I have now completed my “live”, real world testing of eToro, from both the perspective of being a trader, and a copier, and the results were pretty impressive!
Read on to find out more.
eToro Origins
eToro are a worldwide financial asset platform based online and was created in 2007 by the Assia Brothers along with David Ring. The previous name was actually called Retail FX by the creators.
Some 15 years later eToro has now significantly grown to now offer investors Equity trading, Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) trading, Commodities trading, CFDs trading, Social trading, Forex trading, Indices trading and of course, Cryptocurrency trading.
However, for the purposes of this review, I am only going to discuss the plain vanilla style of trading stocks (equities) from the UK markets, as that is what I have tested.
I will also assume that you have some prior experience of buying and selling shares through brokers or platforms such as IG, II, Fidelity or Hargreaves Landsdown etc.
Buying Stocks on eToro
As eToro is a multi-asset platform they are able to offer investors zero commission stock trading on over 2000 stocks and shares from 17 financial exchanges from all over the world, and that includes the UK’s FTSE 100 and FTSE 250, which is great news for traders.
As an added benefit, they also don’t charge the 0.5% stamp duty fee, which can save frequent traders lots of money.
Zero Commission Stocks on eToro
eToro offer Zero commission on stocks, this means that when you buy and sell stocks on the eToro web platform or mobile app no extra fees are charged on the buy or sell orders.
This compares well with many other platforms and brokers who will add a fee for executing a trade, so this is a great positive benefit of buying and selling via eToro.
Stamp Duty and Financial Transaction Tax when Trading with eToro
There are different tax rules and charges throughout the world, but in short in the UK we pay a 0.5% tax every time we buy equities. However, eToro takes the cost of stamp duty and financial transaction tax for UK registered clients.
This can mean a potential saving of 0.5% for eToro clients in the United Kingdom, and residents in Ireland can save up to 1%. Yes thats UK Stamp duty free trading!
eToro is able to offer very competitive offers like zero commissons, and no tax due to the size of their customer base.
With over 20 million eToro users worldwide, the volume of transactions that eToro process enables them to pass savings onto their users and remain very competitive when compared to other brokers.
Minimum Transaction Value
eToro has a low minimum trade requirement of $50 USD which is around £36 GBP depending on the current currency conversion rate.
eToro also doesn't charge overnight fees on non-leveraged stocks. You can create an account from just £200/$200.
You own the Underlying Stock
Importantly, when you trade with eToro you will own the equity or asset you have bought. This is important as some brokers are only able to offer CFD trading on stocks and shares.
When you buy a stock it is logged on the eToro platform. You will not be issued a stock issue certficate or given voting rights, but if dividends are issued by that stock and you forfill the criteria (own them 2 days before XD date) your eToro balance will be updated with the dividend amount.
Summary of eToro Stock Trading Platform
I have used all the usual main stream brokers in the UK for my historic share dealing, and I can honestly say that the eToro experience and system is exceptional, well designed layout, easy to trade with and easy to see what’s in your portfolio and watch lists.
There are loads of self-help videos and pages, and the community is also on hand to answer any questions you may have.
All in all, it is a great way to trade, and will save you money on your dealing, especially if you are a frequent trader who likes to open and close positions intraday / week or month.
The most significant downside is that the UK stocks currently available are only from the FTSE 350, so there is no scope for trading UK small companies yet.
eToro Copy Trading and Stock Trading
This is a great USP of eToro, and is where stock trading and social media join together to create great opportunities.
When you open an account with eToro, you can also use eToros well known social trading and copy trading feature when investing in UK company Stocks and shares.
See an example of my copy trader profile here Philip Bellamy @copycatcash – eToro
Copy trading is where you can follow other traders and investors on the eToro platform using eToros proprietary CopyTrader trading platform features.
Copy trading is simply a form of social trading. Using these copy systems, users can view the stock trading performance and copy trades of successful top performing investors on the eToro platform. You can browse through a trader’s history and find a popular investor that matches their trading strategy and requirements, and then simply copy them at the press of a button!
This is a great facility for either new investors, or those investors who don’t have much time, and want to leave the research and due diligence to someone else.
You can copy up to 100 people, so you can spread your cash around to mitigate risk and diversify your overall portfolio.
Once you copy an eToro trader all of their trades are copied to your account. Any future buy or sell orders are automatically copied on your eToro account.
Are eToro safe?
When choosing a broker, the administrative body and regulatory status of the broker is very important. Established in 2007, and in operation for 14 years eToro’s head office in Cyprus.
eToro (UK) Ltd. are overseen and regulated by the FCA and maintains a FCA license to offer eToro services in the EU European Union.
Clients in the UK have investor protection ranging from £85,000 - £1,000,000.
Features of eToro
Virtual Portfolio, or what is commonly known as a Demo Account
API Trading
Social Trading available
Copy Trading available
StopLoss
Trailing Stops
TakeProfit Orders
Offline-Trading
eToro offers Advanced Financial Chart comparison tools
eToro offers Research-backed analysis on financial markets and investments from top analysts
The eToro platform is available to use on multiple devices inclding IOS devices like iPhones and iPads, Android devices and online through a Web Browser.
eToro offers an easy to use trading platform with tools for both New Traders and Seasoned Experts
eToro users benefit from using the eToro platform in over 5 different languages
Sign up to eToro today for FREE
eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, 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. 81% 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. Trading history presented is less than 5 complete years and may not suffice as basis for investment decision.
Copy trading is a portfolio management service, provided by eToro (Europe) Ltd., which is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.
Cryptoassets are highly volatile and unregulated in the UK. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.
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.