Even though we have high standards for our writing, this post may mention products from our partners. Here is a look at how we make money. For investors, the broker eToro could be a good choice, but you’ll need to be optimistic about the long-term future of cryptocurrency.
This is because this broker is all crypto, all the time for American traders. Non-Americans, on the other hand, can trade stocks for free. The broker’s trading platform has a social feed built in, and you can even copy the trades of the most popular traders on the platform.
With reasonable spread prices and a low minimum trade, it’s a good place to start able to trade cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin for traders. If you want to trade more securities, you could also check out Robinhood, which lets you trade stocks and options for free. Or, if you want a full-service online broker, you can check out Interactive Brokers, which lets you trade almost anything on public markets.
Best for
- Trading in cryptocurrency
- watching what other traders do
- Investing in society
CopyTrader features
One of the coolest things about eToro is that you can instantly copy the trades of some of the broker’s best traders. With CopyTrader, you can choose the traders you want to copy and then copy their trades immediately.
CopyTrader shows you how much money other traders in the program have made in the past year, so you can choose who to follow. If you’re not ready to copy their trades, you can still keep up with them on their social feed, see how they did last month, and look at what they own.
It combines social media and cryptocurrency trading to help traders connect. CopyTrader doesn’t cost anything additional, and as part of eToro’s Popular Investor Program, it pays money to the best traders. So that clients can sign up, get followers, and make more money while they trade.
Virtual trading
If you’re new to trading crypto and want to try it out before going all in, eToro lets you set up a simulated account and make trading with $100,000 in fake money. You can trade as if you were doing the real thing by quickly switching to virtual trading. It’s a good add-on that should make it easier for new investors to get started and find their way around the site.
Pros: eToro best features
Spread prices
Like Robinhood, eToro makes money from the difference between the bid and ask prices, like other brokers that advertise commission-free trading. That is, it adds a layer of cost, so the financial action you have seen on your eToro screen may differ from the prices you see in the market.
This is a relatively common way to cost currency trades, and many crypto brokers are also using it. So, brokers may say they don’t charge commissions, but they’re still getting paid in some other way.
The broker is doing a good job of making its spread prices clear. For Bitcoin, the spread starts at 0.75 percent. But eToro is different from other crypto brokers in a key way: it only charges the spread when you buy, not when you sell, so you don’t get hit both ways on a trade.
Those prices are better than those at some brokers, like Coinbase, which takes at least 1.99% of each trade, and the fees can be even higher for trades with smaller amounts of money. Prices go up from there at eToro, though. Common cryptocurrencies like Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum cost 1.9 percent. At eToro, the most expensive type of crypto costs 4.5 percent.
Even though eToro’s spreads aren’t too bad, when compared to the tight pricing of stocks, the spread sticker prices on crypto trading are huge. Major online brokers don’t charge spread markups or commissions to stock traders. You might require to look into some of the best brokers to trade cryptocurrency.
Account minimum
If you are new to trading cryptocurrency, it won’t take much to get started at eToro. At least $50 must be in your first deposit. You’ll need to exchange at least $25 per transaction to get into the game.
So, eToro can be used by any trader who wants to start trading cryptocurrencies. Still, the broker will start charging you a $10-per-month EFTPOS card if you don’t log in to your account at least once every 12 months. Don’t forget your account if you have money in it.
Cons: Areas where eToro could do better
Tradable securities
If you’re an American and you want to trade something other than cryptocurrency on eToro, you’re out of luck. While traders outside of the U.S. can trade stocks without paying a commission, Americans can only trade cryptocurrencies, but there are 15.
You’ll be able to use 15 of the most popular cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, and more. Traders on Robinhood, a competitor, can only access seven cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, which is the most popular. So if you want something other than crypto, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
Trading platform
A typical broker might have a well-developed trading platform with many tools and charts to help analyze the price action and predict where the security might trade. Or, you could put in an order from the platform, which would put your trade on the market immediately.
But that’s not the case with eToro, where everything is simple and maybe a bit too much like a game. At eToro, the platform for trading is mostly made up of 15 buttons, one for each cryptocurrency, that you can hit when you’re ready to trade. You can quickly enter the value of your trade-in dollars, and your order will then be sent to the market.
So it’s very easy to understand at this level. But if you click somewhere else on the tab for each cryptocurrency, you’ll be taken to its social media feed and can look at charts and other information that may help you decide how you want to trade. This trading platform is very different from those of other full-service brokers, like Interactive Brokers, and even those of other brokers, like Webull, that allow crypto trading.
Helping customers
Even though eToro’s website says that customer service is open 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday, you shouldn’t be surprised if it takes much longer than that to answer your urgent question. You can use live chat for the most important questions. For others, you may need to open a service ticket, and It may take us up to 14 days to get back to you.
When business moves quickly, that will seem like a long time. While you wait for your official answer, a help page answers the most common questions. Like other new finance apps, this one doesn’t put customer service first. But you should know that before you go, you don’t expect full service.
Various types of accounts
At eToro, you don’t invest for the long term. Instead, you trade cryptocurrencies. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that the broker only offers a taxable account for an individual. There were no IRAs, joint accounts, custodial accounts, or any other type of account. This won’t be a deal-breaker for people who only care about what eToro guarantees, but it does mean that eToro isn’t right for many other investors.
