eToro Review – Reviewing eToro Copy Trader

eToro is a multi-asset platform offering investments in stocks, CFDs and cryptocurrencies. Today we will present you with an in-depth review of eToro, a look at its advantages and disadvantages and how the copy trading process is performed.

Overview

eToro started in 2007 as a brokerage company under the name RetailFX in Israel. They became known as a pioneer in social trading about ten years ago. This brought them significant success, and the company has grown a lot. Today, eToro is headquartered in Cyprus and has offices in the UK. The brokerage works under the regulation of CySEC, FCA and ASIC. According to eToro’s website, they currently have more than 5 million users in 170 countries worldwide.

Positive and Negatives

Our eToro’s review showed that the most significant advantage of the social trading platform is that beginner investors can copy expert trades without leverage while holding real equity. However, on the other side, we noticed their copy trading strategies aren’t apparent. Additionally, there have been several comments about the customer experience of eToro, pointing out the problematic connection with the customer support service and issues with their withdraw policy.

Here are the main Advantages and Disadvantages of eToro

Advantages:

► Well-developed trading platform with a user-friendly interface

► Allows traders to choose their own leverage

► Opportunity to purchase underlying assets without leverage

► Allows traders to choose to follow and copy top-ranking traders or combined portfolios.

Disadvantages:

► Order placement controls are not very cleared

► Leading traders’ balances are hidden, and some statistic is hidden

► Customer support service is not always available

► There is a withdraw fee of 5 USD

What Assets Can You Trade On eToro?

We have looked at eToro’s landing page, and our review showed that the platform strives to provide a wide range of assets to its members to choose from. Interestingly, they offer an opportunity for trading the underlying assets, for example, companies’ shares. What that means is if you decide to follow and copy a trader buying or selling an underlying asset, there is no leverage. Still, if you prefer, there are plenty of leverage options through various CFDs instruments.

The asset classes include in eToro are Stocks, ETFs, Crypto, Indices, Commodities, Currencies. They are all spread in over 2000 trading instruments. However, to our regret, CFDs on options is not among them.

The Platform’s Features

Being the pioneers in social/community and copy trading, eToro has set the standards in the industry. Still, nowadays, they have to answer the challenge of growing competition. Currently, eToro welcomes its new members with a visually appealing interface.

When we opened to review the platform, we noticed the bright green branded colours and the simple navigation menu. As a visitor, you can look at three sections – TradeMarkets, Copy People and Invest in Copy Portfolios. These sections are informative but mainly for those who have already some experience. We think it’ll be not easy for the newbies in the industry to understand all charts and data provided.

Those who decide to join the platform gain access to the member sections – Watch list, Portfolio and News Feed. Our review showed that you could create a profile at eToro with your Google or Facebook account or directly at their page.

Copy-Trading Process

As we mentioned, eToro’s visitors can observe the opportunities offered by the platform before signing in. That means you can monitor the markets’ trends, as well as the performance of top-ranking traders. Our review showed that you could filter your selection based on various criteria. For example, you can review trading instruments’ performance according to the markets divided by industry or exchange.

If you wish to monitor the traders’ activities, you can select them by country of origin, type of market to invest in, and performance in a time period. Additionally, there are sections showing traders that are most copied or popular at the moment (Trending). You can also take a pick according to your intentions to invest long or short term.

The latest addition to eToro trading opportunities is “Market CopyPortfolios”, a portfolio management product that offers ready-made packages for investors. You can select between Market, Traders’ or Partners’ portfolios. This type of copy trading might seem like an easy way to get a whole package. However, keep in mind the risk level here is also pretty high as you don’t have control over the trading instruments included.

Conclusion

Our review showed that eToro offers opportunities for both advanced traders with some experience and complete novice investors. However, the platform lacks more precise and detailed information about the traders’ performance, and the pleasant customer experience of eToro is obstructed by additional fees, including a 5 USD withdraw fee.