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The Bottom Line: eToro is a social trading and multi asset brokerage company that focuses on providing copy trading services that has registered offices in New Jersey, Sydney, Cyprus, Israel, Shanghai, and the United Kingdom
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Top Online Broker
AT A GLANCE
- Clean and simple interface
- Copy top traders
- Millions of users worldwide
- Industry leading security
Overall Rating
4.5/5
Leading online stock & crypto broker
Pros & Cons
Pros
Cons
eToro is an easy standout from your usual online trading platforms. First, because it’s easily the one of best known among online trading platforms out there.
This in no small part attributable to its constant advertising on social media. But second, because it is known as being a trading platform rather than a crypto exchange.
Although it’s easy to think old companies should stick to their old markets, particularly considering how much companies like JPM at one time, stood against crypto adoption.
Having trusted companies on the crypto scene is a huge plus.
eToro has shown to be one of the most trusted companies for traders and other crypto newbies.
It's brand recognition is instant and, although it is still new to the crypto market, many new users are attracted by the expertise in financial services and trading it displays.
Quick Summary
Minimum Deposit: $200 (only $50 for U.S.)
Fees: Low fees (depends on the trade)
Promotion: No current promos
What is EToro?
eToro was founded in 2006 as a brokerage company and quickly gained a following among international users. It's founders are Yoni Assia, Ronen Assia, and David Ring.
The Assia brothers were experienced in tech at the onset of their careers, mostly with the programming and project management side.
As for Ring, he had prior experience as a software engineer in Israel.
Today, Yoni Assia is still eToro’s CEO, a position he has held since the platform first launched.
Operational spread and strength
eToro is an international company with registered offices in Limassol (Cyprus) and London (UK). eToro also has offices in Tel Aviv, Shanghai and New Jersey.
It counts roughly five hundred employees among its three branches, with over ten million users spread throughout the globe.
In the US, customers in 40 states can trade crypto through eToro, although it comes with the customer authentication restrictions that applies to deposits and withdrawals.
We have also included the requirements for US residents in each of the identifiable area of impact in local legislations.
Payment Methods & Fees
Considering eToro’s decade-plus experience with online trading, one might expect it to accept about every single payment method on earth and then some more.
After all, the platform’s reach is very wide, and convenience is extremely important.
Payment Method | Country | Time | Max Deposit | Regulatory Body |
|---|---|---|---|---|
China Union Pay | Hong Kong | Instantly | 20,000 USD | Government of Hong Kong |
Credit / Debit card | UK | Instantly | 40,000 USD | FCA |
Giropay | Germany | Up to 1 business day | 30,000 USD | BaFin |
Neteller | UK | Instantly | 10,000 USD | FCA |
PayPal | Luxemburg | Instantly | 20,000 USD | CSSF, Luxembourg |
Skrill Limited UK | UK | Instantly | 10,000 USD | FCA |
WebMoney | UK | Instantly | 50,000 USD | FCA |
Wire Transfer | All | 3-5 business days | Unlimited | Dependent on remitting Bank |
Wire | Germany | 2-3 business days | Unlimited | BaFin |
Yandex | Russia | Instantly | 5000 RUB | Central Bank of Russia |
Local Online Banking | Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam | Instantly | 10,000 USD | Enter your text here... |
ACH | US | 2 business days | 50,000 USD | FinCen |
eToro Global
eToro Global does accept a good amount of payment methods. Trading cryptocurrency is also enabled with clear rules as to what needs to be done to have an active account.
eToro USA
For USA residents, only online banking and wire transfers are accepted as payment options.
Rates for withdrawals and deposits
eToro doesn’t have the best rates in the market. While in some cryptocurrencies it offers competitive rates, others fall flat.
eToro doesn’t charge fees for deposits. For withdrawals, the set fee is $25, with a minimum withdrawal value of $50.
For all cryptocurrencies, the fees represent a set amount rather than a percentage.
If you are a U.S. resident, there are no withdrawal fees.
Rates for buy/sell transactions
Fees do not apply to non-leveraged BUY positions on individual cryptocurrencies.
Fees do apply to leveraged BUY positions, as well as to all SELL positions, and to all crypto pair positions.
The spreads vary wildly depending on the cryptocurrency you’re trading, and they can go from 0.75% of the token value all the way up to 3.45%.
Thus, the rates are hardly competitive, although then again, the site might not need to be competitive considering its existing user base.
Methods of deposit
eToro’s long time in the market means it accepts a set array of payment methods – including debit cards, credit cards, Skrill, PayPal, and a handful of localized payment processors.
It’s the kind of list that would make most crypto traders run for the site. However, the minimum FIRST time deposit is $200 in most countries and $50 dollars in the US.
As for deposits into eToro via crypto wallet, they’re out of the question unless you manage to get an advanced verified account – something a recently registered customer is unlikely to attain.
That said, the conditions to fulfill in order to be verified are not unattainable.
After all, a careful adherence to the requirements will get you verified so that you can be free to operate your account as you should.
USA residents can only use online banking and wire transfers.
Residents here are already used to several online payment options and they have an additional incentive to use eToro.
Methods of withdrawal
eToro allows withdrawals of fiat currencies using credit cards, E-Wallets, and wire transfers. The system is automatic and tries to perform the deposits in your accounts on the same score.
As for crypto withdrawals, you’ll need the already mentioned special verified upgraded account (gold-rated) to be allowed to perform them, otherwise, you should not bother.
It is important to note that for regular traders, using the bank withdrawal option should not be a big deal.
It takes one business days for withdrawals to be processed and an additional up to 8 business days for the funds to be received.
This is for all payment methods; bank transfers, credit/debit cards, e-wallet.
Users of eToro in USA can only use their online banking profile and wire transfers to effect withdrawals.
Operations & Dashboard
eToro’s user interface is clean and simple to use, yet it also offers more than enough information for most traders to be content with it.
Buying or selling on the main platform is as simple as selecting the crypto you wish to buy or sell, then letting the system know how much you wish to trade.
A new user will surely not find it difficult to access the account dashboard as this is almost as navigable as an email inbox.
To the left, you have the account icons that leads to the user profile, the watchlist-or items of your portfolio that you might want to know the real-time statistics and market performance.
You will also be able to see the copy markets, personal portfolio as well as the link to make deposits, withdraw funds, and access the platform guide.
You can also reach for online support here by clicking on the ‘Help’ icon. This will lead you directly to the very rich FAQ section and account user resources.
Cross-platform availability
eToro can be accessed by mobile clients, allowing users to trade on the go as the need arises.
Having websites that are responsive and made to work in most devices is a plus.
This means that even if you can’t install the eToro App on your mobile or tablet, you might still be able to perform operations, nonetheless.
For people who are used to their desktop, you have no need for worries as you can access the desktop site with ease.
Online Wallets
eToro makes use of a proprietary wallet, the eToro Wallet is a means for securely storing crypto assets.
The wallet can be used to send and receive funds from third parties, giving them the same abilities other crypto wallets would have.
A word of advice here is necessary, however – when you use an exchange’s own crypto wallet for your personal transactions, you’re giving up part of your privacy as the exchange can know how much money you’re sending and to whom.
That means they’ll at the very least have a guess to the nature of your transactions.
Even if all your transactions are legal (as they should be,) on occasions, some brokers have frozen or closed customer accounts due to disagreeing with users’ choice of transactions on moral grounds.
Therefore, it’s always advised to have your own private wallet for all transactions, no matter what, and only use exchange wallets for exchange-related tasks.
Security & Customer Insurance
eToro is big on security, as is necessary, considering the company itself is heavily regulated.
As such, all of the customer’s holdings are kept safe and insured, as required by law.
While many crypto exchanges are content with keeping crypto holdings in cold storage, where they can’t be hacked, eToro goes one step forward by making the wallet addresses where its holdings are kept private.
This has the downside of hindering transparency, as users can’t confirm eToro has indeed enough liquidity to carry on operations but, as per eToro’s management, with a private wallet, the risk of hacking gets minimized.
Account opening requirements
In order to open an account with eToro, you need to give up some of your personal data – including email, which is usual, but also adding your full name and phone number to boot.
This is just the basic info, as you’ll be asked to provide other data both for funding your account and proceeding with verification.
Having your account verified is mandatory to trade on eToro.
KYC/AML requirements
It should surprise nobody that eToro has in place strong requirements for KYC/AML and verifying an account.
The exchange carries on as a regulated system, which implies that users must comply with more requirements than usual, with the upside of knowing everything should be transparent and lawful.
As such, both eToro requires extensive verification – and, in fact, it is much more thorough with its verification process. eToro only requires ID verification and proof of address in order for you to access the full account holder features.
While none of the requirements for this should be too difficult to procure, eToro surely earns a place among the stricter exchanges in the market as a platform where creating an anonymous account is effectively impossible.
KYC/AML requirements
In America, account holders can only be verified when they produce any of the following:
-International Passport (unexpired)
-Valid Driver’s License (Unexpired)
-Valid State ID (Unexpired)
In addition, each applicant needs to provide a valid utility bill that could be a bank statements, council bill, water/electricity bill or a rental agreement. Some other documentation like a letter from an employer is also accepted.
Your account might not also become operational until you can provide your tax identification number or employer identification number or SSID.
Verifying your account
The verification process, although somewhat lengthy, is pretty simple to go through, since it is automated – as is the standard among trading platforms.
Whether you live in the US or elsewhere, you’ll be asked to verify your account as part of the initial setup process, and since there’s no way to avoid this, there’s also no way to miss it.
The number of steps you have to go through and the information you need to input will vary depending on your country and type of account.
While the verification process shouldn’t take too long, it’s always a good idea to shorten your waiting time by providing the required details as soon as possible.
Remember that with crypto and other investments, time is money.
How A Typical Transaction Works
Making a deposit
The process of making a deposit is simple. On eToro, you’ll be guided through it as part of setting up your new account.
The exchange only trades on large amounts of fiat, and in this case, the minimal transaction accepted is from $50 to $10,000, or even higher depending on your funding source and your country of domicile.
Do note that depending on the transaction or portfolio you want to trade; the minimum allowed deposit surely varies.
That is why it is misleading when you read in some online sources that eToro allows only $10,000 as minimum deposit.
Only corporate accounts are required to be funded by a minimum of $10,000.
Accounts that are not yet verified can deposit a maximum of $2,250.
So, verifying your account immediately surely loosen up the knots so that you can trade freely on the platform.
How Trading Works
Trading is simple in on eToro, with ease of use being one of the exchange’s high points.
Here, just choosing whichever cryptocurrency you want to buy, or sell is enough, as the system was made with trading in mind.
The platform offers a larger array of options, but the simplicity remains if you need it: you can buy or sell by simply selecting a trading pair.
You can also set advanced options, although not all options that some people might desire– stop orders, for example, aren’t a part of the offering.
Still, using eToro for crypto trading is simple enough, and transactions happen quickly.
CopyTrading
One of the unique features of eToro is copytrading. This is essentially a clone made available by the platform’s trading committee, which depicts successful trading models used by leading traders on the platform.
With $200, you can register for copytrading using the proven model.
Closely aligned to this is the copyportfolios. These are asset blocks consisting of a few select components.
For example, you will find that a copyportfolio is made up of Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Dash and Ethereum Classic. You must have a minimum of $5,000 to trade in copyportfolios.
Making a withdrawal
If the deposit process was simple, the withdrawal process is even simpler.
On eToro, withdrawals methods are chosen automatically based on what your account has on file.
The methods are credit/debit card, PayPal, and wire transfer. The preference goes in that order. No extra steps are needed.
Also, as usual with crypto platforms, you need to tell the system which wallet you want your crypto to be sent to, and then wait for the transaction to be processed.
It takes up to one business day to transfer coins from the platform to the wallet.
Customer Support
Live Chat is available 24 hours a day from Monday to Friday.
So, with live chart in place, you can look forward to immediate responses when you are stuck at any time.
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Should You Use eToro?
eToro isn’t likely to go away any time soon.
For all its attention to details, the company has a huge user base and a dependable market record with it – making it a trustable ally, particularly for large traders who need assurances their money is both in safe hands and being legally handled.
At this point, one can only hope that the company will continue to grow and add features, and having emerged as a leading online trading platform, more innovative features can be expected sooner than later.
This in the main to create a fully functional exchange that is appealing to a larger variety of retail and corporate investors.
If you’re looking for safety and legality when trading large amounts of money, eToro is likely the site for you – not so much because of the convenience, but because of the security.
But if you’re a small investor, just getting started, you can also grow with this platform and piggyback on copy portfolios to grow your wealth.
eToro
eToro is a social trading and multi asset brokerage company that focuses on providing copy trading services that has registered offices in Cyprus, Israel and the United Kingdom
Asif is a cryptocurrency enthusiast and journalist who’s been writing on the subject since 2014. He also has a keen interest in social engineering and cybersecurity. When not busy writing about cryptocurrency, he can be found reading books and listening to music. He holds an M.Sc in Life Science and an MBA in Finance & Banking.