eToro Review – new minimum deposit & full pros/cons ’23

Is eToro a trusted broker or scam risk?

Our eToro review first must address whether eToro is a scam or a trusted broker platform before we will move forward with any detail.

Put simply, eToro is highly regulated across multiple jurisdictions including various Tier-1 regulators. eToro have FCA, CySEC, ASIC, MiFiD and FinCEN regulation and are not considered to be a scam risk.

You can see in our Etoro review scorecard an array of Tier 1 regulations across the globe (including the US) but this review is NOT relevant for the US arm of eToro or US traders. We will cover eToro US separately.

Having launched in 2007 as a social trading pioneer, eToro have been very dynamic in adding new products to their arsenal and now boast offerings for forex, CFDs, cryptocurrencies (both with and without leverage), stocks and social trading.

As a multi-award winner with millions of users, you will find yourself in good company at eToro, a broker you can trust. It is also good to see that from a wide range of user reviews on TrustPilot, eToro continue to perform well. This can be more and more difficult as a broker or trading platform adds the volume of new users that this one has been attracting but the vast majority of reviews for eToro are still coming out positive.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

OVERALL RATING	4.5 out of 5.0 stars4.5
COSTS TO TRADE	3.5 out of 5.0 stars3.5
TRADING PLATFORM	4.4 out of 5.0 stars4.4
TRADING APP	4.7 out of 5.0 stars4.7
PAYMENT METHODS	4.7 out of 5.0 stars4.7
DEMO ACCOUNT	5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0
ACCOUNT TYPES	3.5 out of 5.0 stars3.5
BONUS/OFFERS	N/A
CUSTOMER SUPPORT	4.5 out of 5.0 stars4.5

eToro Minimum Deposit – is it $50, or $200?

The minimum deposit offered by eToro is usually $200 (or 200 of your chosen account currency). Therefore the net amount of the minimum required has a slight variation depending on whether you choose to operate your account in USD, GBP or EUR. There have been some recent adjustments to this after the latest eToro review, and now many users can open a funded eToro account with as little as $50. This will vary based on the country you are based in.

If you are considering trading Bitcoin, whilst the eToro minimum deposit does not change officially, due to current value of BTC and the minimum increment you can buy via eToro (0.01BTC), you will effectively need around $500 as a deposit amount to get started.

Whilst $500 would then be the realistic eToro minimum deposit to make a BTC trade, with other assets you should not encounter any difficulties if you would like to start with the actual minimum which now stands at $50 (or $200 depending on your Country of domicile).

There are periods where the eToro minimum deposit does change, such as when there are massive spikes in interest as we have seen a couple of times in 2021, but not so far in 2022.

During these periods, to ensure quality of customer service for the full client base, the eToro minimum deposit has risen to $1000 for around 4-5 days. Once the volatility spikes are eased and the customer services team re able to manage the new client flow, they will revert the level back to the normal range for your country, which could be $50, or $200.

Is eToro Minimum deposit really the effective minimum you need to trade?

There are varying minimum deposit or balances needed to follow Copytrading portfolios, but these do not change the actual requirement set by eToro. $200 seems to be a very sensible level of minimum deposit based on the fact that you will need some equity there in order to actually make a trade but if you would like to trade via demo account, you can indeed do this without any deposit.

Whist some other brokers and trading platforms do offer $1 minimum deposit, the minimum trade sizes are often higher than $1, effectively making the deposit and account itself inoperable. It is just a means to have a fully fledged and approved trading account before needing to re-deposit.

If you are intending to trade with margin especially, with eToro a minimum deposit of $200 would feel like the actual minimum needed to operate the account based on the trading sizes you can execute. Otherwise you potentially run the risk of not being able to meet margin requirements. We have put together a guide to minimum deposits needed for trading here in case you are looking for more detail.

Review of eToro costs to trade

Spreads
eToro EUR/USD spreads are a little on the high side (typical starting point of 3 pips) compared to other brokers but this will not detract people who are attracted to the platform as we can see from the 10,000,000+ traders who are now registered with eToro. If you are trading forex only then there are more competitive price options when it comes to spreads.

eToro have recently undertaken a review of their forex spreads and are currently launching a new fees profile which is far more attractive. EUR/USD spreads are being brought down to 1 pip which represents a massive 67% reduction from previous. More to come on this as the full information comes to light from eToro.

Trading Commissions

eToro have recently launched commission free stock trading within the EU, and Australia based regulated entities. This applies when trading on eToro for non leveraged trades. This is a great feature for those used to stock brokers charging a set commission or fee per trade. With more traditional stocks only brokers in the past, the fee per stock trade could range from anywhere from £9.50 as a set amount, to a percentage of the trade value being made. The eToro model therefore has a potential to bring some great savings on non leveraged stocks.

Costs to trade major cryptocurrencies can start at 1.5% for Bitcoin and increase for some of the more minor players in the sector.

Other Broker Fees

Overnight fees apply to long positions with leverage and will vary depending on whether a weekday or weekend. If you are trading long without leverage on eToro no overnights apply.

There is a withdrawal fee when you do decide to cash out here which is not ideal and if you are planning on a long period of inactivity (more than 12 months) you will start to incur inactivity fees.

On the plus side, the withdrawal fee was decreased during the middle of 2020 down from $25 to $5 so the powers that be at eToro have had a review and obviously looked to put customer interests ahead of profit on that one. In 2022, eToro fee structure is looking better than ever.

Cost Summary
Whilst eToro is not the cheapest overall, if you are planning on trading a variety of products and staying active then the convenience of having the capacity to do that on one trusted platform can go some way towards making that cost worthwhile… It is yet to be seen what the full extent of the fee changes will be so until then, eToro have a great all round package and sometimes you do really get what you pay for!

eToro costs rating – 3.0 out of 5.0 stars3.0

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eToro Trading Platform Review

eToro has its’ own proprietary trading platform which has been designed to make things as user friendly as possible whether you are trading on desktop, mobile or tablet.

The ease of navigation alongside some really interesting features are clear wins here but let’s delve a little deeper into some of what makes eToro an award winner.

As you can see above, it is really easy to create watch-lists for your targeted markets and this will give you a clear visual on not only current price movements but also sentiment which is really useful.

Although our articles are written in English, we fully appreciate that other people like to have their trading experience in other languages and having a platform with multiple language support options such as eToro is absolutely vital for international expansion.

The languages eToro support include quite a vast array including German, Spanish, Italian, Malay, Chinese (Mandarin), French and a considerable number of others. The exception however is if you are in America, in which case eToro US is currently only available in English.

eToro CopyPortfolios

Market Portfolio ETF

As a recent example, eToro have offered a ‘market portfolio’ which composes a list of the companies involved in Facebook Libra project which gives traders a chance to follow the performance of these companies through a given period.

As you can see below, the eToro CopyPortfolio overview will show you the name of the trader and the products within the portfolio alongside performance metrics and risk level.

With the Copytrading portfolios being so useful and easy to use you my be surprised to know that there is no commission for following another trader. In fact eToro even share their own ‘spreads’ with the traders who are having users follow them so there is an interest in being the best to encourage more users to join.

If you are looking to put the final touches to your own trading strategies, following a few top performers for a while and monitoring their trades would be a great way to add the polish.

Platform Summary

eToro’s platform offers up a really balanced offering with support for almost all devices. Whilst it may be short in some areas, we really like the simplicity of the eToro platform as it follows the eToro mantra of trying to make trading accessible to all.

eToro Platform rating –4.4 out of 5.0 stars4.4

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eToro app Review

eToro is full of additional App based features

Alerts and push notifications are fast becoming essential tools to the trader on the go and eToro does not disappoint here. Market events, price alerts and account issues are just some of the alerts that can be set to ensure you are never out of sync with your trades whilst not at your desk.

The fact that you can also still utilise all the features of eToro CopyPortfolio and ease your way into trading with a demo account on app is testament to their investment in delivering a platform that the user wants.

eToro apps have been around now since 2012 so they have had quite some time to optimise and perfect the experience for the user. This experience and longevity shows positively in what is becoming a more competitive environment. With a very clear and large viewing area and full trading history available, you needn’t be concerned about choosing eToro as your broker of choice – the experience on the app is great and the order entry system is the very same as that on desktop.

Despite being an older hand in app terms eToro still holds its’ place towards the very top of the list for trading away from your desk.

eToro app rating – 4.7 out of 5.0 stars4.7

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Review of eToro payment methods

eToro fair pretty well with most of the common preferred payment options, providing alternatives for each of the different types of traders they would expect to onboard from each region they operate.

As a global broker, eToro’s offering for payment methods needs to be larger than those which are more localised and this should be seen as a distinct advantage in this era of globalisation and flexible borders.

You will find below a list of the different options that eToro will accept and the respective values allowed for each. All deposits are triggered instantly with the exeption of wire transfers which can take between 4-7 days depending on the Country of origin.

What payment methods can I use to deposit with eToro?

Supported credit or debit cards include Visa, MasterCard, Diners, Visa Electron and Maestro. Online payment options with eToro include Paypal, Neteller, Skrill, Rapid Transfer, Sofort/Klarna (for specific EU countries), Union Pay (for Chinese residents) and wire transfers.

Account deposits are typically accepted in EUR/USD/GBP & AUD. There are a growing number of additional currency deposits available in a variety of Asian currencies. These include CNY, MYR,IDR THB,PHP and VND.

It should be said then that eToro are catering for the masses and there are very few major payment methods that you will not find supported.

Overall a great offering from eToro here,

eToro Payment Method Rating – 4.7 out of 5.0 stars4.7

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eToro demo account

We tested the demo environment for this eToro review and it is all we remember it to be and more from years gone by. It is easy to toggle between ‘virtual” and ‘real’ in the main screen of the platform and app, so you can continue to trade virtually alongside your real account should you wish.

The demo offering with eToro is as strong as the real trading platform and is unlimited in nature. There are also a whole host of support tolls you can access on demo which really set eToro apart in this field.

eToro are widely regarded as having one of the best demo environments around. They have continued to focus on this despite the massive growth the company has gone through over the past years.

View eToro Copyportfolios on demo either on desktop or mobile

Copytrading, Cryptocurrencies, Forex and Stocks can all be tested on the demo account with eToro to ensure you are fully aware of the nuances before depositing your hard earned cash.

If you are looking to test this broker before depositing, we have no hesitation in suggesting you open a demo account and get going. It should take all of about 30 seconds to setup and get a view of the platform.

You can test the demo environment on on the eToro app on iOS or Android aswell as desktop version at your preference.

How to make a trade with eToro

Seeing as we touch on how easy it is to execute a trade with eToro during this review, we will run through the simple steps required to use the demo platform, and a couple of the differences in option selects.

1. Go to ‘Trade Markets’ In the menu.
2. Find the instrument you are interested to trade or buy.
3. Press the price on the right hand side to buy, or the left hand side to sell.
4. Set a number of units OR a specific mount that you would like to trade.
5. [IMPORTANT] Pay close attention to the leverage box on the trade screen (shown in the middle of the example below). If the trade is a ‘buy’ and set to x1 leverage, you should see text indicating that you are buying the underlying asset. If you are executing a ‘sell’ (when you do not already hold stock) or a short trade, then that will automatically be set as a CFD trade. Similarly if you set the leverage to anything other than x1, you will not be buying the underlying asset but executing a CFD trade with eToro.
6. You have the option here during your trade with eToro to set up a stop loss (as seen to the left of the leverage), or an automatic sell order once your profit has reached a certain threshold.
7. Once you are done setting your stops, simply click the set order button and confirm the trade once you are sure it is set as you intended.

So as you can see, executing your first trade with eToro is quite straight forward process and the demo account (or virtual account as eToro call it) is the perfect place to test that out for yourself.

eToro Demo Account Rating –5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0

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eToro account types

The account types at eToro in a traditional sense are only two-fold, the retail and the professional level account. What eToro do well is cater to the retail market and multi-asset traders aswell as anyone else but there are no fancy named account types to choose from.

Should that put you off? no. Traders use eToro for its’ simplicity and its variety and this is where we can take this look at account types in a slightly different direction.

If you are not EU domiciled then you have a choice over which regulated arm of eToro you engage with which provides some additional variety in and of itself.

If you are trading under the ASIC licence of eToro, you will find leverage has also recently been pegged to the same levels as those found across the European regulators.

There are some options in terms of which entity you engage with but the account variety is limited in the traditional sense. For direct comparison purposes we are going to have to mark eToro with a low score in this section as there are not many different types of account to choose from.

eToro Account Types Rating – 3.5 out of 5.0 stars3.5

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eToro bonus/promotions

During this section of the eToro review we will look at the different bonuses and promotions offered but will not be rating any of the brokers on this criteria as the different regulators essentially dictate what a broker can and cant do in this instance.

eToro offer successful traders who have people Copying their accounts via the CopyPortfolios service the option to earn money via revenue sharing as a percentage (%) of the spread values charged on all follower accounts.

This can be a highly lucrative model if you are successful, and are considered a trading influencer, with a large following.

eToro offer a referral program for referring a friend in certain jurisdictions and have run various ‘Trading Challenges’ for traders from time to time. These have in the past allowed the most succesful traders to to earn a share of a $15000 prize pool.

There are no bonuses offered by eToro for opening a trading account at this time.

eToro customer support

eToro review their own customer support on a regular basis it seems and have added some additional functionality that is there to help. As a broker with offices stretching multiple timezones including USA, UK, Cyprus and Australia eToro are operating customer support around the clock.

The 24 hours a day Monday to Friday that eToro operate live-chat is as good as it gets when it comes to availability offerings. You can also choose to contact eToro on a variety of other mediums.

eToro UK, Australia, Cyprus, US

You can reach the London office of eToro by phone on +442038687213, their office in Australia on +61280169335, Cyprus on +35725262100 and eToro US on +18882718365.

If telephone is a little ‘old school’ for your liking, still to email or live chat and you will find eToro support agents to be helpful and considerate. Would be nice to see the addition of Whatsapp or Messenger support as a few other brokers are providing.

In terms of operating hours and customer satisfaction, eToro seem to have you covered!

eToro Customer Support Rating –4.5 out of 5.0 stars4.5

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eToro Review Summary

When considering the overall rating for this eToro review we have had to weigh up a few contrasting points.

eToro for us is built for the beginner but can service more experienced traders without issue, likely if you are prepared to use external charting software. This online broker has provided a really user-friendly trading platform, an app that is equally easy to use, and a social trading platform in eToro Copyportfolios that is difficult to equal.

Trading with an eToro Demo account until your heart is content, and ensuring you have mastered your trading strategy before using real funds is also not an issue as this is completely non time limited.

Still things to improve at eToro – a good sign of things to come

What can be improved with eToro? Put simply, trading conditions. Many believe that eToro could be offering slightly lower spreads to bring them in line with forex industry peers and eliminating completely their withdrawal fee (even if this has been recently reduced, it would be nice to be completely done away with).

Upon review, eToro have recently dropped major spreads from 3 pips, down to 1. This represents a big move change from the broker, and shows that they are aware that this was an area of improvement. It is nice to see a broker evaluate the customer proposition on a regular basis, but to be fair, it was a long while coming.

Whilst it may be difficult to continually reduce conditions and still offer the same extensive offering across the board, if eToro were to offer a bit more variety in trading accounts then they could find a way to give forex traders a different model of account to those who are trading CFDs on stocks, commodities or indices.

It would also be nice to see some more advanced charting functionality in the next eToro review, as some of the traders which likely entered the market with eToro during its’ earlier days may now be reaching the point where they would like a little more optionality on the detail side. Whilst it is not easy to cater to users of all types, this is something that could definitely help keep users engaged with the eToro platform long after their first trades.

Simplicity, Variety, and Something For Everyone At eToro

When all is said and done, millions still love the eToro trading platform, and the pure simplicity at which you can trade all assets under one roof.

The regulatory framework of eToro also allows users to onboard from almost all around the globe with the security and peace of mind that you are trading with a safe and trusted broker.

It seems as though there continues to be something for everyone on this online trading platform. The real stocks offer with no commissions is something which eToro is moving from market to market (having recently granted this to eToro Australia users also) and is a real plus point, as is the option to trade cryptocurrency with or without leverage.

If you are looking for a broker that keeps things simple, lets you trade almost all assets, and has a low minimum deposit to get started, this may be one to keep on your shortlist. If you would like to see something else in your trading platform or broker, consider some of the resources below.

67% 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.

If you are here looking for an eToro alternative See our best rated forex brokers UK & Australia.