What is eToro?

Popular social investment platform eToro is best known for its innovative offerings like OpenBook and CopyTrader. In 2014, eToro started offering Bitcoin trading and soon listed some more cryptocurrencies. Today, the platform has 40+ cryptocurrencies available for trading and a crypto wallet. 

For investors, eToro is a popular name and the company has been around for quite a few years. The platform became popular around 2010 when it launched its famous CopyTrader feature. With this, users could automatically copy the trade of the best-performing trader.

Along with crypto trading, eToro offers stocks, forex, and a multitude of other financial services. Users can access these services on the official website or download the user-friendly app on their phones. 

For beginners, the eToro Academy is quite good. Learners can find full-fledged courses on trading, crypto, and more. There are webinars, podcasts, articles, and many resources that aid learning. eToro also lets users create a virtual demo portfolio with a $100,000 demo credit. 

• eToro offers over 40 cryptocurrencies for trading to more than 27 million users worldwide. All their offerings are available on the website as well as the mobile app. 
• Along with crypto trading, eToro offers forex, stocks, and several other financial services.
• eToro has an extremely resourceful academy. Learners can access articles, courses, tutorials, webinars, and much more. The platform also offers a demo account with $100,000 to try virtual trading without risking real money.

Note: In the US, eToro can be accessed only in 43 states. Further, the platform offers limited services in the country.

eToro Company Overview

In 2007, eToro started off as RetailFX in Tel Aviv, Israel. Brothers Yoni Assia and Ronen Assia and David Ring founded the company. Initially, RetailFX offered forex trading. 

It was in 2014 that eToro introduced Bitcoin trading, and then eventually, the platform listed ETH and Ripple. But it would be four years until eToro fully entered the crypto market. In 2018, eToro rolled out the eToro Money crypto wallet and eToroX.

The platform also runs a non-profit called GoodDollar. The open-sourced community project aims to reduce income inequality using DeFi technology on blockchain. By 2021, eToro had a $1 million stake in the project.

eToro has plans to go public through a reverse subsidiary merger with FTCV (FinTech Acquisition Corp V). It’s a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) backed by Betsy Z. Cohen, the former CEO at Bancorp. eToro’s SPAC valuation was $10.4 billion. As of 2022, due to market fluctuations and SPAC issues, eToro’s valuation has decreased to $8.8 billion.

Note: eToro DOES NOT offer its services in many countries. To see whether eToro is available in your region or not, check out this list. 

How eToro Works

Before eToro introduced crypto, it was an already well-established investment platform. Since 2014, the platform has actively expanded its crypto segment.

In the context of cryptocurrency, here’s what traders can do with an eToro account:

• Buy and sell over 40 cryptocurrencies
• Trade cryptocurrencies with advanced order types
• Use eToroX, the professional platform
• Use eToro Money crypto wallet

How to Sign Up on eToro

To use trading and investment services on eToro, you need to open an account. Here’s a quick rundown of the entire process:

• Visit the official eToro website or download the mobile app
• Click on the “Join Now” or “Trade Now” button
• Fill in all the required details like name, email, and more
• Check the terms and conditions before signing up
• For verification, you might be asked to provide proof of identity and address

eToro Review: Pros and Cons

To determine whether eToro is the right crypto trading exchange for you, let’s weigh the pros and cons.

eToro Pros

• Innovative features

eToro is famous for its innovative features like CopyTrader. This feature automatically copies the trades of successful traders to users’ profiles. Traders can follow their favorite traders and copy their strategies. Further, eToro is more of a community where traders can interact with each other. 

• Resourceful academy

As mentioned earlier, eToro has a vast and resourceful academy. Learners can take courses on trading, crypto, and more. There are useful articles, videos, webinars, and even podcasts to help learners grasp all the concepts. eToro also offers a demo account for new traders and lets them trade hands-on without risking real money. 

• Great track record

So far, eToro has had an almost flawless record. The exchange was never hacked, and nor did it have any major security breaches. As it has been providing services since 2007, eToro is a familiar name with many investors. 

eToro Cons

• Supports limited coins

eToro supports over 40 coins, including most of the popular coins. However, its competitors like Binance and Coinbase have a longer list of supported coins. Nonetheless, eToro frequently updates its list of support coins. Make sure to check it out before signing up.

eToro Supported Cryptocurrencies

While eToro doesn’t have a wide selection of cryptocurrencies and digital assets, it features a decent collection. Traders get access to over 40 coins, which includes most of the major coins. 

Here are some of the coins available on eToro:

• Bitcoin (BTC)
• Ethereum (ETH)
• Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
• Dash (DASH)
• Litecoin (LTC)
• Ethereum Classic (ETC)
• Cardano (ADA)
• IOTA (MIOTA)
• Stellar (XLM)
• EOS (EOS)
• NEO (NEO)
• TRON (TRX)
• Zcash (ZEC)
• Binance Coin (BNB)
• Tezos (XTZ)
• Uni (UNI)

For the full list of supported cryptocurrencies available on eToro, you can check their official website right here. 

eToro Fees

For buying and selling crypto assets, eToro charges a straightforward 1% fee. This 1% fee gets added when you close or open a position. 

Meanwhile, on eToroX, traders are charged a 5bps taker and a maker fee. Further, eToroX has an inverted maker-taker model. The official website does not provide a fee schedule. For more details, you have to get in touch with customer support. 

Note: In a forex trade, bps is short for basis point, and 1bps equals 0.01%. So 5bps is equal to 0.05%. 

eToro Deposit Methods

eToro supports several fiat currencies, which include USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, SEK, DKK, NOK, PLN, and CZK.

The platform lets users deposit funds into their accounts in a multitude of ways. Here’s how you can deposit funds:

• eToro Money
• Credit and Debit cards
• PayPal
• Neteller
• Skrill
• Rapid Transfer
• Klarna
• iDeal
• Online banking
• Trustly
• Bank Transfer
• POLi
• Przelewy 24

Please note that the availability of funding options might vary from region to region. To learn what options are available in your region, check eToro’s FAQs page. Further, be mindful of the fees that you might incur while using any of the methods mentioned above.

eToro Trading Services Offered

Trade view

Both eToro and eToroX have a clean and uncluttered interface for trading. As you can see, eToro is more suited to new and casual traders. Meanwhile, eToroX has a more advanced trade view. 

• eToro

• eToroX

Spot trading

For spot trading, you get advanced tools, charts, and multiple order types for spot trading. Traders can place and execute market, limit, stop-loss, and trailing stop orders. 

Other Features and Services Offered by eToro

Traders can do more than just trade. eToro offers a multitude of features and services that come in handy while trading.

CopyTrading

As mentioned earlier, CopyTrading lets you copy the moves of traders who are in profit. Traders can copy whichever trader they want in real-time and with just a few clicks.

eToro Money Crypto Wallet

With eToro Money Crypto Wallet, users can buy crypto and even exchange coins. The app can also be used to send and receive digital assets. 

eToroX

For active and expert traders, eToro offers eToroX. The platform has lower trading fees and a credit line. eToroX was designed for high-volume traders, day traders, algo traders, and institutional traders. 

Apart from this, as eToro is a social investment platform, it collects market sentiment data. The platform calculates sentiment from tweets and feeds available in the eToro ecosystem. In-house data also provides some valuable insights.

To learn about all features and products offered by eToro, you can visit their official website. 

eToro security

To begin with, eToro is a reputable company that has been active in the investment sector since 2007. So far, eToro has not faced any major security breaches or hacks. Further, the platform is regulated by several authorities in different regions. 

This includes:

• Cyprus Securities Exchange Commission (CySEC)
• Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
• Financial Services Authority Seychelles ("FSAS")

As far as the security of digital assets is concerned, eToro stores most of them in the cold storage system. The platform has employed the services of GK8, a famous cybersecurity firm. 

User Account Security at eToro

Users can secure their eToro account with two-factor authentication, however, eToro has not made it mandatory. While opening an account, traders are asked to verify themselves. 

eToro Alternatives: eToro vs Coinbase, Robinhood, and Webull

eToro often gets compared to Coinbase, Robinhood, and Webull. To get a better idea about which exchange is suitable for you, here’s a quick overview of all the exchanges. 

• Coinbase - If you want basic trading, then Coinbase’s primary platform might suit you better. As you gain experience in trading, you can switch to Coinbase Pro. The exchange has more than 150 coins listed for trading. 
• Robinhood - Robinhood charges zero fees for trading. This is a great alternative for people who want to trade in stocks and dabble a little in crypto. Robinhood has seven coins listed for trading.
• Webull - Webull is a relatively new kid on the block. It was formed in 2017 and it offers crypto trading as a part of its wider offering. The platform currently offers trading for 44 coins.

eToro customer satisfaction

eToro is one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges by market presence.  

In our 2022 study into the best crypto exchanges, eToro places third in total traffic.  

However, unlike other top market presence crypto exchanges, eToro doesn’t seem ot have been able to translate that to their trading volume.  

They don’t rank in the top 10 by trading volume. 

This is likely because eToro isn’t purely a crypto exchange. They offer many other trading services for more traditional assets. 

As a result, they’ll receive a lot of traffic from users interested in traditional stocks rather than cryptocurrencies. 

However, they are still doing very well and, for beginner crypto investors, might have the features required.