USD/CAD | 1.5 pips |
NZD/USD | 2.5 pips |
Here, we compare eToro’s spreads for several major Forex pairs with those of other brokers.
Instrument | eToro | Fusion Markets | AvaTrade | IG Markets |
---|---|---|---|---|
EUR/USD | 1.0 | 0.93 | 0.9 | 1.40 |
GBP/USD | 2.0 | 1.00 | 1.3 | 1.40 |
USD/JPY | 1.0 | 1.70 | 1.3 | 1.97 |
USD/CHF | 1.5 | 1.70 | 1.3 | 1.99 |
AUD/USD | 1.0 | 0.91 | 1.1 | 0.82 |
USD/CAD | 1.5 | 0.99 | 1.8 | 1.77 |
NZD/USD | 2.5 | 1.10 | 1.4 | 2.05 |
eToro’s spreads for commodity CFDs start from 2 points, which is actually the spread for copper. The spreads for other commodities are as follows:
- Oil: 5 pips
- Gold: 0.025%
- Silver: 5 pips
- Natural Gas: 0.25%
- Platinum: 35 pips
eToro’s spreads for other assets are as follows:
- Stock CFDs: start from 0.15%; US-listed stocks and ETFs priced at $3 or less entail a fee of 2 cents per unit.
- Indices: start from 0.02 points
- Cryptocurrencies: 1%
Commissions
As of August 2024, when investing in stocks, a commission fee of $1 or $2 may apply. The amount varies based on traders’ country of residence and the stock exchange. Stock commission fees are calculated in USD, notwithstanding the base currency of the stock being traded.
Overall, regarding eToro’s fees and commissions:
- eToro charges trading fees primarily through spreads, which are variable and reflect current market conditions.
- Stock investments may incur a commission fee of $1 or $2 per trade based on users’ country of residence. Stock CFDs do not incur a commission fee.
- Forex spreads on eToro are competitive with no additional commissions beyond the spread.
- Crypto trades on eToro are subject to a flat 1% fee when buying and selling, or a 2% round-trip cost per trade.
Financing charges
CFD positions that stay open overnight incur financing charges relative to the value of the position. It is essentially an interest payment to cover the cost of the leverage that you use overnight. Weekend fees are overnight fees that are charged for keeping positions open over the weekend. Therefore, a weekend fee is triple the overnight fee.
Rollover (weekend/overnight) fees change from time to time based on global market conditions. Please be aware that fee changes always apply to open positions.
Overnight fees are charged every night between Monday and Friday at 17:00 EST for open CFD positions. In addition, the weekend fee (x3) is charged on Fridays for most stocks, ETFs, and indices CFDs and Wednesday for most Cryptocurrencies, Commodities, and Currencies.
The formula for the calculation of overnight financing charges that eToro uses is fairly standard and is as follows:
Fee x amount of units.
Deposit fees
eToro will not charge any deposit fees, which is a fairly standard practice among various online retail brokers – for more details see Deposit Methods
Withdrawal fees
eToro charges a low fixed fee of $5 for withdrawals to cover some of the expenses involved in international money transfers. Conversion fees apply to non-USD deposits and withdrawals.
Withdrawals are conducted in USD. Any other currency will have to be converted and, therefore, will incur a conversion fee – for more details see Withdrawal Methods
Administration fees
The broker does not charge any administration fees.
Inactivity fees
After 12 months with no login activity, a $10 monthly inactivity fee will be charged on any remaining available balance. No open positions will be closed to cover the fee.
Overall on Fees
While eToro offers zero commission fees and zero administration fees, its spreads are a bit higher than those of other brokers, especially for currency pairs. The broker also charges high fees on dormant accounts through inactivity fees. However, we like that there are no deposit fees, and the withdrawal fees are quite fair.
Desktop Trading Platforms
The broker provides traders with a proprietary trading platform that is designed to ensure seamless trading of multiple financial assets.
eToro Trading Platform
The multi-asset trading platform was developed in-house. Thanks to its intuitive and easy-to-use interface, it allows beginners and expert traders to trade over 7,000 financial assets with ease. The platform also offers advanced copy trading features.
Some of the essential features we love about the broker’s trading platform include the following:
- 7,000+ financial instruments
- CopyTrader
- One-click trading functionality, which enables clients to open a new position with a single click.
- ProCharts, a professional-grade technical analysis tool that allows you to compare charts from different financial instruments and different time frames.
- Research Tab
- Stop Loss and Take Profit
- Trailing Stop Loss
- CopyPortfolios, which are ready-made, investment strategies, offering thematic investment, such as medical cannabis, driverless cars, and people-based portfolios.
- Virtual Portfolio
WebTrader
The broker’s social trading platform is available as a WebTrader. This web version can run directly on modern web browsers — Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge — without the need to download or install any software first.
Copy-trading with eToro
eToro has an established social trading platform that is made up of over 35 million traders from about 140 countries. The social trading platform operates using the CopyTrader tool. With this tool, traders can get to choose the expert traders they want to copy by clicking on the “Copy People” tab.
In the eToro Copy Trading area, you will find various assessment parameters you can use to evaluate the traders to copy. By clicking on the statistics tab in the trader’s feed, you will discover the essential information about each trader, such as equity growth, maximum drawdowns, number of wins, number of losses, and so on.
eToro’s social trading is helpful for amateur and experienced traders alike. While new traders can benefit from the experience of seasoned traders, experienced traders can use the platform to interact with other expert traders.
Some of the top traders on eToro include Jay Edward Smith, Olivier Danvel, Jeppe Kirk Bonde, and more. eToro offers the Popular Investors Program. Eligible memebers of this program are only traders that are worth being copied by other traders. The program is very rewarding too. For instance, traders in the Elite Popular investor category can be paid up to 2% of their assets under management (AUM). This is to say that if you are managing an asset of $20.000.000 with 1000 people copying, then you can be sure to earn 400.000$ per year.
Mobile Trading Platforms
The broker also makes their proprietary social trading platform available as a mobile app. The mobile app narrows down the functionality of the social trading platform to the small screens of mobile handheld devices. It allows users to manage their portfolios, follow markets, copy traders, and perform any action available on the platform from their smartphone device.
The mobile app can be downloaded from the relevant app stores and used to trade and invest anytime and anywhere, provided users have access to internet connection. You can access the app stores from eToro’s website.
eToro Mobile Trading Platform | ||
---|---|---|
Android | iOS | |
Minimum System Requirements | Android 6.0 and up | iOS 14.0 and later |
User Rating | 4.2/5 | 4.4/5 |
User Reviews | 148K reviews | 33 ratings |
Supported Languages | English, Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian Bokmål, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Vietnamese | English, Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian Bokmål, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Vietnamese |
Forex Pairs | 55+ | 55+ |
Other Tradable Assets | Crypto, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, ETFs, NFTs | Crypto, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, ETFs, NFTs |
Features | Demo account with virtual balance of $100,000; zero commissions on various assets; Engage with other traders; Quick access to valuable market research; technical analysis; ProCharts | Demo account with virtual balance of $100,000; zero commissions on various assets; Engage with other traders; Quick access to valuable market research; technical analysis; ProCharts |
Biometric Authentication | Yes | Yes |
2-Factor Authentication | Yes | Yes |
Trading Instruments
eToro allows clients to trade over 7,000 financial instruments across different asset classes, including stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, and CFDs on forex, indices, stocks, commodities, and more. The number is quite fair when compared with other big brokers, such as OANDA and Fusion Markets.
Asset Class | eToro | Fusion Markets | OANDA | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Forex | 56 | Fair | 79 | 70 |
Indices | 25 | Good | 11 | 15 |
Commodities | 44 | Good | 16 | 31 |
Stocks CFDs | 6245 | Excellent | 50 | 0 |
ETFs | 732 | Excellent | 50 | 0 |
Cryptocurrency | 138 | Very Good | 5 | 2 |
Bonds | (via ETFs) | N/A | 0 | 6 |
Futures | 0 | N/A | 0 | 0 |
Options | 0 | N/A | 0 | 0 |
Forex
With an average of more than $4 trillion a day in trading volume, the foreign currency exchange (forex) market is reputed for being the biggest market in the world. It is known for its volatility, with changes happening in a matter of seconds, which makes it a great market for short-term speculation.
Forex pairs are traded via the eToro platform as CFDs, meaning you don’t need to purchase the underlying asset when you trade them. The broker’s CFD trading comes with comparatively competitive spreads for major currency pairs.
eToro offer over 55 major, minor and exotic currency pairs, including EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, USDJPY, EURJPY, and USDCAD, which compares fairly to other forex brokers. But what truly makes eToro stand out is its social trading community that is by far the largest in the world. Experienced traders with a track record of success can display their trading profile, and interested traders can copy their trades. There are many parameters you can use to assess the trading records of the gurus to choose the one that meets your risk appetite.
eToro’s trading cost for currency pairs is fair, with the average spread on EUR/USD being 1.0 pip, and no commissions. Being a market maker, trades are executed internally, with a good execution speed and no slippages. However, experienced traders don’t always like market makers because of the likelihood of conflict of interest. The maximum Forex leverage that can be accessed is 1:400, but for EU and UK residents, that is only available to professional account holders. Retail account holders in the EU and UK can only get a maximum of 1:30 leverage.
Stocks
Globally, stocks are renowned for being a mid-term investment that provides traders with a vast range of trading options. Economic events, such as earnings reports, new products, and changes in competitors’ stock prices, can affect the prices of stocks to a large extent.
At eToro, you can trade over 6,200 stocks from across 17 exchanges, and you may choose whether to trade real stocks or CFDs. You trade real stocks by opening a non-leveraged position, whereby the stock is purchased and held in your name. You can also trade fractional shares, where you can buy as little as a is $50 worth of a stock whose share price is $1,000. However, you can only go long on the stock and never short.
Trading stock CFDs allows you to trade in either direction: go long or go short. You can also make use of leverage to magnify your position size to increase your profit potential. Retail clients registered with eToro (Europe) Ltd, eToro AUS Capital Ltd, eToro (ME) Ltd, and eToro (UK) Ltd can open leveraged CFD positions on stocks and ETFs with a maximum leverage of 1:5. In contrast, clients of eToro (Seychelles) Ltd can access leverage of up to 1:10 for the same asset class.
Cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrencies are digital assets that are traded via decentralized networks that are based on blockchain technology, which is a distributed ledger enforced by a disparate network of computers. Since cryptocurrencies are not generally issued by any central authority, they are still poorly regulated.
The crypto broker offers a good selection of 133 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Cardano (ADA) and XRP. Traders can either directly buy or sell the digital coins or get exposure to crypto CFDs trading without owning the underlying assets. The maximum allowable leverage for crypto CFDs stands at 1:2 for retail customers of eToro (Europe) Ltd, eToro AUS Capital Ltd, and eToro (ME) Ltd and 1:5 for those registered under eToro (Seychelles) Ltd.
eToro offers one commodity cross (GOLDBTC) for trading, as well as 14 crypto crosses (ETHEOS, ETHHLM, BTCEOS, BCHLTC, etc.), and 63 currency crosses (BTCEUR, ETHEUR, ETHGBP, BTCGBP, ETHJPY, etc). The broker also offers a category of crypto assets, referred to as “experimental”, including new projects, featuring high potential, but also high risk (KAITO, Bittensor, Notcoin, etc). The eToro’s investment committee offers a unique CryptoPortfolio investment strategy that offers exposure to the market.
Commodities
eToro offers access to various commodity markets, including oil, sugar, cotton, cocoa, wheat, and natural gas. Like other major gold brokers, on eToro you can also find precious metals such as gold & platinum. Interestingly, commodities are traded on eToro as CFDs, and traders do not need to purchase the underlying asset to trade them.
At present, eToro offers about 44 commodity CFDs for trading. CFDs enable you to open sell (short) positions and leveraged trades. With a retail account, you can have a maximum of 1:10 leverage if you are an EU resident. For non-EU residents, the leverage can be higher (up to 1:100).
ETFs
eToro offers over 700 ETFs for trading, presenting traders with a favorable opportunity for portfolio diversification. The broker offers both investing in ETFs as underlying assets, and trading them via Contracts for difference. All leveraged ETF positions in the UK, under FCA regulations, and all positions in Australia, under ASIC regulations, are executed as CFDs.
In the UK, you can invest in real ETFs by opening a buy (long) and non-leveraged position. The ETFs are purchased and held in your name. CFD trading also allows you to take a short position on the asset. eToro’s ETF offering includes Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, SPDR S&P 500 ETF, and iShares Bitcoin Trust, among others. ETFs share the same leverage caps as stock CFDs: 1:5 for retail clients, registered under the European, UK, and Australian entities of the broker and 1:10 for retail clients registered under the Seychelles entity.
Indices
eToro offers about 25 equity indices from different markets across the globe. The CFD broker allows you to trade indices as CFDs. Thus, you can open leveraged buy (long) or sell (short) positions. Popular indices offered by eToro include US Dollar Index, GER30, NSDQ100, DJ30, UK100, SPX500, AUS200, ESP35, JPN225, and FRA40.
The maximum allowable leverage for retail clients of eToro (Europe) Ltd, eToro AUS Capital Ltd, eToro (UK) Ltd, and eToro (ME) Ltd is 1:20 for major indices and 1:10 for non-major indices. Customers under the Seychelles branch can use maximum advanced leverage of 1:100 on major indices.
Trade Execution
eToro runs its model as a market maker. As you may know, the market maker trade execution model comes with many benefits, including lightning-fast trade execution, tight spreads, and zero commissions.
As a market maker, eToro actively quotes two-sided markets in a particular security, providing bids and offers along with the corresponding market size. Thus, they provide liquidity and depth to markets and profit from the difference in the bid-ask spread.
eToro provides trading services for investors to keep financial markets liquid. They display buy and sell quotations for a guaranteed number of shares. Once the broker receives an order from a buyer, they immediately sell off their shares from their inventory. This allows them to complete the order hassle-free. In addition, the broker earns a profit through the spread between the securities bid and offer price.
eToro offers STP (Straight Through Processing) execution for certain asset classes but ECN (Electronic Communications Network) execution is unavailable.
Deposits
The broker allows traders to fund their trading accounts using a range of seamless payment methods, including bank wire transfer, credit/debit cards, and e-Wallets such as Skrill, PayPal, and Neteller.
Making deposits is fast and easy; you are only required to click on “deposit funds,” set your amount, and choose whichever method you prefer.
It is important to note that the time taken to process transactions is dependent on the payment method in use as follows:
Method | Processing Time |
---|---|
Credit and Debit Cards by Visa or MasterCard | instant processing of deposits |
PayPal | instant processing |
Neteller | instant processing |
Skrill | instant processing |
UnionPay | instant processing |
FasaPay | instant processing |
Bpay | processing time between 12 and 48 hours |
Wire Transfer | processing time between 2 and 5 business days |
Withdrawal Methods
The payment methods available at eToro for account withdrawals include credit/debit cards, bank transfers, and bank wire transfers.
To withdraw your funds, you should log in to your secure client portal and click on the “withdraw funds” tab on the left-hand side of a trading platform. Then, you enter the amount you wish to withdraw, complete the form, and click submit.
It is important to note that funds can be withdrawn up to the value of the balance of your eToro account, minus the amount of margin used. Therefore, before you make a withdrawal request, you should ensure that you have the amount available in your balance.
eToro processes withdrawal requests within one (1) business day, provided they have all the required information. The time that it takes to receive your payment can depend on the payment method used. For example, e-wallets take around one business day, whereas bank transfers and card payments take between 3-8 business days to show in your account.
Customer Support Contacts
The broker provides traders with a knowledgeable client support team who are always available to all clients’ general, technical, and account-based inquiries. The support team can be reached through any of the following contact channels:
Support contact | Available | Response |
---|---|---|
Live Chat | 24/7 | Less than 30 seconds |
Social Media | 24/7 | Less than an hour |
FAQs | 24/7 | On the website |
- To access the Live Chat function, you will need to log into your live trading account to start the live sessions. Then, the broker’s support team responds fast within seconds via Live Chat.
- Email contact – There is no specific email address on the website; however, you can send a query via the “Open a New Ticket” button on the customer service page.
- FAQs – The “help center” of the broker’s website contains various FAQs that answer some of the common questions that traders may have.
- Social media channels: The broker can be reached via social media channels, such as X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube
Research and Educational Materials
eToro appreciates the role that research and educational resources play in improving clients’ trading skills and knowledge. As a result, they make available a good selection of learning resources, such as learning articles, trading guides, videos, market analysis, webinars, and news that keeps traders up-to-date with the latest happenings in the financial markets.
The broker’s research team carries out an in-depth analysis of the various financial assets and come up with educational content, including:
- eToro Academy
- News reporting and commentary
- In-depth analysis
- Video analysis and commentary
- The week ahead on key markets
Security and Money Guarantees
You should consider the security and the money guarantee provided by your online trading broker since the safety and security of your account are of paramount importance. This is why at BestBrokers.com, we insist that you should always trade with a well-regulated broker.
eToro operates in compliance with several reputable regulatory agencies, such as the ASIC, FCA, and CySEC, which are committed to ensuring the optimal protection of investors’ and clients’ funds. The maximum amount of client funds covered by investor compensation schemes in the event of broker insolvency varies by regulatory authority. For example, under CySEC (Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission), clients are protected up to €20,000, while the UK’s FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) provides coverage of up to £85,000.
In addition, the broker keeps clients’ funds in a segregated bank account that is maintained differently from the broker’s funds to ensure the safety of clients’ funds even in the face of bankruptcy.
Last but not least, eToro safeguards all clients’ personal information using SSL encryption. For more enhanced security, the broker uses two-factor authentication, which adds an extra step to the login process. With the two-factor authentication, a verification code is sent to your mobile phone, and you are required to input the code to complete the login process.
Conclusion
The team at BestBrokers has carefully reviewed eToro, and we believe that the it is a good option for beginner traders to consider, especially those who intend to copy the trades of experienced traders. The eToro brand is regulated by multiple financial authorities, including the ASIC, FCA, and CySEC. Moreover, the broker offers multiple financial instruments across different asset classes. Some of the essential features of the broker include the following:
- 7,000+ trading instruments
- Marked up spreads
- Proprietary trading platform
- A good selection of educational resources
- Fast trade execution
- Large copy trading community