We say
★★★★★
Finder expert rating
★★★★★
Finder expert rating
You say
★★★★★
Customer satisfaction
★★★★★
Customer satisfaction
Wide range of products to suit all
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Offering described in this review does not apply to US userseToro UK review
eToro offers a low cost and easy to use platform. Find out what we thought.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs 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.
Wide range of products to suit allLayout
Offering described in this review does not apply to US userseToro is a popular share trading platform used by more than 13 million investors worldwide. It lets you trade commission free on some of the biggest stock exchanges without any limits. It was the winner for CFD and Forex Trading Innovation in the Finder Investing & Saving Innovation Awards 2020. We also named eToro as the best trading app for low-cost trading.
Find out what we think of eToro, whether there’s a catch for this “free” platform and some pros and cons of the platform.
What's in this review?
Zero commission and zero stamp duty with eToro
Other fees apply. Your capital is at risk.
- Unlimited trades, with no dealing charges or management fees
- Pay no stamp duty on UK shares (saving 0.5%)
- Create an account today in a few minutes
What is eToro?
eToro is a trading platform that lets you trade stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), contracts for difference (CFDs), commodities and currencies. As well as low-cost investing, eToro also offers the OpenBook trading platform, which lets users automatically copy and execute another investor’s trades.
Best for
Mobile
Best for
Low-cost
Best for
Beginners
Best for
Funds
Along with digital trading platforms such as Freetrade and Trading 212, eToro now offers a free investing account. This means users can buy and sell a range of global stocks with no commission.
eToro products
eToro doesn’t have many products available, there aren’t any pensions or ISAs on offer. Here’s what it offers:
- eToro trading platform. A platform to buy and sell stocks and shares.
- eToro CFD platform. A platform to trade contracts for difference, a riskier venture – make sure you know what you’re doing!
- eToro virtual portfolio. eToro’s demo account that lets you try it out without depositing any real money.
Does eToro offer a stocks and shares ISA?
No, eToro does not offer a stocks and shares ISA (individual savings account). It isn’t known whether this is going to be offered in the future. There are plenty of different platforms that you can get an ISA with, so it’s worth taking a look at our stocks and shares ISA comparison if this is what you’re looking for.
Invest in shares with 0% commission on eToro
Other fees apply. Your capital is at risk.
- Unlimited trades, with no dealing charges or management fees
- Pay no stamp duty on UK shares (saving 0.5%)
- Create an account today in a few minutes
eToro trading platform
eToro’s free stock account lets you buy and sell a huge range of different types of financial products, including stocks, shares and cryptocurrencies. It has shares from the world’s biggest exchanges and doesn’t charge for commission. It’s free to create an account, and there’s no limit on how much you can trade.
Main features of eToro’s trading platform include:
- Virtual portfolio. This is its demo account which lets you trade up to the value of $100,000 to practise without using real money.
- Research. This gives you insight into the markets and information from expert investors and leading analysts.
- One click trading. This feature lets you open a position with one-click – great if you tend to repeat your trading habits.
- Stop loss and take profit. This feature allows you to set price points for opening and closing positions to help you protect your investments.
- Professional charting. These let you compare charts or timeframes within charts.
- Offline trading. This lets you place some orders even when the platform is down.
- Fractional shares. This lets you buy fractions of shares so you can invest in more expensive shares, like Apple, Amazon, Nike, Twitter and Google.
But, of course there’s no such thing as a free lunch, there are certain provisions.
Commission-free investing is currently only available in countries under FCA and cySEC regulation, which includes the UK and all major European countries.
There’s also a minimum deposit amount of $200 USD for your first deposit. Thereafter the minimum deposit amount is $50. Zero commission doesn’t doesn’t apply to any leveraged trades, shorts or stock CFDs.
While you won’t pay commission on basic share buy and sell orders, you’ll still need to pay a $5 US withdrawal fee, and the minimum withdrawal amount is $30.
eToro CFD trading
If you’re more of an advanced trader, eToro allows you to trade contracts for difference (CFDs). These allow you to trade on market volatility without ever having to own the underlying asset. Great if you don’t want a truck full of soybeans rocking up on your doorstep.
Features of eToro’s CFD trading platform include:
- Customised risk management. “Trailing Stop Loss” and “Take Profit” can help you protect your investments.
- Analysis tools. Includes charts, analyst consensus and insider transactions.
- Innovative features. These include One-Click Trading, real-time alerts and interactive newsfeeds.
- Leverage. You can apply for up to 1:30 leverage.
What is leverage?
You’ll see leverage being referred to on the site as a ratio, such as 1:30 that you see above. Leverage allows you to open positions that are larger than your capital. For the example above, for every £1 you trade, you have the effect of £30 capital. Because of this, it is possible to lose more than your initial investment, which makes it riskier. You may have to have the funds available in your account to cover losses.
How to sign up for eToro
It takes 30 seconds to create your investing account via the eToro website, but you’ll then need to complete your profile and verify your account. This can take 10-15 minutes.
- Create an account. This doesn’t take long. You just need to choose a username and enter your email address and a password.
- Provide more information. You’ll need to select “complete your profile” to enter this. We’ve listed some of the things eToro will ask for below.
- Answer some questions. These will be about your experience of trading in the past, including equities, crypto and leveraged products.
- Tell eToro what you plan to trade and for how long. You can choose between stocks, crypto, currencies, commodities and indices.
- Give an indication of your future plans. This includes information about what you’re investing for and your expected risk and reward scenario.
- Provide a photo of your ID. You’ll have to provide a copy of your passport or ID card and a utility bill or bank statement.
You’ll need to provide:
- Your name
- Your date of birth
- Your address
- Your national insurance number
- Whether you are a US citizen
- Information about your income
- Your phone number and email
It can take up to 3 business days for your account to be verified.
How to use eToro
Once you’ve been verified, you can deposit funds and start trading. With the free account, you can access many of the regular eToro features like CopyPortfolio, virtual trading and TipRanks expert stock analysis.
You can add and remove stocks, cryptocurrencies, ETFs, indices, commodities and currencies to your watchlist, and also track your portfolio.
However, when using the platform, keep in mind that only basic stock buy orders are commission-free. It can be quite easy to get carried away and start dabbling in other types of assets, but these will attract trading fees and may hold more risk.
eToro fees
| Fee type | Cost |
|---|---|
| Basic trades | Free |
| Basic account | Free |
| Withdrawal fee | $5 USD |
| CFD trades | 0.09% spread |
| Conversion fee (GBP to USD) | Pips50 |
| Inactivity fee | $10 USD |
Is eToro really free?
Not really, no. Despite the much-publicised “commission-free” trading option, eToro also comes with a couple of unavoidable fees, mainly around deposits and withdrawals to your account.
To get the most out of its extensive trading platform, you can find yourself paying a number of standard (and hidden) fees, and these can be confusing for beginner traders. Make sure you check its fees before you begin trading, especially around inactivity fees (a fee for not trading but still having money in your account) and currency conversion.
What stocks can I trade on eToro?
You can invest in over 1,000 different global stocks from the world’s leading exchanges, including Apple, Netflix, Google, easyJet, Barclays, Airbus, Adidas. eToro has sorted the stocks available on its site by categories and exchanges to help you find what you’re looking for. It has some handy charts to show you how they are moving in real time at a glance.
What is social trading?
eToro is the leading social trading platform. This means that you can connect with others to share your investment strategies and discuss trading with the user base. You can also copy other traders’ actions in real-time. This is a nice way of getting the hang of how it works and utilising others’ knowledge and experience.
The platform allows you to filter the different traders that you can copy by loads of different things, such as the risk score, how many people already copy them, how many profitable weeks they’ve had and where they’re located. It also has “trending” traders, “top investors”, and investors based on the risk score.
The platform lets you see the users’ average risk score and gains in the last year. Of course, as always, past performance is not an indication of future results.
What are the eToro Club tiers
The eToro club is a tiered membership program that you can add to your eToro account, based on the amount of realised equity you have on the platform. It offers a range of perks including fee discounts, analytical tools and access to events.
You can get additional benefits and features with each upgrade in the eToro club. The tiers are:
- Silver – $5,000+
- Gold – $10,000+
- Platinum – $25,000+
- Platinum+ – $50,000+
- Diamond – $250,000+
Is eToro safe?
Yes. eToro is regulated and authorised by the FCA in the UK and also covered by the FSCS, so you’ll be protected for up to £85,000 in the event the company goes bust.
As with any type of investment, it’s your money that’s at risk when you use eToro, and there’s no guarantee of profits.
How does eToro make money?
eToro makes money by charging a range of fees on certain types of trades. While it’s free to start using eToro, you’ll need to pay for most of its trademark trading features and options.
eToro customer reviews
On consumer review platform Trustpilot, eToro has 2.2 out of 5 stars and a rating of Poor, based on more than 2,900 reviews.
Things are much brighter in the App Store, where the eToro app has 3.9 out of 5 stars based on more than 2,000 reviews. On Google Play, the eToro app has 4 out of 5 stars based on more than 32K reviews.
Positive feedback included the ease of use and flexibility to switch between stocks and crypto. Negative feedback centred around technical glitches and the user interface experience (updated 21 April 2020).
We carried out a customer satisfaction survey in July 2020.
eToro’s customers like the simplicity and efficiency of the platform and that they could check their investments whenever they like with the eToro mobile app. They like that you can practise trading before you put down any real money. Good customer service was one of the key positives mentioned about the platform.
Some reviews mentioned that they didn’t like the layout of the platform or felt that it was too complicated.
eToro review: Reddit users’ view
Mostly, Reddit users thought that eToro is easy to use and has a good platform. Most of the negative comments surrounded the hidden fees, the withdrawal charges and the inactivity fees.
Trading platforms similar to eToro
Table: sorted by promoted deals first
eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks as well as trading CFDs.
Please note that 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 CFDs 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.
Past performance is not an indication 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.
eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs and makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication, which has been prepared by our partner utilizing publicly available non-entity specific information about eToro.
Pros and cons of eToro
Pros
- Commission-free trades
- Huge range of stocks
- Free to use and set up
- No trade limits
Cons
- Mandatory withdrawal fees
- Fees apply on all leveraged, short or CFD orders
- Verification process is very detailed
- Trading platform can be confusing
Our verdict: Is eToro any good?
We’d say so, yeah. eToro has built a reputation as one of the most innovative and popular online investing platforms since its launch in 2007. It currently has over 10 million users worldwide and provides a range of low-cost investing services.
The additional fees are eToro’s biggest drawback, especially when you don’t know what to expect. Take a look through its fees and make sure you understand what each of them are for before you begin.
Who is eToro good for?
eToro is good for investors who understand what they’re doing with investing, or those who have done some research. The platform can be overwhelming and quite confusing for beginners, but if you stick with it and research what you’re unsure of, it’s possible to pick it up.
Frequently asked questions
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