Learn more about eToro, one of the world’s leading social trading platforms, which offers investment services for stocks and cryptocurrencies, as well as trading CFD with different underlying assets.
Founded | 2007 |
Headquarters | Cyprus |
Website | https://www.etoro.com/ |
Leading Blockchain Universities | |
Daily volume trading | $1.5 trillion (2020) |
Number of cryptocurrencies | 12+ (100+ on eToroX) |
Cryptocurrency Fees | 0.75% - 4.5% (charged on spread) |
Minimum deposit | $200 |
Digital Wallet | None |
Promotion | None |
Currency | Fiat and crypto |
Deposit Method | Credit Card, Bank Transfer |
eToro is a global online financial trading platform and multi-asset broker founded in 2007 by David Ring. Ronen Assia. and Yoni Assia. The Israel-based brokerage company was originally called RetailFX, with a stated mission to make trading and investing available to anyone.
eToro released its signature OpenBook platform in 2010, allowing users to copy successful and well-known investors’ trades. This feature eliminates the need to do extensive amounts of research and to consistently watch the market’s movements. Users can simply open an eToro account and choose a popular or established investor they like and copy trades they make.
eToro is widely known as a platform for retail investors, stock trading, commodities trading, forex trading, CFDs trading, social trading, cryptocurrency trading, index-based funds trading, and exchange-traded funds (ETF) trading.
eToro is famous for being one of the first brokerage sites that would offer its users the ability to trade cryptocurrencies. In 2014, they introduced bitcoin trading via contracts for difference (CFD). Traders did not own bitcoin, but instead could bet on its price. This increased investor familiarity with cryptocurrency.
eToro has announced plans to go public via SPAC merger. Around $650 million has been raised by investors, and eToro itself has been valued at 10.4 billion. The company currently boasts 20 million registered users worldwide.
According to many eToro reviews, ours included, eToro is a solid choice. One of its best features is the easy-to-use copy-trading platform where traders can copy the trades of investors across over 2300 instruments, including exchange-traded securities, forex, CFDs, and popular cryptocurrencies. eToro offers a trading bot for Discord. Note that using bots may be against eToro’s TOS.
Less experienced traders will benefit from the smooth interface and seamless user experience. Active and high-volume traders may feel limited by higher spreads and small maximum trading sizes.
eToro offers limited info about their security measures There have been no recorded breaches of eToro’s systems, although users have been targeted by hackers en masse due to password re-use.
Is eToro’s security legit? eToro does offer two-factor authentication via SMS. While SMS 2FA is better than nothing, it’s deemed problematic by security professionals due to the ease with which it can be compromised.
The fact that the only publicly described user security measure offered is 2FA via SMS isn’t promising. eToro lags behind industry standard in not offering app-based 2FA.
Beyond that, eToro has vague references to “data security technology and tools such as firewalls and data encryption”, which is bog standard. While eToro hasn’t been hacked yet, they aren’t at the cutting edge of security.
Opening an account with eToro is simple. We’ve compiled a short list of steps to guide you through the process:
1. Sign up for eToro via the eToro homepage
2. Verify your identity – verification is a crucial step that will keep your account safe and allow eToro to comply with financial regulations. US citizens will be asked for their Social Security numbers and address.
3. Make your first deposit. There are many ways to fund your account. These include credit and debit cards (Visa and MasterCard), PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, Klarna, and others.
4. Search for bitcoin: Go to the eToro trading platform and search for “Bitcoin.”
5. Place an order: Select the amount of bitcoin you want to buy and place an order by clicking on the “Buy” button.
6. Confirm the transaction: Review the details of your order and confirm the transaction. Pro-tip make it a recurrent buy.
7. Hodl: You can hodl onto your bitcoin or sell it at any time in a (bull market preferably).
Once your account has been set up you can start using eToro’s many features. You can start out by practicing with a virtual account. eToro lets beginners access a $100,000 of virtual money to get to grips with the platform. This service enables you to hone your trading skills before risking your own funds.
You can also start using CopyTrader where you can search for top traders and filter results based on gain, success rate, risk score, favorite assets and more. You can also transparently see the stats of traders you are considering copying.
Once you feel comfortable, you can start trading manually with your own funds and utilize trading tools such as one click trading, personalized watchlists and real time volatility alerts. Big fan of eToro? They run an affiliate program where users who recommend eToro to others can earn rewards.
eToro operates in USD and accepts deposits in 14 other currencies: EUR, GBP, AUD, RMB, THB, IDR, MYR, VND, PHP, SEK, DKK, NOK, PLN, CZK.
A conversion fee is charged when converting funds to USD.
eToro supports a wealth of payment methods. Check their deposit FAQ for a full list. We’ve included most of them below:
eToro is considered low-risk. Is eToro trusted? Yes, and by quite a few people. And eToro users are in general quite pleased with their main social copy features. The company is not publicly traded and does not operate a bank. eToro is authorized by two tier-1 regulators (high trust), one tier-2 regulator (average trust), and one tier-3 regulator (low trust). eToro is authorised by the following tier-1 regulators:
The Australian Securities & Exchange Commission (ASIC) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
Other major exchanges such as Coinbase and Binance are also regulated by the FCA, therefore eToro can also be counted in the list of trusted exchanges when it comes to safety. Although there are various platforms and means of buying cryptocurrency online, the official regulation of the exchange means that eToro cannot simply abscond with client assets or funds.
eToro is located in Tel Aviv, Israel and has legal entities in UK, US, Australia and Cyprus. The firm is regulated by the CySEC authority in the EU, it is authorized by the FCA in the UK, , and by the ASIC in Australia. eToro USA LLC is regulated by FinCEN in the United States.
As of March 2022, eToro had 27 million users and 2.4 million financed accounts.
eToro was listed as an illegal platform in India.
Read our detailed review of the crypto exchange Coinbase here.
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