eToro Review

Founded in 2007, eToro is a giant trading platform that supports commodities, cryptocurrencies, fiat currencies, indexes, and stocks. Well over 7 million people use eToro across the globe.

This operation is so big that they offer different services to specific countries and regions. eToro X, for example, allows certain countries to trade cryptocurrencies and many other stocks and commodities.

The international version, in contrast, deals in contracts for differences (CFDs) when it comes to cryptocurrencies. Therefore, you don’t actually own the crypto that you buy on the standard eToro site.

This exchange ranks well in terms of reputability when compared to the average cryptocurrency exchange. But as you’ll see below, eToro also has some notable downsides.

CopyTrader System

A very exciting and unique system that eToro offers is "CopyTrader". This means that any eToro user can opt in to copy the trades of the highest performing traders on the platform, immediately replicating their own trading decisions in your own portfolio.

This is a great system for beginners to use as although you do still have a risk of losing your money it is much less likely if you were to follow the trades of an experienced and knowledgeable trader.

eToro Mobile App

eToro offers all of its services, including buying and selling cryptocurrency, on its mobile app. The app also supports eToro's unique social trading platform and their trademarked "CopyTrader" system. You can find the eToro mobile app in the App Store or on Google Play.

Payment Methods

You can fund your trading account with a variety of methods at eToro. These options include:

• China Union Pay
• Credit cards
• Debit cards
• Giropay
• Neteller
• PayPal
• Skrill
• Webmoney
• Wire transfer
• Yandex

To get started with trading on eToro you must make a minimum deposit of $50. There are no deposit fees when depositing USD. Other fees may apply when transacting and/or withdrawing funds. For more information, you can see eToro’s pricing structure here

Speed of Purchases

The speed of your deposits depends upon the banking option. Credit and debit cards, for example, help you complete deposits immediately. Bank transfers and e-wallets require third-party approval before your funds arrive.

Fees

Trading fees are the worst part of eToro. For example, eToro charges a 0.75% fee when selling Bitcoin. Altcoin trades will cost you between 2% and 4% of the total transaction. These charges are quite ridiculous when compared to other crypto trading sites.

eToro also charges fees on deposits and withdrawals that are referred to as “pips.” For non-crypto assets eToro charges a flat $5 withdrawal fee. Fees for cryptocurrencies vary depending on which crypto is being withdrawn, full details of each cryptocurrency can be found here.

Does eToro Hold Your Funds?

Whether eToro holds your coins or not depends upon what version you’re using. The standard eToro site sees you trade CFDs. You don’t actually own the cryptocurrency in question when dealing with contracts.

eToro X, on the other hand, sees you buy actual cryptocurrencies. These you can store onsite inside the eToro wallet.

eToro Wallet

Easily and simply buy, store, receive, and transfer over 120 cryptocurrencies within the eToro Money crypto wallet.

The eToro Money cryptocurrency wallet is one of the safest crypto wallets available. The wallet has several high-level security features to protect against unauthorised access, including multi-signature facilities, DDoS protection, and standardisation protocols.

Verification Process

In being a regulated exchange, eToro features the Know Your Customer (KYC) process. After entering your personal details, you’ll be required to answer a series of important but sometimes invasive questions relating to your viability as an eToro account holder.

You must answer questions about everything from your employer to your income level. Assuming you’re used to using unregulated exchanges, you may find this process to be quite annoying.

Privacy Features

The eToro website is protected by SSL encryption. This high-level encryption keeps your personal details safe from hackers.

Customer Support

You need to open a support ticket to reach customer service about questions and issues. During our testing we received a reasonably timely response. However, some online complaints suggest that the support department is overloaded and takes a long time to respond.

Which Coins Are Supported?

The eToro X site offers a great variety of cryptocurrency trading pairs. It doesn't support as many coins as most dedicated cryptocurrency exchanges but it does support the most popular cryptocurrencies. Here’s what’s available at the time of writing this review:

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

As eToro X is a relatively new service we expect this list to grow in the near future.

Which Countries Can Use eToro?

This site is available to dozens of countries. Some of the notable ones include:

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Canada
• China
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Germany
• France
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland

United States Users

As of August 2020, Real trading is available to US residents in 41 States across the US: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Washington D.C., West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

While all U.S. residents can sign up for a free eToro account for virtual trading, eToro is currently unlicensed for actual cryptocurrency trading for residents in the following states: Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York and Tennessee.

Real trading is also available to residents of the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Minor Outlying Islands.

For the moment, not all markets are available to trade and certain features are disabled. This is why certain buttons are grayed out and users from the above 9 States will not be able to comment on the News Feed.

Please note: For regulatory reasons, eToro cannot provide their service to US citizens who reside outside the USA.