eToro is primarily a CFD and forex broker. However, you can also trade real stocks, ETFs and various cryptos. eToro also has some unique features, such as social trading (CopyTrader) and Smart Portfolios (previously called CopyPortfolios).
If you reside in the United States, you can trade stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptocurrencies.
All non-leveraged long positions in stocks, ETFs and cryptocurrencies are traded as real assets. This means that when you buy these assets without any leverage (i.e. leverage is set to one), you will buy real stocks, ETFs and cryptos and not CFDs.
All other positions are CFDs:
- leveraged long positions and all short positions in stocks, ETFs and cryptos
- all positions of forex, commodities and indices
So, does that mean that eToro acts like a traditional stockbroker just with zero commission when you buy stocks? The answer is no, there are some differences.
For example, it is not possible to initiate a stock transfer between eToro and another brokerage (or vice versa). This means that all positions that are opened with eToro must be closed with eToro.
eToro customers holding a ‘real’ US stock position (where they are investing in the underlying asset) are eligible to participate in the company's shareholders' meeting and vote. However, owners of fractional shares won’t have voting rights.
When there is a company meeting, eToro arranges electronic proxy voting. This means that when shareholder actions are required, eToro sends an email to the eligible customers with information on the upcoming vote, including the items to be voted on, the voting deadline, the link to join the meeting virtually, and the voting website.
We do not recommend eToro for long-term investors focusing on collecting dividends from US stocks. This is because eToro deducts the 30% default US dividend tax, rather than the – usually lower – tax treaty rate deducted by most other brokers. Instead, we suggest you check out the best discount brokers.
All of the above seem to suggest that while eToro is great for stock traders, for long-term investors it might not be the best choice. We're not sure how eToro would handle corporate events (e.g. a spin-off).
Let's pivot to eToro's CFD offering. Within CFDs, in addition to the traditional way of trading, you can
- follow and copy other traders' trading (this is CopyTrader, also called social trading)
- invest in a compiled portfolio (this is Smart Portfolios)
To learn more about CFDs, read our CFD trading tips.
Note that scalping is not allowed at eToro.
eToro product selection
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52
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179
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70
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20
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35
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33
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2,000
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1,530
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2,022
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264
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28
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167
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32
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28
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27
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-
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-
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-
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74
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-
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40
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Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 76% 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.
You can change the default leverage of the products.
Changing the leverage manually is a very useful feature when you want to lower the risk of a trade. For example, instead of trading with 5:1 leverage, trading with only 2:1 leverage in the case of stock CFDs reduces your risk exposure significantly. Be careful with forex and CFD trading, since the pre-set leverage levels are high.
If you buy stocks or ETFs without leverage, you are buying the real asset, not a CFD. Usually, this feature is not offered by other CFD and forex brokers.
Note that if you're going short (selling a stock that you don't already have), you're always trading a CFD.
At eToro, you have access to the following stock exchanges:
- Amsterdam
- NYSE
- Nasdaq
- Euronext Brussels
- Euronext Lisbon
- Frankfurt
- London
- Paris
- Madrid
- Milan
- Zurich
- Oslo
- Stockholm
- Copenhagen
- Helsinki
- Hong Kong
- Saudi Arabia
However, you can only trade the more popular stocks. For example, the number of tradable stocks on the Nasdaq with eToro is currently less than 700, which is only around 20% of the listed companies on the Nasdaq exchange.
Why would this matter to you? If you only trade the most popular stocks, like Microsoft or Apple, you probably won't notice the lack of smaller stocks. eToro will, from time to time, make new stocks available for trading, usually in a batch.
For example, eToro added 185 new stocks on March 30 2020 in the beginning of the Covid pandemic, among them a very trending one called Zoom Technologies. However, if you had to wait for eToro to add the stock, you missed the early rally in the stock.
Interest on uninvested cash
eToro pays up to 5.3% interest on uninvested USD. The rate that you will receive is determined by your total balance required. As of December 17, 2023 the following rates applied:
Total balance required |
$250,000 |
$50,000 |
$25,000 |
$10,000 |
|
Annual interest rate |
5.3% |
5% |
2.4% |
2% |
eToro has two distinctive innovations, CopyTrader and Smart Portfolios.
CopyTrader is the so-called social trading feature. What is eToro really good at? Well, this is it! One by one you can copy the portfolio of traders who also trade on eToro. This might be of interest for those who don't want to manage their own money. You can browse through the profiles of other eToro traders, checking their previous performance on an annual and a monthly level. Their portfolio is public information.
Additionally, eToro also applies a risk score to each trader. There are tons of additional stats for each profile, like trades per week, average holding time, performance on charts, and you can also see their detailed profiles as well as their news feed comments. Imagine Facebook profiles, but with fewer inspirational and more market quotes.
The minimum amount you can invest in one trade is $200. While there is no extra fee for this service, spreads and overnight fees may be applied according to each opened copied position.
Disclaimer: Past performance is not an indication of future results. Trading history presented is less than 5 complete years and may not suffice as basis for investment decision.
Copy trading is a portfolio management service, provided by eToro (Europe) Ltd., which is authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.
Previously called CopyPortfolios, Smart Portfolios are a grouping of several assets, such as stocks, cryptocurrencies, ETFs, and even people, bundled together based on a predetermined theme or strategy.
- Investing in themes means, for example, investing in a portfolio of Future Payment systems, DroneTech, Renewable energy or cryptocurrencies. The Crypto Portfolio, for instance, consists of the biggest cryptocurrencies, weighted by market cap.
- Another way to invest via Smart Portfolios is to invest in a portfolio comprised of multiple "star" traders.
Disclaimer: Past performance is not an indication of future results. Trading history presented is less than 5 complete years and may not suffice as basis for investment decision.
The proportion of CFDs in the specific Smart Portfolio is clearly indicated. You can check performance and asset distribution, and read the investment strategy. Smart Portfolios are built around a theme by eToro's algorithms (using machine learning and data science) or by eToro external partners.
This might all sound a bit complicated, but at the end of the day, this means you can invest easily in a quasi-fund. The minimum amount required to invest in Thematic Market and Partner Portfolios is $500, while for Top Trader Portfolios, the minimum is $5,000. eToro also checks your financial knowledge to determine whether Smart Portfolios is right for you.
Not only does eToro offer 74 different coins to trade, but you also have the option to trade 14 crypto crosses (like ETH/BTC) and 63 non-USD currency crosses (like LTC/AUD).
eToro offers the following methods to trade and own cryptocurrencies: Crypto CFDs, Spot crypto and Crypto wallet.
However, not every method is available in every country. For example, UK residents don't have access to Crypto CFDs.
The general rule of thumb with eToro is that when you go long in any virtual currency, you will own the real coin. When you go short, it is a CFD.
However, there are some country-specific rules as discussed above. For example, as a US resident, you can only go long on the real coin; trading CFDs and therefore going short on cryptocurrencies is not allowed.
Cryptocurrency prices can fluctuate widely and are therefore not appropriate for all investors. Trading cryptocurrencies is not supervised by any EU regulatory framework, such as MiFID. Therefore, when using eToro's Cryptocurrencies Trading Service you are not eligible for any investor protection.
Disclaimer: Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more!
You can trade a wide variety of cryptocurrencies on eToro. Along with STORJ, BAL, GALA and LRC, traders have access to BTC, ETH, BCH, LTC, XRP, DASH, ETC, ADA, XLM, EOS, NEO, TRON, ZEC, BNB, XTZ, MIOTA, LINK, UNI and DOGE. Check the table below for a detailed breakdown and some other minor virtual currencies.
See also our detailed guide on how to buy Bitcoin on eToro.
eToro cryptocurrency selection
Cryptos as real assets (for non-US residents) |
Cryptos as CFDs (for non-US residents) |
Cryptos as real assets (for US residents) |
AAVE |
ADA |
AAVE |
ADA |
BCH |
ADA |
ALGO |
BNB |
ALGO |
BAL |
BTC |
BAT |
BAT |
DASH |
BCH |
BCH |
DOGE |
BTC |
BNB |
|
COMP |
BTC |
ETC |
DASH |
COMP |
|
|
DASH |
ETH |
DOGE |
DOGE |
LINK |
EOS |
EOS |
LTC |
ETC |
ETC |
MIOTA |
Ethereum |
ETH |
NEO |
LINK |
GALA |
|
|
LINK |
TRX |
LTC |
LRC |
|
|
LTC |
UNI |
MANA |
MANA |
XLM |
MATIC |
MATIC |
XRP |
MIOTA |
MIOTA |
XTZ |
NEO |
NEO |
ZEC |
TRX |
STORJ |
|
|
TRX |
|
UNI |
UNI |
|
XLM |
XLM |
|
XTZ |
XRP |
|
YFI |
XTZ |
|
ZEC |
YFI |
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|
ZEC |
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To dig deeper, read eToro's CFD description. We would also recommend reading our article on how to invest in Bitcoin.