eToro

eToro review 2021 - A multi-asset platform

eToro was founded in 2007 with an intuitive visual trading platform. Since then, the platform has evolved into a Fintech company with an authoritative reputation. It has been a well-known firm for introducing Social trading, copy trading, and promoting Cryptocurrencies.

It is fairly easy to say that eToro offers much more than online broker services. Customers can trade real stocks, CFDs, Forex, and commodities to name a few assets on its list. It’s a regulated entity with top regulators in different countries such as FCA in the UK. They offer commission-free trading for real stock trading and competitive spreads for CFDs and Crypto.

The introduction of social trading and concepts like copy trading has been the renowned achievements of eToro since its establishment.

We at Brokers-finder have compiled a comprehensive review of its range of products and features for you.

Overview

You can find online trading products, trading tools, and market analysis with eToro. Their options of the stock trading range above 2000, ETFs 140+, Forex 40+, and major Cryptocurrencies. You can also opt for a copy trading feature that enables new investors and traders to mimic the top performers’ trading strategies.

There are no account maintenance or commission fees for your real stock trading. They have a built-in trading platform with loaded technical analysis and indicators to help you through your trading strategies.

Founded in Israel in 2007, eToro is regulated by competent authorizes like FCA in the UK, and ASIC in Australia. They offer an extensive £ 1 million insurance coverage to all of their customers.

Account Opening and Availability

Sign up and account opening with eToro is simple and online. You can create an account with either your email or your social media account. There are two types of accounts with eToro which are:

• retail clients
• professional clients.

The account opening services with eToro are available globally. A few restrictions apply to a few States in the US, and some countries like Canada, China, Japan, and Pakistan.

Along with its standard accounts, eToro also offers exclusive club memberships for the investors. The club membership is tier-based with different equity requirements.

• Silver: $5,000
• Gold: $10,000
• Platinum: $25,000
• Platinum+: $50,000
• Diamond: $250,000

Here are the club member tiers and their relevant rewards for you.

The club members can enjoy rebates and discounts on funds withdrawal fees and other charges according to their tier memberships. Some other benefits with club members include premium customer support, Exclusive data-based copy portfolios, etc.

Products and Markets

The products and market range with eToro are fairly average. It is mainly focused on CFDs, forex, and Crypto trading. The curated range of products and markets is compensated by additional features like Copy Trading, social trading, and premium advisory services (for club members only).

You can trade products with eToro in the following broader markets:

• Shares and Share CFDs
• Forex
• Cryptocurrency
• Commodities
• ETFs and
• Indices

Copy Trading and Copy Portfolio

A distinguishing feature of the eToro platform is its copy trading and copy portfolio offers to its users as explained in the video above.

eToro rewards its successful users to join the copy trading program and become a copy trader. They offer distinctive benefits to its users to join the program. Successful users can enjoy additional returns on investments as high as 2% on top of their profits.

The intuitive and clean user interface of eToro makes it easier for customers to find the top performers. Its search and filter triggers can further help you refine the search and find the best performer according to your likings. These social traders can also share their success on social media platforms.

If you wish to understand how the copy portfolio works, think of it as a mimic investing strategy as investing in stocks evolved to ETFs. The eToro experts and advisors chose and manage the copy trader portfolios. You can choose one of the two portfolio selection options; Top Trader Portfolio and Market Portfolios.

Remember, the eToro copy portfolio is an investing suited platform and not the conventional trading one. Their experts manage these portfolios much like actively managed Mutual Funds and ETFs.

Popular Investor Program

The social trading and copy portfolios are for the ones who wish to follow the best of the traders and investors. Let us hope you already are a Pro Investor. The popular investor program is designed for you. All you have to do is to build a successful investment strategy, execute it, and share your success with the followers.

The program comes on a tiered rank basis and with certain requirements:

Trading platform

eToro has a built-in trading platform with a clean and easy to navigate user interface. You can access the platform through its browser version or download the mobile apps for both Android and IOS.

You can choose to access the platform with 21 languages offered. The browser version of the eToro platform comes with slightly easier navigation though.

Here are a few top features of the eToro Platform.

• It comes with a two-factor login authentication to provide secured access
• Users will have access to their portfolio and watch list from the top of the user menu
• The search function with filters makes it easier to find the best-matching markets and financial assets to trade
• Copy People on the dashboard to help you through the copy trading
• You can find both copy people (for individual stocks or assets) as well as copy portfolio in the dashboard. The copy portfolio is an actively managed portfolio by eToro expert advisors and comes with certain features and charges.
• The dashboard navigation and topic help and guides
• The members’ club if you qualify with certain account balance requirements

The platform dashboard is loaded with market tools and newsfeed as you chose with your account or membership club type. Currently, you can place four basic trading order types with eToro:

• Market order
• Limit
• Stop loss
• Trailing limit loss

Platform Security and Regulation

If an online trading platform’s reputation is to go by anything, eToro stands tall for it with an innovative Fintech firm tag. Their account opening, funds withdrawal/deposits, and user information are securely stored through an SSL protected platform.

The firm also boasts about high integrity and user privacy standards and thus far has achieved the objectives successfully. Privacy and user information security must remain a top priority for eToro as most of their users are high tier club members.

Regulatory Authorities

• eToro UK ltd. is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK.
• eToro Europe Ltd. is regulated by Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (SySEC) for the European and other clients globally.
• Both eToro Australia Ltd. and eToro AUS Capital Ltd. are regulated by the Australian Securities and Exchange Commission (ASIC)
• The limited presence of eToro in the US is regulated through a US LLC regulated by FinCEN in the US.

As an established online trading platform, eToro offers extensive insurance coverage to its clients against the insolvency risk. Investors with eToro are protected against insolvency risk in two different ways.

• Clients under the FCA regulatory jurisdiction are protected up to £ 85,000 against the company default or insolvency
• Clients under the SySEC are covered up to € 20,000 compensation coverage
• All clients covered by FCA, SySEC, and ASIC enjoy extensive customer insurance of €/£/AUD 1 million depending on the jurisdiction currency

Deposit and Withdrawal Options

With eToro you can find all the industry-standard funds' transfer options. However, all options come with certain deposit limits and charges. eToro currently supports only one base currency as US $, all other currency funds will incur translation charges.

You can deposit funds in your account using any of the following methods:

Withdrawal option will be the same as your account deposit method. Any transaction above $ 30 will incur a $ 5 charges per transaction.

Customer Support

If there is anything that needs an immediate upgrade from eToro it’s their customer support section. They provide customer support services through live chat and email only. For Club members, there are additional offerings through dedicated advisors and expertly helps. There is no 24/7 call service or any other direct method of contact with their customer support team.

On the flip side, eToro has an abundance of educational and training material. The Demo account limit is also higher at $100,000 for your practical experience with their platform.

You can familiarize yourself with the latest market trends and get training with eToro through:

• Industry news and analysis feature
• Trading School- offering course and session on financial markets, tools, and trend analysis
• Podcasts and blogs
• Webinars and live sessions
• Video tutorials and
• Daily market analysis

However, most of the guides provided for free as blogs or tutorials are for beginners and do not offer advanced technical information.

Things We Like About eToro

eToro has pioneered Fintech and crypto trading in the last decade. Their built-in trading platform offers standard features and tools that you can expect with any other third-party trading tool.

Here is Our Favorite’s List for eToro:

• Regulated and secure online trading platform with innovative Fintech feel
• Trading options with real Stock and ETFs
• Innovative and distinguishing features like social trading, popular Investor, and Copy portfolios
• Insurance coverage of $ 1 million for all clients in case of company liquidation
• Featured account types such as Professional account and Club Membership concept for elite investors through a tiered program with additional benefits
• Affiliate and partner’s program on offer for individuals and brokers

Things We Wish To See From eToro

We can expect a high-quality user interface and loaded trading tools experience with eToro. The concepts of social trading and copy trading are also innovative to them. However, there are certainly a few features that we wish to see from eToro rather sooner than later:

• Support for more international currencies as a base currency option to ease the conversion fees
• Enhanced customer support through call or live support options
• Enhanced educational and training materials for intermediate and expert traders
• Increased options with CFDs and stocks
• Spreads and “other charges” combined make up for the higher trading costs with eToro

A Quick Wrap Up

The Fintech eToro offers a quality trading platform overall. It offers unique trading concepts with social trading, copy portfolios, and investor follower programs. It also offers tiered packages to its professional and club members. The trading platform includes direct buying for shares and CFDs as well as its hallmark option of Cryptocurrency.