eToro Review
Welcome to The Doji Trader’s 2020 eToro review. Founded in 2007, eToro is a highly regulated broker, proving that it is a safe space to trade stocks, CFDs, Forex, and Cryptocurrencies. With over 1400 instruments, there is ample opportunity to trade.
75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the risk of losing your money.
Pros
- Top copy-trading platform for 2020, swift and easy access to great portfolios.
- Amazing user-friendly interface, making it simple to find information as well as trade simply. The perfect platform for beginners.
- Mobile app is also perfect for all types of users.
- Plenty of variety, with over 1400 instruments including many Cryptocurrencies.
- eToro goes the extra mile and provides free stock and ETF trading in the EU.
Cons
- Relatively large commissions and fees for those in EU countries.
- $5 withdrawal fee. This is quite rare as many other brokers offer free withdrawal.
- Limited educational resources.
75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the risk of losing your money.
- Recently introduced no commissions for stocks.
- The social media side of eToro gives it a spark that is missing with many other brokers.
- eToro has a great tiered reward system to give more to customers, rated from bronze-diamond.
- Low fees for non EU countries.
- Clear and easy structure of commissions and fees. Very transparent.
- For those confident in their trading, why not become a copy trader? eToro will pay you great commission levels when people copy your trades.
Overall Ranking
Overall
Investment Opportunity
Commissions & Fees
Safety
Research
Smartphone Usage
Customer Service
Education
Platforms & Tools
Overall
Investment Opportunity
Commissions & Fees
Safety
Research
Smartphone Usage
Customer Service
Education
Platforms & Tools
75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the risk of losing your money.
Extended Review and Information
We have written a full eToro review and have rated eToro as our top broker for beginners. We put in the hours to test the site (see how we test for more info), and saw many positives from trading with this broker for beginners.
eToro’s platform works smoothly on both PC and smartphone. These platforms have an original layout beautifully displaying charts, price movements, research, comments, and other information. As a result, this allows traders to easily place trades to over 1400 instruments, including ETF’s and stock trading. Fortunately, both ETF’s and stock trading is commission free in EU countries.
Alternatively, traders can view other traders, and within a few clicks can link their account, allowing you to simply follow someone else who has already put in the research to find a winning trade. Our analysis found that this was a major benefit of using eToro. Not only can you simply copy someone else who does the work for you, but you can look at many other professionals to see what they are trading and what they are avoiding.
75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the risk of losing your money.
Why is eToro the best for beginners?
eToro is also the perfect place for beginner traders because you can communicate with other traders, both new and experienced, to discuss market events, analysis, and speculation.
However, one downside we noticed during our eToro review was the large spreads and fees for EU countries. Unfortunately, this prevents it from being an ideal candidate for active traders and those who work in high volumes. Therefore, some may be tempted to join more competitive brokers such as Fortrade.
Despite this minor setback, we found that if you wish to trade Crypto, then eToro may be your best match. It provides you with your own personal wallet, so unlike other brokers, you can actually own your Crypto as an underlying asset. Crypto spreads on the other hand, are large, but it is difficult to find one platform with as much variety, accessibility, and everywhere else providing the Crypto service will have similar spreads and fees to eToro.
Another weakness of eToro was its lack of educational tools. There is a small section to see ‘research’ on individual instruments, but other than that, there is little (other than the social media aspect) to give traders any information on becoming a better trader.
75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the risk of losing your money.
How to Open your Account
On the whole, the account opening process is completely online. Accounts are usually opened and verified within the same working day, but can take up to 48 hours in some circumstances. Nevertheless, you can still trade live during this time if eToro decides to let you. Despite this, you will always be able to use the $100,000 demo account provided. Unverified accounts are limited to a total deposit amount of $2250. In order to have verified status, follow the steps below:
You can register with a username/email and password, or connect with Facebook or a google+ account. To verify yourself and be able to trade and deposit on a live account, you must upload your identity and residency:
- Identity – A photograph or scan of passport or personal ID (e.g. drivers license).
- Residency – A photograph or scan of a utility bill or bank statement. This can also be a screenshot of an
online statement.
During our eToro review, we found that this broker does not accept clients from:
- Brazil
- Canada
- Cuba
- Iran
- Japan
- North-Korea
- Sudan
- Syria
- Turkey
- USA
Depositing Funds
Only USD accounts can be opened, so those who deposit non-USD currencies will be subject to a small conversion fee. Fortunately, the depositing methods are vast, and during our eToro review we found that they have one of the widest arrays of depositing methods. For instance, can make an easy start to trading with this broker by depositing with:
- Credit/Debit card (Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, Diners Club)
- PayPal
- Skrill
- Neteller
- WebMoney
- Yandex Money
- Giropay
- Transfer Wire
- China Union Pay
75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the risk of losing your money.
Regulations and Jurisdictions
United Kingdom
Cyprus
USA
Australia
Authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). This grants eToro a cross-border license to offer services to EU countries and more.
Registered with FinCEN as a money services business.
Authorised by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).
75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the risk of losing your money.
eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets as well as CFDs.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading 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.
This does not constitute as investment advice or personal recommendations as your specific financial circumstances have not been considered. No warranty is given in regards to the accuracy and completeness of information.
Past performance is not an indicator of future results.
Cryptoassets are volatile instruments which can fluctuate widely in a very short timeframe and therefore are not appropriate for all investors. Other than via CFDs, trading cryptoassets is unregulated and therefore is not supervised by any EU regulatory framework.