eToro Review
Overview
In this 100% independent eToro review, I will share my personal experiences with this broker. eToro is mostly known from it’s social trading or copy trading concept, but does social… more
Read Full ReviewDetails
Broker | eToro |
---|---|
Website URL | www.etoro.com |
Founded | 2007 |
Headquarters | 24th floor, One Canada Square Canary Wharf London, E14 5AB United Kingdom |
Support Number | +44 02038687213 |
Support Types | Live Chat\Ticket System |
Languages | English, French, Spanish, German, Arabic, Italian, Chinese |
Trading Platform | eToro trading platform and app |
Minimum 1st Deposit | $50 |
Minimum Account Size | $1 |
Minimum Trade Amount | 1 microlot |
Maximum Trade Amount | Depends on asset class and instrument |
Bonus | Free Trading Academy acces |
Payout | Fast payouts within 48 hours to 2 weeks, depending on withdrawl method chosen |
Leverage | 1:1 up to 1:400 |
Spread | Low spreads from 0.1 pips |
Free Demo Account | Open Demo |
Regulated | ![]() |
Regulation | eToro’s brokering services are provided by eToro (Europe) Ltd. (“eToro Europe”), a registered Cypriot Investment Firm (CIF). The company’s registration number is HE20058. eToro Europe is regulated by the Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission (CySEC) under license number 109/10. In the UK, eToro (UK) Ltd. (“eToro UK”), company registration no. 7973792 is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), under firm reference number 583263. eToro Europe and eToro UK both operate under and comply with the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). In Australia, services and products are provided by eToro AUS Capital Pty Ltd. (“eToro Australia”), ABN 66 612 791 803 is the holder of an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) 491139 issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), and regulated under the Corporations Act (Commonwealth). eToro Australia arranges for its clients to be provided services by eToro Europe. |
Fees | ![]() |
Fee Info | $25 withdrawal fee |
Commissions | ![]() |
Commission Info | No hidden commissions or fees |
Account Types | eToro demo account, eToro live account, eToro Islamic account, eToro Club VIP account, eToro corporate account |
Deposit Methods | Credit / Debit card, Paypal, Rapid Transfer, Wire Transfer, Skrill, Neteller, WebMoney, UnionPay |
Withdrawal Methods | Credit / Debit card, Paypal, Rapid Transfer, Wire Transfer, Skrill, Neteller, WebMoney, UnionPay |
Number of Assets | 2.000+ |
Expiry Times | eToro doesn't offer options so there are no expiry times |
Types of Assets | Crypto, ETFs, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, Currencies |
Trading Currency | 47 forex pairs including major, minor, exotic and crypto pairs |
Account Currency | EUR, USD, GBP, AUD |
US Traders Allowed | ![]() |
Mobile Trading | ![]() |
Tablet Trading | ![]() |
Overall Score | 9 |
Full Review
In this 100% independent eToro review, I will share my personal experiences with this broker. eToro is mostly known from it’s social trading or copy trading concept, but does social trading really work?
During this eToro review it’s quite handy to open a free demo account:
Open eToro demo accountMy eToro review provides loads of information, so use the table of contents to navigate trough the content faster.
What is eToro?
eToro is a broker that provides retail traders access to the financial markets. Most assets are being traded as CFD’s but since a few months, it’s also possible to buy underlying assets. You don’t buy contracts for difference then, but real stocks.
In this sense eToro is kind of unique in the sense that they offer both CFD trading and Share dealing on one platform. They also excel in Copy Trading. But I will explain more about that later.
Some of the most popular asset classes tradable on eToro:
– Stocks (like Netflix and Amazon)
– Crypto (like Bitcoin and Ripple)
– Commodities (like crude oil and gold)
– Forex (Like Euro/Dollar)
– Indices (Like the Dow Jones Industrial Average)
The amount of different stocks is huge, but some markets, like cryptocurrencies are rather minimal and more assets could be added in the near future, if you ask me.
Profit from changes in price
All these financial markets are accessible from the moment you create a free eToro account. You can directly profit from increasing or decreasing prices (going short) by buying or selling.
eToro also offers the possibility to use leverage, so you can make decent profit with a relatively small investment.
Is eToro reliable?
As beginner trader looking for a broker, you want to know if eToro is reliable, right? Nobody just deposits their hard earned money at a random broker. In this part of this eToro review I will answer the question whether eToro is a reliable broker.
About the company
eToro exists since 2007 and is thus operating more than 12 years on the financial markets. They have millions of clients all over the globe. One could say they are one of the market leaders in the retail brokerage field; this gives confidence.
Regulation and Licensing
One of the most important factors to decide whether a broker is reliable, are the regulations and licenses in place. eToro is regulated in two countries and thus has the right licenses in place to conduct business.
Most brokers are regulated in Cyprus by the CySEC. This is the financial regulator in Cyprus. Apart from this, eToro is also regulated by the FCA. This is the English counterpart of the CySEC and one of the strictest regulators for financial institutions. Good news for clients from eToro and a nice pro in this eToro review.
How safe is your money at eToro?
As regulated broker, eToro has to comply to strict rules regarding your money. One of those rules is that it’s clients money has to be segregated from the companies money.
This makes sure your money is deposited safe and if anything happens with the company it’s covered. Apart from that, a guarantee fund is available trough the regulator, that insures client funds up to 20,000 Euro or Dollar. You’re money is thus safe at eToro.
Verdict: is eToro reliable?
If we summarize all the information we just talked about:
– More than 12 years active
– Millions of clients worldwide
– One of the leading retail brokerage firms in the world
– Regulated by both CySEC and FCA
I cannot conclude anything else then that eToro is a reliable broker.
$100,000 demo money with the eToro demo account
As beginner trader you want to try the trading platform out for free first. This is perfectly fine at eToro. Within 1 minute you can open a demo account with eToro and try to trade the financial markets with virtual money, before you put your own money at risk.
Open eToro demo accountAfter signing up you can use all the features the real money platform has as well, including copy trading.
My experience with the eToro trading platform and webtrader
When I saw the eToro trading platform for the first time, I thought I run some kind of video game. It looks like eToro tried to make trading look like a game to me.
However, the platform is very impressive. The developers improved the interface over the last 10 years and everything runs very smoothly. From the moment you login from the first time, you enter the eToro ecosystem, and that feels quite nice.
How about the user friendliness of the trading platform?
To be honest, I had to acclimatize a bit to fully understand the eToro platform. I am used to MetaTrader 4 and cTrader brokers, so this easy and intuitive trading platform really looked like a game to me. It really is different compared to other brokers, but after a few hours I fully understood the platform and know exactly where which features are located.
eToro really did it’s best to ease the process of opening positions. In this aspect I, again, get the feeling they want to make it look like a game. Once you understand how it works, it’s all very, very easy.
Nice, clear charts and opportunities for technical analysis
When I checked the platform for the first time to create this eToro review 2020, I thought the charts would really suck. However, this was not the case at all!
Although they made trading incredibly easy, the charts are stunningly advanced. Almost all tools that I use for technical analysis are included.
You can easily add new indicators like support and resistance lines and draw on the charts.
I was very surprised about the possibilities of the charts. Further more, you can also choose to trade in a darker theme, also known as night modes. This is better for your eyes when you’re trading for longer time frames and sitting behind the PC for hours. You can watch up to 4 charts per tab using eToro Procharts.
Conclusion of my experiences with the trading platform
In two words: happily surprised! On first sight it all seemed to simple, which made me expect very little of it, but the contrary is the case.
This broker has created a smooth trading machine that looks from the outside like a game but actually contains all features needed for professional trading under the hood.
Depositing money at eToro
You can deposit money in several different ways at eToro. The current deposit methods are:
– Creditcard
– Paypal
– Bank wire transfer
– UnionPay
– Neteller
– Skrill
– Sofort
Click here to open a free Neteller E-Wallet… Super handy to use at online brokers and casino’s!
Minimum deposit at eToro
The minimum deposit at eToro to open a real money trading account used to be $200, but they recently lowered this to just $50. So you can start trading the stock market from just $50 with eToro, which is really not that much if you ask me.
Filling in your details
Before you can deposit money on your eToro account, you have to fill in some personal details. This is part of the so called KYC process (Know Your Customer). This must be done by law and protects both you and eToro.
After your details are verified, you can not only deposit money, but also withdraw with the same ease to your bank account or E-wallet.
As part of the KYC process, you have to fill in a short online survey to see if you have enough basic knowledge to trade. Luckily, this survey is quite easy and everyone willing to trade stocks online should be able to pass the test.
After filling in all the basic information, you’re free to to deposit and withdraw money to and from your eToro account.
Withdrawing eToro profits
When you made profits with your trades, then you want to withdraw those of course. This is very easily done at eToro. Click on Withdraw money, enter the amount and click on Submit withdrawal request.
The minimum withdrawal amount at eToro is $50.
The money is being paid out the same way as how you deposited it. So if you deposited by wire transfer, your money will be deposited on your bank account. If you deposited using Neteller, your money will arrive on your Neteller account.
Costs of withdrawing money from eToro
Now, this is the biggest con of eToro in my honest opinion. You pay $25 withdrawal fee whenever you want to withdraw from eToro. This is way to much and hopefully they change this any time soon.
Until they change this, I recommend not withdrawing monthly, but let’s say quarterly or yearly. This way you save quite some money on banking fees.
Additional costs and fees at eToro
The costs and fees of trading at eToro come in the form of spread and overnight fees. The spread is the difference between buying and selling prices. The overnight fees are what you pay when you keep your positions open overnight, for the next trading day.
Spreads and fees differ per market and asset.
If I, for instance, want to short Facebook stocks (sell), because I think these will decrease in value, I pay $0,03 daily and $0,03 overnight fees on a $250 position without leverage. I won’t have to pay the overnight fee if I close the position within the trading day.
These fees are all calculated automatically, so you don’t have to do this yourself. eToro is very transparent in their fees.
User guide trading at eToro
Ah, good, you have opened an account at eToro and deposited money on your account. Now it’s time to trade! In this short guide I show you how to trade on eToro:
Step 1: Choose what you want to trade
In this example I think that gold will rise in price. To search for the right commodity, I type the name of the commodity in the search bar and click on the first result under Markets.
The names you see under Traders are other eToro traders. More about that later. After that you arrive on the over view page of gold.
1. Click on Trade to open a position
2. With the plus icon you can add gold to your favorites
3. Click on chart to open the chart and tool box
4. Watch stats about gold
5. The gold news feed (discuss with other traders)
6. General information about the commodity, stock or forex pair.
To open a trade, click Trade. You will be greeted by the following window:
1. Choose whether you want to buy (bet on price going up) or sell (bet on price going down)
2. Directly place trade(s) when price reaches a certain level
3. The amount you want to invest
4. The maximum you want to lose if you’re wrong (stop loss)
5. This is the leverage. In this case, x 20, so I buy $4000 worth of gold with just $200 down
6. The take profit amount at which the trade automatically closes (you can choose to keep the trade open)
7. Click Open Trade to confirm your trade
8. Overview of the fees to be paid when you keep the position open overnight
If you set the leverage at x 1, you’re not buying a CFD but the real underlying asset. The overnight fees will be removed in this case.
Boom! And just like that you opened a position on the eToro platform. It’s that easy.
You can find your open trades in your Portfolio. Don’t be scared, you always start your trade a little bit in minus. This is because of the spread; the difference between the buy and sell price. This is how brokers earn their money.
When you click on your position, a new window opens with the details of the trade. In this window you can adjust your stop loss and take profit levels.
Copy Trading: copy the best traders
You can find full details about social trading or copy trading using the general navigation menu of this website. In this eToro review I’ll keep it short and simple.
Copy trading is a unique feature of the eToro trading platform, where everything involves social trading. Everyone who publishes his or her profile, gets their own profile page, where other investors and traders can see your results and trades.
Of course you don’t get to see any amounts, just the profit percentages and how successful a trader has been over a certain time frame.
But now the sweetest part of this feature…
You can just copy the trades of these successful traders! You can do this manually, by copying their trades, but also fully automatically. Basically what happens is, you saying to eToro: use x amount of my account balance to open the same trades as this successful trader.
How cool is that? 🙂
Me and my team at Choosebroker are still experimenting with this feature, but if you like this feature Copy Trading Experiences might be an interesting read:
Copy Trading and Social Trading experiences. How does it work and what are the pitfalls?
CopyFunds: the investment funds of eToro
A nice new and unique feature are the so called CopyFunds. Just like regular mutual funds, eToro created a few different funds which you can invest in as investor or trader. These are called CopyFunds.
This way you can invest in a fund containing top traders or in a fund only containing crypto or teck stocks.
As for myself, I haven’t tried it yet, but will do in the near future.
Experiences with the eToro Customer Service
For this eToro review I have tested the customer service and my experiences with them are mixed.
You can reach eToro by:
– Live Chat
– Ticket System
Both are available 24/7.
The live chat feature worked perfect when I tried it and a good English speaking employee assisted me. He said he wasn’t available 24/7, which is quite obvious, as he probably works 8 hours a day and not 24.
The ticket system I didn’t like as much as the live chat feature. I had to wait a day before they replied. In my opinion you should receive a reply within a day using these kind of systems.
From my experience, it’s a better option to use the live chat feature. Time is money and nobody likes unnecessary waiting.
eToro reviews of existing clients
Just to show what others think of eToro, I checked some of the eToro reviews out from existing clients and traders and decided to screenshot and paste them here.
What one can Immediately see is that eToro employees reply on the reviews and complaints. These reviews are all features on Trustpilot.
Trading using the eToro app for android and iOS
The eToro app is a real gem and you can find proof of that in the reviews and experiences of other users in the Google Play Store and iTunes.
You can clearly see eToro has put just as much effort in their trading app as in their platform. Everything runs smooth and is super user friendly. This is very positive and a plus point in our eToro review.
Trading Course: eToro Trading Academy
There’s a lot to learn at eToro, what do you think of:
– Live webinars with trading tips
– An interactive eCourse (free trading course)
– Trading video’s
To access these educational materials, all you need to do is sign up for a free eToro demo account and verify your email address and phone number.
Open eToro demo accountAll these educational materials can be found in the Trading Academy and I have to say that eToro didn’t deliver half work. The Trading Academy is of true value for serious traders and investors that want to hone their skills.
eToro bonuses and promotions
Regulated brokers in Europe cannot give any bonuses to new or existing clients. As eToro is regulated broker and active in Europe, they do not give any bonuses or rewards to new and existing traders and investors.
Pros of trading and investing at eToro
Let’s summarize the most important pros of our eToro review:
+ Excellent regulated broker
+ More than 12 years active with millions of clients world wide
+ One of the biggest players on the market
+ Easy to use and innovative trading platform
+ Fast and helpful live chat
+ Smooth and user friendly trading app
+ Unlimited demo account with $100,000 virtual balance
+ Earn up to $1,000 by referring friends
Cons of trading and investing at eToro
These are features that can be improved, based on my eToro experiences:
– Lack of national deposit options like iDEAL, Bancontant and przelewy24
– Sometimes high spreads and withdrawal fees
– Rather slow ticket system
– Amount of assets offered could be higher
Conclusion and end verdict of my eToro review
What caught my eye when writing this review, was the innovative way this broker presents trading and investing in general. Almost like a game. You have to like it though, but I am fine with it.
What truly makes this broker unique is of course the copy trading feature, where you simply copy successful traders. Only for this feature I would sign up for a free account, just out of curiosity.
Apart from a few cons my eToro experience is quite okay and I would recommend others to open a (demo) account so they can see and test the platform and features for themselves.
Open eToro demo accountOf course I’m also curious what you guys eToro experience is. Feel free to leave your own eToro review using the visitor review tab along this eToro review.
Pros
- Excellent regulated broker
- More than 12 years active with millions of clients world wide
- One of the biggest players on the market
- Easy to use and innovative trading platform
- Fast and helpful live chat
- Smooth and user friendly trading app
- Unlimited demo account with $100,000 virtual balance
- Earn up to $1,000 by referring friends
Cons
- Lack of national deposit options like iDEAL, Bancontant and przelewy24
- Sometimes high spreads and withdrawal fees
- Rather slow ticket system
- Amount of assets offered could be higher
Reviews
There is no review.