While the hands-off cryptocurrency investing approach can be fairly attractive, we urge our readers to be cautious when investing in anything. Cryptocurrency is a very risky asset class, and just because your trades are on autopilot doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t get rocked all the same (set your stop losses!)<\/p>\n
The following eToro review will teach you everything you need to know about the trading platform:<\/p>\n
- \n
- eToro\u2019s company history<\/li>\n
- How to make an account on eToro<\/li>\n
- eToro wallets and accounts<\/li>\n
- What are eToro fees<\/li>\n
- How does trading work on eToro<\/li>\n
- What is the eToro Copytrader feature?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Key points:<\/strong><\/p>\n
\u2705 eToro is a user-friendly social trading platform that allows United States traders to trade various cryptocurrencies, and European traders to trade a wider variety of financial instruments like stocks, crypto, commodities, and currencies. eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs, only real Crypto assets available.<\/p>\n
\u2705eToro is a very beginner-friendly exchange that allows for a direct fiat-to-cryptocurrency exchange.<\/p>\n
\u2705 CopyTrader and CopyPortfolio are unique.<\/p>\n
\u274cTrading fees are relatively higher than the industry standard for most other exchanges. We call this the \u201cUI Tax\u201d<\/p>\n
\u274cUsers can’t actually access their assets, they can only trade them for fiat. Although eToro is a great trading platform, we\u2019re not too big a fan of the lack of custodial ownership over your cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n
eToro\u2019s Company Information<\/h2>\n
A quick walk down the history lane of the rising fin-tech star leads us through a user-first approach to design and a pivot to embrace the growing cryptocurrency market.<\/p>\n
When was eToro founded?<\/strong> Founded in 2007 by entrepreneurs David Ring<\/a>, Ronen Assia<\/a>, and Yoni Assia<\/a> in Israel, eToro has since grown to over 500 employees, operations in 140 countries, and over 13 million users internationally.<\/p>\n
How much has eToro raised? <\/strong>eToro is fairly well-capitalized and has raised a total of $222.7M<\/a> in funding in over 10 rounds, with the latest Series E round coming in April 2018.<\/p>\n
Which companies has eToro acquired: <\/strong>eToro has acquired two organizations\u2013Belgium-based cryptocurrency portfolio tracker app Delta in September 2019, and Danish smart contract infrastructure provider Firmo in March 2019.<\/p>\n
The holding company eToro (UK) Ltd. is based in London, and eToro has additional registered offices in Cyprus, Tel Aviv, New Jersey, Sydney, and Shanghai.<\/p>\n
eToro started with a primary focus on trading fiat currencies and commodities, introducing stocks in July 2013 and a broader array of cryptocurrencies in 2017. eToro offered Bitcoin trading in 2013 with CFDs and was one of the few FinTech platforms of the time providing access to the then-nascent Bitcoin.<\/p>\n
In February 2017, eToro expanded its cryptocurrency offerings to Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin, and a handful of other cryptocurrencies. With the ensuing mid-2017 cryptocurrency market boom, eToro doubled down on its international customer acquisition to cement itself as a premier exchange in the cryptocurrency community.<\/p>\n
eToro launched its eToro U.S. operations in March 2019, starting with a handful of cryptocurrencies available for trading and eventually growing to over 15.<\/p>\n
The platform is unique in the cryptocurrency industry because of features like CopyTrader and social trading, allowing traders to share live trading information, copy the portfolios of the best-performing traders, and approach cryptocurrency investing from a relatively \u201chands-off\u201d approach* we\u2019ll get into it below..<\/p>\n
*Let\u2019s reiterate this important caveat:<\/strong>: don\u2019t invest anything you cannot afford to lose, no platform can offer truly 100% guaranteed gains, all investing (particularly cryptocurrency investing) tend to come with a high degree of risk.*<\/p>\n
Key Feature #1: What is the eToro Copytrader feature?<\/h2>\n
In 2010, eToro leaned into the title of being the world\u2019s first social trading platform with the launch of OpenBook, a feature that allowed anyone in the world to copy successful traders using CopyTrader. OpenBook was regarded as a fairly revolutionary concept in FinTech at the time, winning the Finovate Europe Best of Show for 2011.<\/p>\n
CopyTrader, in our humble opinion, stands as one of the best features in FinTech.<\/p>\n
Why? <\/strong>Being able to see how and what top traders are trading is something that some companies try to charge thousands of dollars for, or a percentage of assets under management. eToro takes it a step further by making it possible to \u201ccopy\u201d their portfolios with one click.<\/p>\n
The minimum amount to copy a trader is $200, and the max is $500,000. You can copy up to a limit of 100 traders at the same time.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s our run-through of CopyTrader<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/etoro-copytrader-main-image.png\")
<\/p>\nBelow, there are two sections: \u201cTop Performing\u201d and \u201cMost Copied\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/word-image-26.png\")
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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n On the Most Copied section, we see the platform\u2019s most popular traders, seemingly sorted in some sort of weighted popularity average rather than percentage gain.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s check out what makes this QE4Everyone (Mati Greenspan) trader so popular.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/word-image-27.png\")
<\/p>\nAfter clicking on Greenspan\u2019s profile, we see his social posts directed towards the eToro trading community, our current investment (we deposited $300 to test this feature) in his copy portfolio and it\u2019s overall performance\u2013 thanks for the $17 bucks, Mr. Greenspan. We also see Greenspan\u2019s bio\u2013 a published author, Founder & CEO of a company called Quantum Economics, and a former Senior Market Analyst at eToro.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/word-image-28.png\")
<\/p>\nClicking on his profile stats, we see his cryptocurrency trading performance per month. While the cryptocurrency market itself experienced some volatility these months, Greenspan seems to have handled it pretty well.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/word-image-29.png\")
<\/p>\nFurther, we see how \u201crisky\u201d this trader is with a risk score assigned by eToro, as well as the number of recent trade copiers (of between $100k to $300k in copy value.)<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/word-image-30.png\")
<\/p>\nWe can get a bit more detail into Greenspan\u2019s trades: we see the total amount of trades in the past year and his most frequently traded assets.<\/p>\n
On the portfolio tab, we see exactly what his trades are at the current moment. From here, we can either buy those same assets manually, or once we add some funds, we can copy Greenspan\u2019s portfolio, and eToro will automatically mirror his trades until you tell it to stop, or until the copy stop loss hits.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/word-image-31.png\")
<\/p>\nWhile the Top Performing profiles look very appealing, we urge our readers to do the appropriate amount of research on eToro\u2019s platform to understand how they\u2019ve been able to achieve such results.<\/p>\n
For example, many of these traders have simply bought one asset months ago that mooned and haven\u2019t launched a trade since. So, by copying their portfolio, you\u2019d basically just be \u201cbuying\u201d the asset at its current price.<\/p>\n
How to Use eToro\u2019s CopyTrader:<\/h3>\n
Go to CopyTrader section, select a trader to copy, and add the funds required.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/word-image-33.png\")
<\/p>\nFor example, let\u2019s say we want to copy crypto101_kevin (Kevin Stanley). He has a decent amount of other copiers and a 27% gain for this year so far.<\/p>\n
An important risk-management feature here is the ability to immediately stop copying a trader\u2019s profile if the value drops below a certain amount. Let\u2019s assume we\u2019ve decided we can stomach a 60% worst-case-scenario loss on an investment of $200\u2013 we would set the amount accordingly and deposit the funds.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/word-image-34.png\")
<\/p>\nWe deposit the USD, and boom\u2013 we\u2019re copying a trader.<\/p>\n
Key Feature #2: CopyPortfolios<\/h2>\n
In 2016, eToro furthered its social trading offerings with the release of CopyPortfolios, a long-term thematic investment product of managed portfolios with bundled Top Traders or specific assets using a predetermined market strategy. The majority of eToro\u2019s CopyPortfolios utilize machine learning to seek maximum returns.<\/p>\n
There are three CopyPortfolios available in the United States. TheTIE, for example, builds its investment strategy on sentiment analysis, gauging the positive and negative tone of tweets on Twitter.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/word-image-35.png\")
<\/p>\nKey Feature #3: Virtual Portfolio<\/h2>\n
The eToro virtual portfolio is basically a sandbox, where users receive $100k in fake money to test-drive the platform.<\/p>\n
This feature doesn\u2019t seem to be available in the USA just yet.<\/p>\n
eToro USA and eToro International<\/h2>\n
An important distinction to make for our wonderful readers spread all over the world: eToro has two different platforms due to regulatory compliance: one for eToro U.S. and one for eToro International users.<\/p>\n
Is eToro available in the US? <\/strong>Yes, but only the cryptocurrency trading aspects. If you\u2019re in the United States, you\u2019ll have access to the same cryptocurrency investment trading platform as everyone else, as well as the CopyTrader and CopyPortfolio features, but you can\u2019t trade stocks or forex (yet).<\/p>\n
eToro USA LLC; Investments are subject to market risk, including the possible loss of principal. Archived, “Virtual currencies are highly volatile. Your capital is at risk.”<\/em><\/p>\n
Disclaimer: 78% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.<\/em><\/p>\n
What are eToro\u2019s Fees<\/h2>\n
eToro\u2019s pricing is much higher than the industry standard of cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase Pro or Binance, but eToro bills itself as more than an exchange.<\/p>\n
eToro Spread Fees:<\/strong> Spread fees are basically how \u201cno commission\u201d brokers and exchanges like Robinhood<\/a> and eToro make money\u2013 it\u2019s a cost built into the buy and sell price of the cryptocurrency pair you want to trade. The difference between what the asset is on the market (ie. ETH = $200.23) and what it costs to buy it on a certain platform (ie. Buy ETH = $200.45)\u2013 the fee would be an additional $0.22 cents.<\/p>\n
These fees are fairly reasonable for most cryptocurrency assets, currently ranging between\u00a0 1% for BTC to upwards of 5% for Tezos, the latter of which is really high.<\/p>\n
eToro Withdrawal Fees: <\/strong>There are no ($0) withdrawal fees on eToro in the US ($5 withdrawal fee for all other regions), but there is a minimum of withdrawing $30.<\/p>\n
eToro Wallet fees<\/strong>: eToro doesn\u2019t charge fees for sending or receiving transactions, although blockchain fees are still applicable. eToro does charge a .1% conversion fee set to eToro market rates.<\/p>\n