eToro, a social investment community that has 17 million users across 100 countries and 43 U.S. states as of 2018, was founded in 2007 by David Ring who currently serves as the CEO and active investor behind the site’s global success with over 150 employees worldwide working for eToro to continue their growth on an international scale. To mimic the trades and strategies of successful traders, eToro provides a platform that is graphically intensive. This proprietary feature allows clients to easily implement copy trading. The accessibility then empowers individual account holders by allowing them to automatically trade in real-time like their favorite successful trader or strategy implementation from any location worldwide with its customer base spread across over 140 countries globally including United States”.
Pros:
- U.S. customers have access to Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, and XRP.
- The website and mobile app are nearly identical, attractively laid-out, and easy to navigate.
- Traders can see what others on the platform are doing and follow the recommendations of certain members who allow you to copy their trades.
Cons:
- There aren’t explicit commissions charged, but trades are executed with specific spreads that vary from coin to coin. Some of these spreads are fairly wide.
- The minimum purchase for any cryptocurrency is $25, which makes it difficult for smaller accounts to spread their balances over more than a small number of coins.
- Though you can follow the transactions of some leading traders, you’ll need to have a higher balance to copy their trades. Most require a minimum of $200 for each copied trade.
Usability
New eToro accounts are easy to open. Once you submit your information, it may take up to several days for the account verification and opening process to complete. United States residents can open an account with $50; Australian residents require only $50 as well (UPDATED: according to their website). Residents of Algeria need at least 5K USD before they can begin trading on eToro’s platform ($5k is temporarily increased from its usual 200 USD starting balance until further notice by EToro’s official site). The minimum deposit amount for non-Algerian countries remains unchanged at 1 grand per person when signing up on the exchange platform this year so far.
Trade Experience
To trade a coin, simply click on the “Trade” button when viewing it in your watchlist. To sell or buy coins you can either tap and hold for options to pop up or use one of these buttons: “Buy” from portfolio listings and drop-down arrows next to each lot amount once purchased.
To close an entire position just press the red X; if selling multiple lots then select which ones with sliders under those individual prices before pressing ‘Sell’. For example, if buying $25 worth of Bitcoin at different times but want all gone now they must be sold together rather than individually by part ($10 here).
Cryptocurrencies supported
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Ripple (XRP)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
- Dash (DASH)
- Ethereum Classic (ETC)
- Cardano (ADA)
- IOTA (MIOTA)
- Stellar (XLM)
- EOS (EOS)
- NEO (NEO)
- Zcash (ZEC)
- Binance Coin (BNB)
Order Types
For U.S. customers, users can place a market order once the position is open and cannot set any conditional orders during trade entry but non-U.S. Users have greater flexibility with stop limits available upon opening positions as well as being able to add them afterwards from their portfolio listings.
eToro Fees
- Customers trading cryptocurrencies in the United States have to pay up as much as 5% depending on what currency they are using. This cost is built into every trade and hidden from customers so it may not be very transparent for them.
- Non-U.S. investors are able to buy and sell stocks without having to pay a commission when opening or closing positions, but short sales do incur a small fee of 0.18%.
- Non-U.S. customers buying assets other than their home currency, such as a U.K. customer buying a U.S. stock, will pay a currency conversion fee.
- There are no fees for withdrawing funds for U.S. customers, but you must withdraw a minimum of $30.
- If you want to transfer a cryptocurrency out of your eToro account, there is going to be an associated fee. There are also minimum amounts for each coin so refer below if this applies to you.
Security
- Biometric entry enabled for mobile apps
- No excess SIPC insurance (once stock trading is enabled in the U.S.)
- Registered in Cyprus
Customer Service
eToro’s customer service has many options for those with a low account balance. You can access help online, or in an emergency situation submit a trouble ticket to their customer support team. If you need assistance immediately you may chat with one of eToro’s live agents by locating the light blue link on the website and clicking it. Once your account reaches $5,000 or above then depending on which club level membership that is decided upon (Basic Club – Silver Level), one will be assigned a dedicated manager who provides priority services within 12-24 hours after submitting any inquiries through email messages sent from your registered address associated with all accounts held at eToro Holdings Ltd.
Verdict
eToro is a cryptocurrency trading platform that seems like it would be ideal for newcomers, but there isn’t much in the way of education. You have to go digging through multiple tabs and websites before you can find any relevant information on what eToro actually does or how cryptocurrencies work.
