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eToro Review 

 July 16, 2021

By  Brian Forester

With almost ten million users globally, eToro is one of the world’s oldest trading platforms for cryptocurrencies. But there is even more! eToro also provides services for trading currencies, commodities, indexes, and stocks. But in this eToro review, we will take a close look only at eToro’s crypto trading platform since cryptocurrency trading is our main focus. If, after reading this review, you will want to know about other features of the eToro digital trading platform – follow this link for a more detailed eToro review.

Be free to use the table of contents for easier navigation.

Table of contents

  1. How eToro started
  2. What eToro offers
  3. Where is eToro available?
  4. Payment methods & supported currencies
  5. Fees
  6. Customer reviews & client support
  7. User experience
  8. Conclusion
  9. A quick recap
  10. Frequently Asked Questions

How eToro Started

Originated back in 2007, the eToro company went through numerous cycles over the years. One of its most recent creations is the eToro X multi-asset platform – a fully regulated crypto exchange.

Today, eToro – a social trading platform – blends modern-day trading options with the technology of user interactions providing its customers the ability to trade almost anything within the platform.

According to Yoni Assia, eToro’s CEO, the company strives to abolish the banking system of today, which is deemed outdated, to introduce a new age of digital financial technologies. Providing the trading platform for a number of the world’s most demanded cryptocurrencies, eToro is a great place to invest in crypto assets.

What eToro Offers

On eToro, customers are able to use a number of different trading services:

  • Cryptocurrency trading
  • Commodity trading
  • Trading indices
  • Stock trading

eToro’s main feature is that it is basically a social network for traders since clients are able to follow and copy one another. Below is the list of services available on the eToro social trading platform.

eToroX

We will start with the most recent feature by the eToro company – the eToro X multi-asset platform. First introduced in the spring of 2019, eToroX is a crypto exchange with full regulation. With eToro X, users get actual access to crypto assets with the ability to make withdrawals.

Crypto Portfolio

With a Crypto Portfolio feature, users can make money investments in the world’s most popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin, Dash, and Ripple. The minimal size of investment is $5,000.

To be part of the Crypto Portfolio, a cryptocurrency must qualify on a number of requirements, such as a one-billion-dollar minimum market cap and a $20-million monthly trading volume minimum. Each portfolio’s cryptocurrency has a weight that equals to it market cap size with a minimum of 5%. In case a currency experiences a drop going lower its minimum, it will be removed from the portfolio automatically.

By using the Crypto Portfolio, a customer gets access to investing in several cryptocurrencies at the same time, which is good because, in this case, the customer can avoid the high risk of losing money that is common when investing in one cryptocurrency only.

On the first trading day of each month, the eToro’s CryptoPortfolio is analyzed and rebalanced.

Cryptocurrency wallet

For trading and transferring crypto assets, eToro customers can use a mobile app with an eToro’s own crypto wallet. The wallet mobile app is available for both Android and iOS. However, technically speaking, the eToro cryptocurrency wallet is not a crypto wallet per se. It is more of a mobile app for trading on the eToro’s platform.

With the eToro wallet, eToro account holders don’t get full control of their assets as one would expect from a regular cryptocurrency wallet – there is no recovery seed phrase, neither is there a private key for secure crypto transfer. What users get with the eToro mobile app is the ability to log into their accounts to execute crypto trading from their mobile devices. So the crypto assets are stored on eToro all the time.

However, the eToro mobile app gives traders the opportunity to withdraw funds and transfer them to specified software or hardware wallets.

The eToro wallet application will be useful for beginner traders. But we would not recommend using the eToro wallet for large funds. If you are planning to go deeper into cryptocurrencies, we would advise you considering more specialized tools for storing your crypto assets, such as highly secure and unhackable hardware wallets.

Supported currencies are Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin.

Copy-trading & CopyPortfolios

Copy-trading and CopyPortfolio are two more tools that the eToro social trading platform offers its traders.

With copy-trading, you get the opportunity to copy your fellow cryptocurrency traders if you like their trading strategy. With the CopyPortfolio service, you are able to invest in a mix of assets. This will automatically copy a number of markets or other traders with a certain investment strategy.

There are two types of CopyPortofilo services: a Partner portfolio and a Market portfolio.

  • The Partner portfolio tool is an investment service created by eToro partners. As of today, eToro boasts a total number of over 10 million individual partners worldwide. For more information on what an eToro partner account is, visit the eToro Partners website www.etoroparnters.com
  • The Market portfolio gives traders access to the top-performing assets from a certain market.

The purpose of CopyPortfolios is to help cryptocurrency traders minimize the high risk of losing their investments via diversified investments. When traders invest in a Copy-Portfolio, their funds are managed by the eToro’s investment experts. Each Copy-portfolio is thoroughly analyzed and automatically rebalanced to improve its performance.

Trading CFDs

eToro is a multi-asset platform that also provides trading CFDs. And this is something we must warn you about, especially if you are a beginner trader:

  • CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money. When trading CFDs, retail investor accounts lose money rapidly due to leverage. This makes for grim statistics of 67% of retail investor accounts that lose money when trading CFDs.
  • It is very difficult (impossible, to be more precise) to make any predictions at CFD trading. The values are volatile, and past performance can not in any way be used as an indication of future results.
  • If you decide to trade CFDs with this provider, you should consider the risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. We cannot stress it enough that CFDs are complex instruments. So before venturing into CFD trading, you must make your research to understand how CFDs work and whether or not you can take the high risk of losing money.
  • eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs.

Where is eToro Available?

eToro trading services are available in Australia, Austria, Argentina, Bahrain, Belgium, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, The Netherlands, UK, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

For a long time, eToro was unavailable in the U.S., but now each U.S. resident can engage in crypto trading, stock trading, etc. on the eToro platform with the exception of the following states:

  • Delaware
  • Hawaii
  • Illinois
  • Minnesota
  • Nebraska
  • Nevada
  • New Hampshire
  • New York
  • Tennessee

Payment Methods & Supported Currencies

eToro supports the following payment methods:

  • Debit/credit cards
  • Paypal
  • Skrill
  • Wire transfer
  • Neteller
  • Webmoney
  • China Union Pay
  • Giropay
  • Yandex
  • Local online bank account transfers

When customers deposit for the first time, they have to make a mandatory minimum of $200. The main fiat currency for eToro is the U.S. dollar. But you can use your own currency when depositing – during the process, your currency will be converted to USD automatically.

eToro supports the following cryptocurrencies:

  • Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Binance Coin (BNB), Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA), Dash (DASH), EOS (EOS), Stellar (XLM), IOTA (MIOTA), NEO (NEO), Zcash (ZEC).

IMPORTANT:

  • On eToro, traders make investments mostly in the form of CFD. This means that clients don’t trade with actual altcoins rather than speculating on their price (margin trading). We must stress this again by saying that, as a cryptocurrency trading option, CFDs are complex instruments and come with certain risks of losing money rapidly due to leverage. The statistics say that 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider all the risks of CFD trading and understand how CFDs work.

For more information on other types of investments within the eToro trading platform, follow the link.

Trading Fees

eToro has a complex fee system because of a wide array of trading options. Speaking of cryptocurrency trades, eToro shows a fair amount of appetite that most traders will deem monstrous. Check it out yourself:

  • Bitcoin trades at an exchange rate of 0.75%, which is higher than the rates from other interactive brokers;
  • Other cryptocurrencies cost from 2% to 4%, and this is just crazy;
  • For the complete exchange fee list, follow the link.

But there’s more! eToro also has a withdrawal fee.

  • You get charged with a withdrawal fee every time you decide to extract money from the platform. Withdrawal is only available in fiat currencies, and the fee is $25 per withdrawal.

And finally, there is also a sort of inactivity fee.

  • This fee is applied when an account has not been active for 12 months in a row. After that, the account is charged $10 monthly. So if you are planning to stay with eToro for a long time, be sure to keep it active.

What Investors Say About the eToro Social Trading Platform

When it comes down to analyzing investors’ reviews on eToro, you will find a lot of negative reviews online. And while this may seem uninspiring, there are two things to take into account:

  • Happy investors don’t tend to leave positive reviews too often
  • All trading platforms have their fair amount of negative reviews

So with these two ideas in mind, be critical when reading someone’s angry review with a negative experience in using eToro.

As for the customer support service, it is available in 9 languages, and investors can address the support via an online helpdesk – no live chat or phone support is available.

User Experience

eToro is a very convenient and user-friendly platform. It’s remarkably easy to get started, and the signing-up process is very quick and painless. All it takes is proving your personal details, and you’re ready to go.

But then there comes a step that most investors find a bit too disturbing. The step is a client’s trading profile assessment. Most customers would wonder if providing information like personal income and investment levels or an employer’s name is of any help in trading cryptocurrencies. But, however, such a procedure is a part of the Know-Your-Customer policy (KYC). Each regulated company must abide by it in order to be 100% legit.

The system itself operates perfectly. All tools are fully functional. There is no lagging. Neither will you come across any kind of connection issues.

When you have successfully registered your account, you may deposit funds using a credit card or a PayPal wallet with no fee.

Tools like portfolio trackers, watch lists, market monitoring, and tools to follow and copy successful investors are conveniently laid out in a modern-looking control interface. It will take you less than ten minutes to register your account and start opening positions on various cryptocurrencies.

Is Using eToro a Good Investment Advice?

We are coming close to finishing our eToro review. What can we say to make a conclusion? Well, one thing is for sure – eToro is really a great platform to use. It has a user-friendly interface that is perfect for all sorts of investors (beginner lever and experienced alike), and it’s indeed feature-rich. eToro platform has an abundance of supported cryptocurrencies to invest in, such as BTC, ETH, XRP, or LTC.

And, of course, let’s not forget the main feature of eToro – it is a social trading platform where investors can not only buy and sell crypto coins (and execute a number of other trading options), but they also can follow each other and copy the most successful trading strategies of their peers.

However, nothing is ever perfect, and even the most advanced platforms have their downsides. With eToro, the main downside is a complex withdrawal process.

To be able to withdraw money from the platform, eToro investors need to make a couple of mandatory steps that will make the process longer than it could have been:

  • Withdrawing cryptocurrency to an eToro wallet (it may take up to three business days);
  • When the funds are transferred to the eToro wallet, the next step is withdrawing them to another wallet outside the platform.

Another negative feature that eToro has is its fee policy. eToro seems way too expensive on cryptocurrencies. Besides, let’s not forget about the inactivity fee, which may also turn off a number of potentially long-time investors.

The bottom line is that eToro is a great place for speculators who are ready to take the high risk of losing their investments. As for hardcore Bitcoiners, we would advise considering other cryptocurrency trading providers. For instance, the likes of Coinbase, Coinmama, Binance, or CEX.io.

eToro Review, a Quick Recap

Let us take a final look at what we’ve covered in the review:

  • eToro is a money services company that is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority;
  • eToro is a multi-asset and feature-rich platform that allows investors all over the world to engage in trading a variety of asset classes, including (CFD trading);
  • The unique feature of eToro is that it lets traders follow and copy each other in order to improve trading profitability;
  • eToro has its own mobile application for trading via mobile devices;
  • Traders can choose from a wide array of cryptocurrencies;
  • Payment methods include bank account transfer, wire transfer, PayPal wallet, a credit card, Skrill, etc.;
  • eToro is the best option for CFD trades – although investors should keep in mind that up to 67% of accounts lose money through CFD trades on eToro. The risk of going broke due to leverage is quite high because none of the previously successful performances can ever serve as an indication of future results);
  • Compensational returns are made through Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

If you still have unanswered questions, please read the FAQ section below.

FAQs

Is eToro a trustworthy platform?

Yes, you can trust the eToro. eToro (including eToro USA LLC, eToro UK Ltd., eToro Europe Ltd.) is one of the most reputable platforms today. Traders from all over the world choose eToro and are able to make profits by using its trading tools.

Is eToro regulated?

eToro is regulated. The eToro platform operates in strict accordance with the FCA, CySEC, and ASIC. eToro is 100% safe to use. However, before engaging in cryptocurrency (or other types of) trades, make sure you know what you are doing and understand how trading platforms operate (especially if you choose CFD trading). Many accounts lose money because of the lack of knowledge and experience in trading crypto coins. The highest money loss statistic is CFD-related – 67%. Take that risk into account!

Can you make money with eToro?

Experienced investors can make large profits on eToro trades. However, when you start an account on any trading platform, you must remember that even experienced traders can lose money from time to time. So it is very important to trade safely.

Can you withdraw money from eToro?

Yes, you can withdraw money from eToro. But it takes a bit longer than withdrawing cash on many other platforms. To make a withdrawal from eToro, traders need to:

  • Withdraw assets to a personal eToro wallet – it usually takes up to three business days;
  • When assets are on the eToro wallet, a trader is able to transfer them to an external wallet.

What is the withdrawal fee on eToro?

On eToro, withdrawal is only available in fiat currencies (you withdraw to your credit card). The fee for each withdrawal is $25.

Is eToro really free?

Creating an account on eToro is totally free of charge. There are also no hidden charges for account managing and stock investments. But traders have to pay withdrawal fees. Cryptocurrency exchange rates are higher than average.

What is better than eToro?

If, for some reason, you are dissatisfied with eToro, you may consider one of these forex brokers:

  • MetaTrader 4 & MetaTrader 5
  • E*Trade Web Platform
  • Active Trader Pro
  • DEGIRO
  • IEX
  • TT Platform

Brian Forester


Brian is an experienced journalist and crypto enthusiast. Founder of CryptoCurry - famed for his insightful input on the future of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies.

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