Nowadays, investing has become accessible to the general public, thanks in part to the many online trading platforms that have sprung up. Founded in 2007, eToro is one of the pioneers in the industry. With an innovative social trading concept, a user-friendly interface and a wide variety of assets, eToro has succeeded in opening up the financial markets to everyone.
As you’ll see throughout this eToro review, there’s a good chance that the eToro platform will suit your needs, whether you’re an experienced trader or a beginner. Note that this eToro review will cover all of its services but we’ll focus our test of the platform on buying crypto-currencies, which is very much in vogue at the moment.
A few words about eToro
The eToro trading platform was launched in early 2007 to give everyone the opportunity to invest and trade financial assets online. Over the years, the site has evolved into a social trading platform where every user has a profile and can communicate with other members.
eToro has added new features such as CopyTrading – one of the most prominent ones – which earned it the “Best of Show” award at the Finovate Europe conference in 2011.
In 2012, eToro continues to build on its momentum and offers a mobile application compatible on iOS and Android devices so that you can access the trading platform at any time. When you know how volatile some financial markets can be, this is a great advantage.
As of 2017, the broker adds crypto-currencies to its list of financial instruments. Thus, it is now possible to invest in stocks, commodities, currencies, indices and trade CFDs on crypto-currencies. In all, more than 30 virtual currencies are available, including the most popular ones like Bitcoin, Ether, Dash, Litecoin and Cardano.
Today, eToro is a popular platform used by millions of people in 140 countries around the world. And you’ll quickly see why in the rest of this eToro review.
Open an account with eToro
80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
eToro Tutorial: from opening an account to withdrawing funds
Simplicity is the name of the game with eToro and we were able to verify this while testing its platform. As mentioned in the introduction, we chose to do a simulation of trading with crypto-currencies. The steps are pretty much the same if you choose other assets.
The registration and verification process
To begin with, non-registered traders will need to open an account with eToro. Fortunately, the process is quick. Just go to their website and click on the “Join Now” button. You will then need to fill in the registration form with a username, an email address and a password of at least 8 letters. A gauge will tell you how strong your password is. That said, your account will be subject to enhanced security through two-factor authentication.
Once you have provided this information, your account will be created and you will have access to the entire platform to familiarize yourself with it. While it is already possible to start trading with your $100,000 demo account and deposit funds, we advise you to have your profile verified fairly quickly, otherwise you will be restricted in your trading activities and will not be able to withdraw your winnings.
Open an account with eToro
80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
To verify your profile, you will need to provide proof of identity (passport or ID card) and proof of address. You will also need to fill in your phone number. The personal information you provide to eToro is kept confidential and is only requested to meet regulatory requirements. They will review this information and validate your account. The process takes a few days, or even hours if you’re lucky.
The initial deposit of funds
As soon as your account is finalized, you will need to deposit funds in order to start trading. Note that you do not need to have your account verified to fund your account with money (but it is recommended that you do so as soon as possible).
Also, you can start trading immediately without depositing any funds thanks to the $100,000 virtual wallet given to new users. That said, keep in mind that the behavior is different with a demo account, especially in the risks taken.
Once you want to start trading with your real wallet, you will need to log in to your space and click on the “Deposit Funds” box at the bottom left. You will then need to enter the amount you wish to deposit (the minimum is $50) and the payment method. If you deposit Euros, they will be automatically converted into USD. Here are the available payment methods:
- Credit or debit card (MasterCard, Visa, Maestro)
- Bank transfer
- PayPal, Skrill and Neteller
Remember that the maximum deposit for a non-verified account is 2000€. There are no fees for depositing money into eToro, except for the conversion fee if you are not transferring USD directly.
For your information, it will cost 150 pips (which is equivalent to 1.50%) for credit card payments and 50 pips (which is equivalent to 0.5%) for wire transfers. In our opinion, the latter method is more interesting despite the fact that the money takes a little longer to arrive on your eToro wallet, but still… During our test, the transfer took 21 hours, not one more. This is a good surprise as we are far from the 4 to 7 business days advertised on its website. Moreover, since we dealt with USD, no fees were charged.
However, you have to be careful when you fill in the information during the transfer to indicate your user name and the transaction number. The latter is provided by email as soon as you make a deposit request by wire transfer, along with all the beneficiary information.
Trading crypto-currencies with eToro
Once your funds have arrived in your eToro account, you can start investing. As a reminder, eToro offers access to several financial markets:
- crypto-currencies (as taken as an example in this review)
- stocks
- currencies
- Commodities
- Indices
- ETFs
You can select the one of your choice in the “Markets” tab. In our case, it is “Crypto” that interests us. We then have access to all the virtual currencies available (36 in total). For this test, we have chosen Ether.
The operation is then very simple. You just have to click on the blue box “Invest” to buy Ether. Please note that you will not directly own Ether, but CFDs. The term CFD refers to making a contract for difference with the online broker. Your exposure will be the same as if you were actually buying and owning a crypto-currency… minus the complexity. Plus you won’t have to worry about securing your crypto-currencies, which is one less stress, especially if you are new to investing in digital assets.
Note that due to the volatility of the crypto-currency market, eToro reserves the right to block leverage in order to protect its customers. Otherwise, leverage is limited to x2 for crypto-currencies.
You will also be able to set a take profit, stop loss and trailing stop loss. By setting a value for the Take Profit and Stop Loss, the position will automatically close once the amount is reached. These features allow you to secure your profits and, conversely, to block your losses.
Once the position is opened, you will find it in the “Portfolio” tab. As shown in the screenshot above, it offers a clear overview of its current balance, the amount allocated and its gains or losses. From the cogwheel for each asset, you will be able to change your position, close it or set up a price alert.
What crypto-currencies are available for trading on eToro? You’ll find the most popular ones as well as some lesser known… yet promising cryptos. Here’s an overview of some of the digital assets you’ll be able to find on eToro: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, Litecoin, Uniswap, Dogecoin, Ethereum Classic, Tezos, etc.
It’s worth mentioning that eToro regularly adds new cryptos in order to offer the latest trends to its customers.
Withdrawing money
Withdrawing money can be done at any time with a minimum withdrawal amount of $30. When you feel that your winnings are high enough to be transferred to your account, you can withdraw them. To do this, click on the “Withdraw Funds” tab in the menu bar and enter the amount you wish to withdraw.
The funds will be returned to the same bank account used for the deposit and the same payment method. As mentioned earlier in this eToro review, the condition for withdrawing funds is account verification.
The processing time for a withdrawal request takes about 2 days. The funds will then arrive in your account within 10 business days (for credit cards and wire transfers). Count on 2 days only if you have opted for PayPal at the time of the deposit.
Finally, with a very intuitive and quick to learn interface, every step is easy to perform, even for beginners. Moreover, eToro has made the effort to translate its entire website into French which contributes to make our opinion on eToro very favorable for the moment.
Investing on eToro: what you need to know
We haven’t had the opportunity to talk about it yet during this 2022 review dedicated to eToro, but yes, you will indeed be able to invest in the stock market and buy shares through its service.
The advantage is that with a single account, you will have access to all the asset classes offered by this broker. But that’s not all! eToro is an excellent choice for investing in the stock market for another reason: it is possible to buy stocks and ETFs without any fees. Yes you read that right, 0 fees.
As far as the diversity of shares is concerned, there is no lack of choice, there are more than 2000 shares from 17 stock exchanges. You will have the opportunity to invest in international and therefore American companies (Tesla, Amazon, Google, Netflix etc.), but also French companies. And of course here, you own the underlying asset, which means that you will receive dividends, just like every shareholder.
Part of the reason why our opinion about eToro and stock market investing is so good is that you can buy fractional shares. We mention this because with most brokers, this is a possibility you won’t have, which can be annoying in the case of a company with a relatively high price per share.
In addition to investing in stocks and ETFs, eToro allows you to trade CFDs (Contract for Difference) on
- Commodities
- Forex (currencies)
So much so that this broker is perfect if you are looking to diversify your investments as much as possible.
Open an account with eToro
80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Social trading, a feature of eToro
More than just a trading site, eToro has the distinction of offering a collaborative platform where users can trade with each other and share their knowledge. eToro uses the term social trading platform. Indeed, each eToro member has his or her own profile which includes several pieces of information, namely
- posts published and shared
- statistics (trading history)
- open trade portfolio
- performance graph
Of course, each user is free to switch their profile to private mode if they don’t want to expose their data.
It is possible to bookmark members from the “People” tab to find them more easily. By having access to other people’s profiles, you’ll be able to learn more about trading strategies and generally keep up with important news (often posted by users).
We particularly liked the fact that you can access eToro members’ profiles and take part in the discussions by commenting on certain posts.
Still in this social trading perspective implemented by the platform, it is possible to copy other traders’ investments in this same section. This is the famous CopyTrading feature that has made eToro famous. Thanks to this feature, novice users will be able to rely on other (usually more experienced) members to trade.
The tool is very well done since it is possible to choose a person according to different criteria such as geographical location, type of markets and performance in a given period. It should be noted that the minimum amount to copy a trader is set at $200 and that “only” 100 traders can be copied at a time.
Note that the average annual profit of the 50 most copied traders is around 30%. A risk level ranging from 1 to 10 is also indicated for each trader to copy as well as the total number of copiers. To limit losses, you can also set an amount that will stop copying automatically (the Copy Stop Loss). The latest feature is that eToro now offers the ability to pause the copy. No need to close all open positions to stop the copy.
With this option, eToro gives you the opportunity to invest more calmly, with the indirect help of trading experts. Since the tool is automated, the “copier” doesn’t have to do anything except choose the trader he wants to copy and determine the amount to invest. Their actions will be replicated in real time. In short, if you are not too sure of yourself at the beginning, Copy Trading is very interesting.
We can only agree with this innovative concept, especially since it allows everyone to trade by grouping together the newbies who need a helping hand and the more experienced ones who serve as an example. As such, eToro launched its Popular Investor program a few years ago that pays traders who have become copycats.
Regulation and security of the eToro platform
To continue this review of eToro, we felt it was essential to make a point about the regulatory and security aspects of the platform. In other words, we need to know if Toro is allowed to operate in Europe (more precisely in France) and check that its site is secure.
Regulations
If you’re considering using eToro, you might be wondering how reliable this broker is. You should know that in Europe, eToro is subject to CySEC regulations. Better yet, in France, eToro has PSAN registration granted by the AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers). What does this mean? It means that the broker meets the specifications set up by the AMF and is therefore recognized as a digital asset service provider (DASP). This is further proof of the seriousness and reliability of this investment platform.
It is also worth noting that the company has been registered with the ACPR (the body in charge of supervising the activities of banks and insurance companies in France) since April 2010.
In addition, eToro has joined the Deposit Guarantee and Resolution Fund (FGDR). This insurance guarantees all users protection in the event of eToro’s insolvency. Although this situation is unlikely, it’s important to know that you will be covered no matter what.
Unlike many brokers who operate illegally in Europe, eToro is a serious platform that complies with all relevant regulations. You can trust eToro and open an account in France without taking any risks.
Account security
Online trading involves online money transfers. It is therefore important to know that the eToro platform has put in place several measures to ensure the security of users’ accounts.
First of all, eToro allows you to secure access to your personal space by enabling two-factor authentication (2FA). This option can be set from the account settings. The 2FA is an effective way to make sure that no one will hack your account.
You should also know that all customer fund information is stored via SSL encryption.
Finally, the fact that eToro only offers CFDs on crypto-currencies limits the risk of piracy since no assets are actually held.
Summary of commissions and fees charged
In order to complete this review of eToro, we will now take a look at the fees charged by the latter in 2022. Please note that these fees can be found at all brokers, not just eToro.
Registration, deposit and withdrawal fees
At eToro, opening an account is 100% free, as is managing it. However, if the account is inactive (12 months without logging in), eToro reserves the right to charge $10 per month.
Deposits are also free. However, if you deposit money with a currency other than USD, it will incur a conversion fee since the platform only offers USD for trades. Given that this is the currency of reference in the financial world, this is not shocking. As we mentioned above, the conversion fee from EUR to USD is :
- 50 pips (0.5%) for bank transfer deposits
- 150 pips (1.50%) for deposits by credit card, Skrill, Neteller and RapidTransfer
For withdrawals, eToro charges a flat fee of $5. There is also a conversion fee if you do not have a USD account. In order to avoid paying these fees too often, we recommend that you withdraw your winnings only occasionally rather than in several short transactions.
Note that eToro Club members get a discount on the conversion fee.
Trading fees for crypto-currencies
When buying crypto-currencies, you will face two types of fees:
- the brokerage fee (spread), this is the difference between the buying and selling price
- the fixed commission of 1%.
As an example, the spread for BTC is 0.75% and 1.90% for ETH.
Buying and selling CFDs on crypto-currencies carries a fixed commission of 1%. This is the same regardless of the crypto asset. So you’ll know exactly what you’re going to have to pay.
Following our analysis, we can say that eToro’s fees are within the market average. Moreover, the broker is very transparent about the commissions charged when opening and closing a trade, which helps to avoid unpleasant surprises.
Open an account with eToro
80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
The eToro mobile application
At the beginning of this review, we quickly mentioned the eToro mobile application. Given its success, its application deserves a section of its own. Developed almost 10 years ago on iOS and Android, the eToro app allows you to trade and invest at any time, even when you’re not at home. Thanks to it, there’s no need to be behind your computer to check your positions and open new ones.
As evidenced by the 97,996 reviews and the average rating of 4.3/5 on the Google Play Store, it is very much appreciated by the users. This volume of reviews on eToro is more than enough to guarantee the quality of the app. Overall, customers like the interface and the ease of use.
eToro also holds up very well on the leading review site Trustpilot. The feedback from customers is positive: it gets a rating of 4.2/5 out of more than 14,000 reviews.
Both efficient and suitable for all levels, the eToro mobile app is very convenient as it allows you to trade and view your investments anywhere, even on the go. That’s a strong point of this review.
Customer Service
Before we conclude this eToro review, we wanted to look at its customer support. So we put the technical teams to the test. The easiest way to contact the support center for a standard account is to fill out the contact form. Once the ticket is filed, the process can take up to 2 business days. You will find your complaint in “My tickets” and you can directly consult its status.
We regret a little not being able to be put in touch directly with an adviser and exchange instantly with him. Indeed, these advantages are reserved for members of the eToro Club. To join this club, you need to achieve a minimum of $5,000 in equity. Despite the lack of responsiveness of the customer support for non-member users of the eToro Club, the response is relevant and the advisors are very helpful.
If your problem can’t wait and is quite common, you can check out the eToro Help Center. It provides a lot of information about how the eToro site works. Several topics are covered: Community, Account, Copy Trading, Deposits and Withdrawals, etc. Chances are you’ll find the answer to your question.
Another area where eToro stands out is its educational resources. eToro offers an online trading academy for anyone who wants to learn more and get trained on trading and investing. Despite the complexity of the subject matter, the articles are comprehensive, very clear and illustrated with diagrams for easy understanding. And to top it all off, they are in French.
Conclusion and opinion on eToro
eToro is a unique trading platform that brings together a wide variety of assets in one place: crypto-currencies, stocks, currencies, indices, commodities… This company with millions of users worldwide is reliable and regulated by CySEC in Europe (and therefore in France). This broker attaches great importance to the security of its customers and to transparency. The fees charged are clearly mentioned on its website (the same cannot be said of all competitors).
eToro offers users the opportunity to collaborate and exchange in a social network-like way with the possibility to copy other more experienced traders, or even become a trader. This aspect has not been seen anywhere else and that’s what made us like it so much. The $100,000 virtual wallet is very nice since this amount allows you to practice without risk before trading with your real money.
Moreover, the platform is intuitive and the modern and uncluttered design makes it very pleasant to use. Its mobile application compatible on iOS and Android devices is also a real plus to be able to consult the status of your assets everywhere.
Thanks to the many advantages mentioned above and throughout this review, it’s clear that eToro is ideal for getting started in crypto currency trading. We recommend eToro for anyone who wants to trade crypto-currencies simply and efficiently.
Open an account with eToro
80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
FAQ
Still have questions even after reading this entire eToro review? Well, that’s good because we’ve included another FAQ. In the following you’ll find answers to the most frequently asked questions about the eToro broker on the internet.
Does eToro actually allow me to buy crypto-currencies?
Yes, it is possible to buy the underlying asset and thus actually own crypto-currencies on eToro in France. We specify in France because the answer to this question will depend on the country you are located in. eToro having obtained the PSAN (service provider on digital assets) approval, it allows French users to buy and store cryptos (more than forty in total). Now if you want to trade crypto-currencies by applying leverage, be aware that this will always take place through a contract for difference (CFD).
Is it forbidden to use eToro in France?
Absolutely not. In fact, quite the opposite is true, as the online broker eToro has been registered as a PSAN (digital asset service provider) by the AMF (Autorité des marchés financiers). Obtaining this registration specific to the French market proves that eToro is a reliable, serious crypto platform, and therefore worth considering if you want to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
Where is eToro’s headquarters located?
Are you looking to find out where the head office is located in order to, for example, report accounts opened on crypto platforms located abroad? You’re right. To answer the question, eToro Europe’s headquarters are located at 4 Profiti Ilia Street, Germasogeia, Limassol, Cyprus. As for the name of the establishment, you can specify: eToro Europe.
Open an account with eToro
80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
