Introduction to eToro

 eToro has quickly become one of the most popular platforms among brokers. It focuses on social and copies trading and this helped them with gaining over 10 million users. As of recently, they have also joined the crypto world.  

One of the factors which allowed the platform to skyrocket is that it is super easy to get started and do social trading. There are many people out there who would like to copy the professionals and there is also a group of traders who are willing to be copied. This was the way to go for eToro. You can copy anyone’s strategy with ease and although there are other platforms that also offer this, they are not as great at it as eToro. You shouldn’t forget that copying someone doesn’t necessarily mean that you will succeed in making a profit. 

Such a platform is great for those who are just starting out and know nothing about trading and especially crypto. 

It has been a great experience trying this service out – it was an innovative approach to trading and the interface is great. There isn’t a lot of data that could be found on other broker platforms, but you should remember that this is not the purpose of eToro. You are here to do social trading. 

Depending on where you are located, the minimum amount to open an account is between $50 and $200. You have to know that there is a high withdrawal fee of $25.

Another con of the platform is that you cannot connect to third-party software and robots. Some advanced traders find this annoying. 

Quick Look

We started off with a demo account. The whole process took about a minute. After that we accessed the platform and saw that it had a very straightforward interface. Everything was clear from the first glance. We loved the way the platform felt and looked. It is an awesome solution for beginners. 

Regulations& Licenses

Countries/Regulators

The platform has users from all over the world (over 140 countries to be exact). It has licenses in the U.K., Australia, and Cyprus. It is the two tier-1 licensing which conveys trust upon the broker.

• eToro (UK) Ltd, a Financial Services Company, is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under the license FRN 583263.
• eToro (UK) Ltd, a Financial Services Company, is authorized and regulated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) under the license 491139.
• eToro (UK) Ltd, a Financial Services Company, is authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) under the license #109/10.

In the US the company isn’t regulated, but has licenses for 11 states as a Money Transmitter. In this way it can offer trading with crypto. 

Languages

The platform is translated to 21 languages.

Account types

Retail Trader Accounts

There are 2 types of accounts – real-money and demo. It is as simple as that. As we said previously, it takes only 1 minute to create a new account and you can very quickly access the system and begin trading. Your demo account will have virtual funds of $100,000. For switching to the real movie account, you will firstly need to verify that it is really you. This is done in 1 day and you will have to provide a copy of your passport or personal ID and a copy of a utility bill or bank statement.

Fees, Costs & Spreads

It offers European traders very low CFD fees and no fees for stock and ETF trading. This is great to hear, but a downside is a big fee for withdrawal, and the high forex spreads. For instance, the spread on the EUR/USD pair is 3 pips on average. Others offer spreads on the same pair of 1 pip or even less. If you are in Europe eToro is still an amazing solution because there are no commission charges for trading with stocks. If you set the leverage to greater than 1:1 you will be trading CFDs with all the related fees, commissions, and spreads. Another fee is one for inactivity ($10) if you haven’t done anything with your account for over a year.

Deposits & Withdrawals

Another important point is that there are no deposit fees. There are many ways in which you could deposit funds (bank transfers, credit/debit cards, Paypal, Skrill, Neteller, and WebMoney). Bank transfers are slow, compared to the other methods. You are not limited to a certain amount when using bank transfers. With credit/debit cards you can deposit up to $40,000, with electronic wallets – $20,000. 

If you decide to do a withdrawal you will be charged $25. You cannot do it with a smaller than $50 amount. You can use the same methods as with the deposit to take out the funds. It takes 1 day to process and after that, the period required for the funds to arrive will vary depending on the method you’ve decided to use.