eToro Review: Hailed As A Game-Changer In The Trading World. How Have They Done It?

Published: January 4, 2019May 23, 2020

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Author

Natalie Mootz

Last Updated on May 23, 2020

Risk Warning: Your Capital is at Risk.

eToro Overview: The First Social Trading Platform

eToro established the first social trading platform, disrupting the online brokerage industry.

eToro allows traders to follow other traders, discuss trade ideas, and even mimic the successful trading strategies of other traders in the community with its innovative CopyTrading feature.

This eToro review will provide an overview of the company and discuss the major features of the platform.

Quick Summary of eToro

What's Good About eToro?	What Could eToro Do Better?
Trustworthy broker (we scored eToro 90/100 in our broker trust rating)	First screen only shows some of the instruments available for trading (CFDs for listed companies aren't included, for example)
Traders who follow Sharia law can open Islamic accounts	The way eToro displays leverage on the buy screen which may be confusing to some advanced traders
Wide range of cryptocurrencies available
Traders can integrate social features into their trading through the CopyTrader tool
Free demo account (which you can keep for life)
24/5 customer support via phone, live chat, fax or email

Who is eToro Best For?

For a new generation of traders who want to trade cryptocurrencies or incorporate a social community into their online trading platform, eToro might be an ideal solution.

eToro is best for traders who wish to learn from the practices of more experienced traders by taking advantage of its social platform.

Start Trading Now at eToro.com

Risk Warning: 75% of retail trader accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Fast Facts About eToro

Overview	Social Trading Network
Founded	2006
Product	CFDs and Cryptoassets
Markets	Commodities, Cryptocurrencies, Stocks, Indices, ETFs
Countries Served	60+ (Full list below).
Minimum Deposit	Initial deposit $200 to $10,000 depending on country/region
Fees	Spread + Overnight fees. $25 per withdrawal, inactivity fee after 12 months. (Full list below)
Regulator(s)	Financial Conduct Authority (UK), Cyprus Securities Exchange Commission (Europe), FinCEN (USA), ASIC (Australia)
Customer Support	24-hour support 5 days a week.
Awards	Best Active Trading Platform in the Money AM Online Finance Awards

Where Does eToro Operate?

eToro is an international company operates in many countries (full list below). In the USA, the eToro platform offers trading on cryptocurrencies only.

In the US, eToro offers cryptocurrency trading in 38 states and two territories.

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. Your capital is at risk.

What Are eToro's Trading Products?

eToro offers customers access to trading two different categories of products: CFDs and cryptocurrency trading.

Contracts for Difference (CFDs)

eToro lets traders buy Contracts For Difference (CFDs) on ETFs, stocks, indices, commodities, cryptocurrency, and forex.

CFDs are contracts between a broker and a trader that are based on the difference in value for a particular instrument over a specific period of time. Thus, CFDs are derivatives and not the instruments themselves.

For example, if a trader opens a CFD trade on oil, they aren't purchasing actual barrels of oil that must be shipped, distributed, and stored. Instead, the trader is speculating on whether the price of oil will rise or fall over a limited time period.

CFD Trading on ETFs

Traders can choose from 145 different CFDs on ETFs in a variety of categories, including:

• Commodities
• Countries
• Fixed Income
• Geographic regions
• Indices
• Volatility products.

CFD Trading on Stocks

eToro offers CFDs on stocks from the following industry categories:

Customers can also trade by exchange. The eToro platform supports trading CFDs for the following exchanges:

CFD Trading on Indices

Traders on the eToro platform can trade CFDs for 12 indices:

Index	Description
China50	50 largest a shares in China
DJ30	30 Dow Jones industrial stocks
ESP35	Spanish stock exchange
EUSTX50	Stocks of the Eurozone
FRA40	Mostly French-based companies
GER30	Performance of the German dax index
JPN225	Main Japanese stock exchange
NSDQ100	Largest US non-financial companies
S&P200 and ASX200	Blue chip Australian stocks
SPX500	500 leading publicly traded US companies
UK100	London’s blue-chip FTSE100 index
USDOLLAR	Leading benchmark for the value of the dollar against a basket of popular currencies

CFD Trading on Commodities

Traders on the eToro platform can trade CFDs for the following commodities:

• Aluminum
• Crude Oil
• Cocoa
• Copper
• Cotton
• Gold
• Natural Gas
• Nickel
• Heating Oil
• Palladium
• Platinum
• Silver
• Sugar
• Wheat.

CFD Trading on Forex

The eToro platform offers CFD trading on 47 currency pairs.

Start Trading Now at eToro.com

Risk Warning: 75% of retail trader accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Cryptocurrency Trading

eToro offers two ways to trade cryptocurrencies:

• CFDs trading on cryptocurrency
• Direct purchasing and selling of crypto coins, plus exchanges between coins.

CFDs on Cryptocurrency

eToro offers traders CFDs on cryptocurrency “crosses,” which are pairs of currencies featuring a crypto coin paired with a fiat currency (eg, Bitcoin with EUR).

Cryptocurrency Coins Trading

eToro offers cryptocurrency trading on 15 popular coins.

Customers in the US, where CFDs are disallowed, can trade coins on eToro and store them in an e-wallet.

eToro's Crypto Wallet

eToro lets traders purchase cryptoassets and store them in its secure blockchain wallet. You can use the wallet to:

• Buy or sell crypto coins
• Send or receive cryptoassets from other wallets
• Convert crypto coins from one type to another type (eg, Bitcoin to Ethereum) as long as both types are supported by eToro.

eToro's wallet is regulated under the company name eToroX Limited and is a regulated distributed ledger technology (DLT) provider licensed by Gibraltar Financial Services Commission under license number FSC1333B.

You can access eToro's multi-crypto wallet via its browser-based web platform (including MT4) and on your iOS or Android mobile device.

Start Trading Now at eToro.com

Risk Warning: 75% of retail trader accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

eToro Account Types

Traders can choose from three different eToro account types – a standard trading account, an Islamic account, and a demo account.

Standard Trading Account

Traders can open a standard eToro trading account with $50 – $10,000. It offers traders various leverage limitations based on the product being traded. Here are some examples:

Trade Type	Leverage
Major currency pairs	30:1
Non-major currency pairs	20:1
Commodities (except for gold and non-major equity indices)	10:1
CFD stocks	5:1
Cryptocurrency CFDs	2:1

Islamic Accounts

Islamic traders can open Islamic accounts. These halal accounts don’t utilize swaps (Riba) in accordance with Islamic law.

Demo Accounts

Traders who sign up for an eToro demo account receive $100,000 in virtual currency to trade.

eToro demo accounts never expire, which is rare among brokerages.

With their demo account, traders can test their strategies by executing practice trades in real time. The eToro demo account also allows traders to test the functions of the platform before committing real money.

eToro Account Requirements

eToro serves more than 60 countries worldwide. The process of opening an account is largely the same in each jurisdiction.

Start Trading Now at eToro.com

Risk Warning: 75% of retail trader accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Account Verification With eToro

First, traders fill out a form with some basic information and create a username.

Before you can trade with eToro for the first time, you need to verify your account with the following information:

1. Government-issued ID
2. Phone number
3. Proof of address.

The government-issued ID (eg, passport) must be a high-resolution copy that shows both sides of the document and contains the following:

1. Full Name
2. Date of Birth
3. Photograph
4. Valid Expiry Date.

Proof of Address

Proof of address can include items issued by a financial institution, utility company, government agency, or judicial authority:

Acceptable Forms of Proof	Unacceptable Form of Proof
Bank statement	Receipts
Credit card statement	Invoices for purchasing goods
Electricity bill	Hand written bills
Water or gas bill
Council tax bill
Tax letter or bill

Funding an eToro Account

eToro offers several different first-time minimum deposit options for customers, depending on where they live:

Country	Minimum Initial Deposit
Australia/United States*	$50
Israel	$10,000
Everywhere else	$200

After your initial deposit, the minimum deposit thereafter is $50, regardless of country.

Deposit Methods

You can fund your eToro account with a variety of deposit methods:

• Diners Club
• Maestro
• MasterCard
• Neteller
• PayPal
• Skrill
• Visa
• Wire Transfer.*

* If you use a wire transfer to fund your account the minimum deposit amount is $500.

Funding Times and Maximum Deposit

The time it takes for your deposit to hit your eToro account depends on your deposit method:

• Wire transfers take 4-7 business days.
• Cryptoassets transfers take one business day processing since they must be manually reviewed. However, after eToro reviews the transaction, the transfer is subject to the amount of time it takes each blockchain involved to complete it.
• All other methods can take up to 3 business days to process.

The maximum deposit amount is $10,000 per day, regardless of country.

Start Trading Now at eToro.com

Risk Warning: 75% of retail trader accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

eToro Spreads and Fees

eToro's compensation comes via the market bid/ask spreads, which vary by product. eToro traders are charged these spreads only when a position is closed.

Spreads vary day-to-day and even minute-to-minute. The spread ranges below are indicative only.

• Commodity Spreads – From 2 Pips (copper) – 20,000 Pips (palladium)
• Cryptocurrencies – From 0.75% (Bitcoin) – 5.0% (XTZ)
• Currencies – From 1 Pip (AUD/USD) – 50 Pips (USD/TRY)
• ETFs – BUY Position Fee: 6.4%; SELL Position Fee: 2.9%
• Indices – From 4 Pips (US Dollar Index) – 1200 Pips (China A50 Index)
• Stocks – Buy Position Fee: 6.4%; Sell Position Fee: 2.9%

Overnight Fee

This overnight eToro fee is applied to a trader’s account when a position remains open past a certain period of time.

The eToro overnight fees charged are multiplied by three if a trader holds a position over Wednesday or Friday night. Overnight fees are charged to customer accounts and credits are applied at 17:00 New York time.

eToro doesn't charge overnight fees for non-leveraged buy positions.

Withdrawal Fee

eToro charges a flat $5 fee for all withdrawals except cryptocurrencies. The minimum withdrawal amount is $30. (See below for cryptocurrency withdrawal fees.)

Conversion Fee

eToro charges a conversion fee if customers want to convert the funds they withdraw from US dollars into other currencies or if they make a deposit with a currency other than USD.

The amount of the conversion fee also depends on whether your transaction is via wire transfer or another method.

Currency Pair	Wire Transfer	Credit Cards, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill	Charged Upon
AUD/USD	50 pips	100 pips	Withdrawal or Deposit
EUR/USD	50 pips	250 pips	Withdrawal or Deposit
GBP/USD	50pips	50 pips	Withdrawal or Deposit
RUB/USD	50 pips	50 pips	Withdrawal or Deposit
MYR/USD	n/a	100 pips	Withdrawal or Deposit
RMB/USD	n/a	50 pips	Withdrawal or Deposit
THB/USD	n/a	100 pips	Withdrawal or Deposit
IDR/USD	1% of deposit amount	1% of deposit amount	Deposits Only
VND/USD	1% of deposit amount	1% of deposit amount	Deposits Only

Inactivity Fee

eToro charges traders a monthly $10 inactivity fee if they don’t use the platform for a period of 12 months. This fee cannot take your account below zero, however.

Traders simply need to log in to their accounts periodically to avoid these fees.

Cryptocurrency Fees

When depositing, withdrawing, or converting cryptocurrencies — whether to or from fiat currencies or other crypto coins — several types of fees and limits apply.

Crypto Withdrawal Fee

Cryptoasset withdrawals incur their own fees, charged in the same crypto coin, as follows:

Cryptocurrency	Minimum Withdrawal Amount	Fee
BCH	0.18 BCH	0.001 units
BTC	0.0086 BTC	0.0005 units
ETH	0.3 ETH	0.006 units
LTC	0.68 LTC	0.001 units
XLM	534 XLM	0.01 units
XRP	133 XRP	0.25 units

Fiat-to-Crypto Conversion Fees and Limits

When convert fiat currencies (eg, Pounds Sterling) to cryptocurrencies in your eToro wallet, you incur a fee of 5%, charged in the fiat currency.

Here's a breakdown of what's in the 5% fee:

• eToro charges a 1% fee
• Fiat conversions are facilitated by Simplex, which charges a 4% fee.

Additionally, blockchain fees apply which are deducted from the crypto amount purchased. Your bank or credit card may also charge you fees.

Fiat-to-crypto currency conversion limits are stated in US dollars:

	Minimum	Maximum
Per Transaction	$125	$10,000
Per Day	none	$20,000
Per Month	none	$50,000

Crypto-to-Crypto Conversion Fees and Limits

If you wish to convert a cryptocurrency into another type of crypto coin, eToro charges a 0.1% fee.

The minimum allowed crypto-to-crypto conversion transaction is $20 and the maximum is $10,000.

Crypto Wallet Fees

There are two crypto coins that charge initial wallet creation fees:

• XRP – 45 XRP
• XLM – A minimum non-spendable deposit of 2.5 XLM

Withdrawing Funds From eToro

Withdrawing your funds from your eToro account is easy. You can withdraw funds at any time up to the value of the balance and minus the amount of margin.

The processing fee for a withdrawal is $5, plus a conversion fee from USD to other currencies, if applicable.

You can only withdraw funds using the same method that you used to deposit them and to the same account as previously used to deposit.

Withdrawal Requirements

• Minimum withdrawal is $30
• You must have a verified account

To verify your account, you must answer some economic questions and submit documentation that meets eToro's requirements for anti-money laundering, which may include:

1. Your personal details
2. Your experience and objectives for trading
3. Upload of a utility bill
4. Upload of a photo ID
5. Phone verification.

Start Trading Now at eToro.com

Risk Warning: 75% of retail trader accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

eToro Trading Platform Review

The eToro platform sets it apart from its competition. An entirely web-based trading tool, the platform’s crisp graphics and easy-to-read screens make it a perfect tool for novice traders.

The platform also incorporates many advanced features for more sophisticated traders.

Signing Up for eToro

Signing up for eToro is an easy process. After you set up a profile, choose the “Trade for Real” option. Next, you'll be asked to fund the account.

Once inside the eToro trading application, traders will see a screen with some of the instruments available for trading, like so:

eToro's Charting Features

eToro offers robust functionality including live interactive charts, an easy-to-use buy/sell button, and account balances, among other features.

The sentiment function shows off one of the benefits of eToro's social platform. Here traders can see the percentage of all traders in the eToro community who are buying or selling any particular instrument.

When inside the eToro platform, clicking on an interactive chart button brings up a chart for the security, like so:

Charts can be customized using over 60 popular charting tools including Bollinger bands, moving averages, and oscillators, among others.

Buying and Selling on eToro

When a trader clicks the buy or sell button, they can set the size of the trade, leverage, a stop-loss, and a take profit value.

Most of the features available in the trading screen are very similar to those available from other online brokers.

How eToro Uses Market Sentiment

One of eToro's distinguishing features is its market sentiment gauge. Seeing the market sentiment about buying and trading allows traders to tap into what others on eToro are saying about the market.

Find Elite Traders on eToro with People Discovery

The People Discovery section of eToro is where the platform really stands out from its competitors.

The eToro trading platform has a Discover People feature that works like a search engine for traders.

This section allows the trader to screen for different traders on the platform using country of origin, markets traded, percentage gains, and time frame.

The first thing you’ll notice about the discovery feature is the series of filters at the top of the page:

These filters allow you to narrow down the traders you want to follow according to specific criteria:

• People From: Traders can choose a country from a dropdown list or they can pick “Everywhere.” The platform then returns a list of traders from the country or countries.
• Who Invest In: You can filter by “Any Market” or choose a specific asset class (ie, currencies, commodities, indices, stocks, ETFs or Cryptocurrencies).
• Gained At Least and During The: You can filter by trader returns (ie, 5%, 10%, 25%, etc) over a specified time period (ie, 6 months, 12 months, current quarter, last two years, etc)
• Risk profiles: Traders can also screen by the risk profile of the trader and whether the results have been verified.

Additional Discovery Features

Copy People — Traders on eToro can click on a trader they want to copy, set a copy amount for trading and begin copying the trades made by that individual — including the opening of new trades, managing stop-loss orders and closing positions.

Top Trader Insights — Here eToro collects data from the top 100 traders on the platform. It also features an economic calendar and market news.

How Does CopyTrader Work?

One of the main advantages of signing up with eToro is that traders can integrate social features into their trading. These features include:

• CopyTrader — With CopyTrader, traders can interact with each other, copying strategies and interacting with more experienced traders since all trader activity is visible.
• Popular Investor Program — With enough experience, anyone can become a trading influencer and earn monetary rewards from it. See more about the Popular Investor Program below.
• Social News Feeds — Read posts from other traders and post information and status updates yourself.
• Sharing Externally — eToro allows traders to share news, analysis, charts (and more) to other social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and Telegram.

CopyTrader Guidelines

eToro has certain guidelines that apply when using the CopyTrader feature:

• Copy Minimum: $200 is the minimum amount you can invest in a trader.
• Copy Maximum: $500,000 is the maximum you can invest in a sole trader.
• Limit: You can only copy 100 traders simultaneously.
• Minimum trade amount: For a copied trade, $1 is the minimum amount.
• Closing: When you manually close a copied trade, your copy balance will be copied with any funds from this position. (This is not the amount invested in open positions but the amount you've allocated to copy this trader.)

Additional guidelines must be adhered to if traders want to copy an entire list of trades from one trader:

1. Market rates: Your account will be opened with the existing open positions at the market rates at the time of copying — not the rates the Copied Trader opened the original trades.
2. Stop-loss: Your trades will have the original trade's stop-loss and take profit.
3. Future actions: Your trades will mirror the future actions of the Copied Trader. This includes stop-loss and take profit, as well as closing of the trade as soon you copy them.
4. Closing trades: Closing a specific copied trade won't close your entire copy account.
5. Market orders: Should a position be opened in a market that's closed at the time of copying (eg, a market break), a Market Order will be opened by the system for the Copier. As soon as the market opens, an order is executed into a position with the first market rate.
6. See all copied trades: If you wish to see all of the trades you've copied from one trader, simply go to your portfolio and click on the name of the Copied Trader.

Key Differentiator: eToro's CopyPortfolios

One of eToro's key differentiators is its CopyPortfolios feature. Once you've found a Popular Investor whose strategies you like, you can copy that person's entire portfolio over to your own account.

Alternatively, traders can opt to take advantage of eToro's Market Portfolios, which are managed by eToro itself. The CopyPortfolios committees in charge of each Market Portfolio automatically rebalance them when necessary.

Start Trading Now at eToro.com

Risk Warning: 75% of retail trader accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

eToro Mobile

eToro's Mobile app features the same interface and platform that their browser-based platform uses for both Android and iOS devices.

Advanced Features for High Level Traders

eToro also has more advanced trading filters for traders who want more control over whom they follow. Choosing “Advanced Search” brings up these additional filters:

Time Period: The timeframe for the trader’s activity.

Status: Traders can choose to follow only traders who have verified their accounts with eToro as well as only traders who are part of the Popular Investor Program (see below).

Country: Location of trader.

Name and Picture: You can choose to follow only traders with profile pictures.

Copiers: You can choose to follow traders based on how many other people follow them:

Copiers Change: The percentage change in the number of people following the copied trader.

Copy AUM: The total assets under management of the copied trader. With this feature, you can choose, for example, to follow only traders with assets in their account over a certain amount.

Performance: With these filters, you can choose to follow traders based on the returns of their account, their percentage of profitable trading months or their percentage of profitable trades.

Risk Score: eToro assigns a risk score to each portfolio, which is an indicator of how exposed the portfolio is to market volatility. You can filter by risk score to gauge how much volatility to expect from following a particular trader.

Portfolio: A filter for following based on a trader’s allocation or average trade size.

Activity: A filter for following based on how active a trader is in the market.

How to Participate in eToro's Popular Investor Program

eToro's Popular Investor Program allows traders to be found in People Discovery and to let others copy their trades. The program has four levels, each with its own requirements and benefits:

1. Cadet
2. Rising Star
3. Champion
4. Elite.

In order to apply for the Popular Investor Program, traders must verify their account with eToro.

To be accepted at the minimum level (Cadet), traders must meet the following requirements:

• Leverage: You must not have open positions exceeding the leverages outlined in the eToro Responsible Trading requirements.
• Risk score: You must not have had a risk score higher than 6 in the 2 calendar months prior to joining the program.
• History: You have at least 2 months of trading history in your Stats page.
• Strategy: You have your own unique trading strategy and you are not copying an individual trader or CopyFund with more than 25% of your equity.
• Funding: Your deposits total at least $1,000, a minimum average equity of $500, and at least one verified copier with a minimum AUM of $200.

When trades are copied by other people, an eToro Popular Investor can earn up to 2% of their annual assets under management (AUM) and fixed payments. These payments are added to any other profits you make. 

Essentially, eToro pays you if you have traders follow you and copy your trades.

Using an eToro Demo Account

The eToro demo account looks identical to the eToro standard account. The only difference is that traders start with a $100,000 balance in virtual funds.

To access the demo account, the trader logs into the account. Next, the trader clicks virtual portfolio and confirms the selection.

Once in demo mode, traders have access to the trading screen, the trade ticket, charts and all of the social features of the platform.

Get Help with eToro's Trading Academy

In addition to the demo mode, novice traders can access other resources to help them learn how to trade, like the Trading Academy,

Trading Academy offers webinars on how to maximize success on the eToro platform and an education center with e-courses and training videos. Trading Academy also offers a section with tips for new traders.

Shortcomings of eToro's Platform

Most trading platforms have some imperfections and eToro is no different.

Brokers Set Amounts, Not Traders

With most brokers, the trader sets the number of units, lots, or shares for purchase and the broker calculates the leverage needed given the trader’s account balance.

However, with eToro's platform the trader sets the amount of capital and leverage and the broker calculates the number of units, lots, or shares the trader can purchase.

Although this is not necessarily a disadvantage of eToro, it may be confusing to more experienced traders.

Finding Available Instruments Can Be Tricky

Another shortcoming of the platform is that the first screen in the real trading application only shows some of the instruments available for trading.

The drop-down menu shows currency pairs, indices, and commodities, but fails to list the CFDs for listed companies.

To find these instruments, a trader must either use the menu under the Markets section or find them using the search function in the menu bar. Thus, a trader unfamiliar with equity markets may not know what stocks are available for trading.

Most other online brokers make it easier to find lists of securities available for trading.

Start Trading Now at eToro.com

Risk Warning: 75% of retail trader accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Can I Trust eToro?

Any discussion of online brokerage safety inevitably centers on three topics: regulation, security technology, and quality of customer service. In all of these areas, eToro performs very well.

Which Agencies Regulate eToro?

eToro receives regulatory oversight from the following regulatory bodies, depending on the countries where they operate:

• eToro USA is registered with FinCEN as a Money Services Business.
• eToro Europe is a registered Cypriot Investment Firm (CIF), registration number HE20058. It’s regulated by the Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission (CySEC) under license number 109/10. 
• In the UK, eToro UK, company registration no. 7973792, is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), firm reference number 583263. 
• eToro Europe and eToro UK both operate under and comply with the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). 
• eToro Australia, ABN 66 612 791 803, holds Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) 491139, issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), and regulated under the Corporations Act (Commonwealth). 

These agencies require the firms they regulate to meet stringent guidelines.

The table below helps you to understand which countries fall under the jurisdiction of which regulator so you can better understand the protections offered.

Regulator	Countries Covered	Protection Offered	Additional Protection Offered
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)	Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK	All client funds are held in a segregated client bank account	Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) may cover up to £50,000 if eToro fails.
Cyprus Securities Exchange (CySEC)	Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Jordan, Kuwait, Mexico, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, Paraguay, Peru, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Venezuela	All client funds are held in a segregated client bank account	The Investor Compensation Fund may provide up to €30,000 if eToro fails.
Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)	Australia
US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)	USA

How Secure is eToro's Technology?

eToro takes the following steps to secure its technology:

• SSL encryption
• Firewalls
• Two-factor authentication (“2FA”) via SMS (optional, requires opt-in)
• Mandatory proof of identity and address for all accounts (see Account Verification above)
• Compliance with the US Patriot Act to prevent funding of terrorism and money laundering.

How to Contact eToro's Customer Support

eToro offers customers 24-hour support 5 days a week. Customers who need assistance can reach the company by local phone, fax, email, or live chat. The eToro website supports over 20 languages, including:

• Arabic
• Chinese
• Czech
• Danish
• Dutch
• English
• Finnish
• French
• German
• Italian
• Malay
• Norwegian
• Polish
• Portuguese
• Romanian
• Russian
• Spanis
• Swedish
• Vietnamese.

What's eToro's History?

eToro was the brainchild of brothers Ronen and Yoni Assia, who founded the firm in 2007 along with their partner David Ring. The trio’s vision was to create a trading platform that appealed to a wide audience and was user-friendly.

Who Runs eToro?

The eToro board currently consists of 4 directors. We have listed the main management team and board members:

Name	Title	Notes
Yoni Assia	Founder	CEO
Ronen Assia	Co-Founder	Chief Product Officer
Santo Politi	Board Member	Co-founder and General Partner at Spark Capital.
Anver Stepak	Board Member	ex-CEO of Meitav Dash
Eddy Shalev	Board Member	Founder & Managing Partner, Genesis Partners

Start Trading Now at eToro.com

Risk Warning: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 75% of retail trader accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

FAQs

Below are the answers to some frequently asked questions.

Is eToro trustworthy?

In Europe and the UK, eToro is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Cyprus Securities Exchange (CySEC). It also complies with the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). In Australia, the company is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The regulatory body in the US is FinCEN.

You can find out more about regulatory agencies on our Regulators reference page.

Is eToro good for beginners?

eToro has educational material that is aimed at beginners, like its Trading Academy. eToro also has social trading aspects that can help beginners understand the strategies of veteran traders, like CopyTrader and CopyPortfolio. However, cryptocurrency trading and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly.

eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFD assets.

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.

Cryptoassets are volatile instruments which can fluctuate widely in a very short time frame and, therefore, are not appropriate for all traders. Other than via CFDs, trading cryptoassets is unregulated and, therefore, is not supervised by any EU regulatory framework. Your capital is at risk.

Past performance is not an indication of future results.

Credits: Original eToro review written by Lawrence Pines. Major updates and additions in May 2020 by Natalie Mootz with contributions from the Commodity.com editorial team.