eToro was founded in 2008, and is based in Cyprus, Israel, UK, China and Russia.
In a nutshell
- Instrument Classes (CFDs): Forex, Commodities, Indicies, Stocks, ETFs, Bitcoin
- Max Leverage: 1×400
- Scalping: Allowed
- Spreads: From 2p
- Minimum deposit: $50
- Regulation: CySec (Europe), FCA (UK).
- Support options: Live Chat, email, phone (24/5)
- Payment options: Credit and Debit Cards, PayPal, Neteller, Union Pay, Skrill, GiroPay, WebMoney, Yandex, Qiwi, Wire Transfer
Trading Conditions
- Leverage: Flexible up to 1×400
- Scalping: Allowed
- Trailing Stops: Yes (only for manual trades)
- Spreads: Variable, min 2 pips
- Minimum Stop Loss/Take Profit: 0.5% of position size
- Rollover: Yes
eToro is not the cheapest of brokers and their spreads grow quite significant on rarer currency pairs, however trade execution is quite seamless and overall the experience of trading with this broker is overwhelmingly positive. The flexibility of a large range of leverages make it suitable for most types of traders, and even hardcore scalpers may be willing to overlook eToro’s spreads thanks to fast execution times and a very handy one-click-trading mode. Other benefits include relevant and on-the-button news alerts via the social newsfeed, and a no-commision purchase of non-leveraged stocks. If there is one caveat is that eToro has different leverage limitations on different instruments, even within the same asset class. So for example, while the max leverage on EUR/USD is currently 1×400, the max leverage on EUR/CHF is only 1×25. These different limitations seem almost random, so make sure to check the leverage limits on the instrument you want to trade in advance.
Instruments
- Number of currency pairings: 42 (including a number of exotic pairings).
- Other instruments: Commodities, Indices, Stocks, ETFs, Bitcoi
The currency pair selection at eToro is rather standard, with the exception of a few slightly rarer additions such as the Turkish Lira and the Singapore dollar. However, unlike many FX brokers, eToro offers quite a wide selection of other instruments in other asset classes. Their commodities range goes beyond the standard gold, silver and oil to include gas as well as other precious metals such as palladium. The addition of ETFs to the instrument selection is also a nice touch and a rare find in the Forex industry. A particularly impressive advantage is eToro’s stock selection, consisting of over 800 stocks.
CopyTrading
eToro is known for inventing the CopyTrading concept. You can follow other traders who are trading with eToro, and simply auto-copy their actions. You can choose whether to follow one specific trader, or a bundle of them, and you can choose how much of your budget will be allocated to copying. This 3,000 word review explains this topic in detail. Here is a live feed of the top traders:
Customer Service
- Contact Methods: Phone, Live Chat and Email.
- Telephone Numbers: Cyprus and UK numbers
- Support Available In: English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Chinese, Arabic and Russian
eToro’s Customer Support seems to be overall friendly and professional, and it is also nice to have such a wide variety of language options. The most effective method of resolving any issues seems to be via Live Chat or by phone. The addition of a support option via the eToro social network on the “Customer Service Wall” seems a touch superfluous as it seems to be just a public version of the kind of support you can get via email. If you have a complex complaint, eToro has quite a lengthy complaint procedure put in place with a ticketing system, however on the whole they tend to be quite fair and err on the side of compensation.
Regulation
- Regulated: By CySec (Europe), FCA (UK), ASIC (Australia, Asia Pacific)
- MiFID Regulated: Yes
- Can accept US traders: No
- Regulatory Record: Clear
eToro Europe LTD. is regulated by the CySec authority in Cyprus which means that the brokerage is MiFID regulated. This ensures a minimum standard of financial regulation as set out by the European Union. Any UK traders at eToro trade under eToro UK LTD, which is a subsidiary of eToro and is regulated by the UK’s FCA.
