A brand that is synonymous with social trading, eToro was established in 2007. The company took trading to a whole new direction. It focused on the fun aspect of trading and made it accessible for the average Joe, who formerly probably didn’t know too much about the forex markets and investing in general. The concept of social trading came about because the broker wanted to differentiate itself from other forex brokers that were already more established then. Today, e Toro has become one of the fastest growing forex brokers around with more than 3 million registered users on its trading platform. They have morphed from a small team of enthusiasts to a truly international broker with offices in Australia, Cyprus, UK and Israel. In terms of regulatory oversight, the broker is regulated by the UK’s FCA, Australia’s ASIC and CySEC in Cyprus. Although it is also regulated by the U.S’s CFTC and is a member of the National Futures Association (NFA), they presently do not accept any traders from the U.S.
81% 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.
The thing that truly defines eToro and differentiates it from all the other operators in the online trading industry is its proprietary trading platforms. Previously made up of 3 separate platforms, the company has recently launched its new social trading platform that integrates the patented eToro Openbook, Copytrader and eToro WebTrader into one portfolio management interface. With this platform, traders can choose between trading on their own to copying other traders with just a single click of the mouse. In addition, the platform allows traders to access a wide variety of trading tools as well as a wealth of information through the news feeds pumped directly to the trading platform. eToro mobile trading apps are optimized for iOS and Android devices giving traders the ability to stay connected at all times.
eToro offers CFDs (contracts for difference) that cover the 4 major asset classes. These include over 30 currency pairs, hundreds of stocks and the major commodities, indices and ETF.
Spreads for currency pairs trading start from 2 pips for the USD/JPY, or 3 pips for EUR/USD, EUR/CHF, and go as high as 7 pips for EUR/AUD & EUR/CAD and even 10 pips for USD/CNY. All commissions are charged when the position closes and not when it is opened. Spreads are also influenced by market conditions and may vary from the ones we mentioned.
There is only one standard type of trading account. No deposit is actually required when you register. Once you have registered and sign in to your account, you can immediately access the eToro demo account with $100,000 virtual cash from the account management interface. Once you have decided to go live, all you have to do is to switch from “Virtual Portfolio” to “Real Portfolio” directly from the account management interface. At this point, you will need to make a deposit before you can actually begin live trading. Minimum deposit requirements vary between $50-$300, depending on the trader’s region.
Deposits and withdrawals can be executed with the major credit cards or with a wire transfer. Other available methods include Paypal, Worldpay, Webmoney, Neteller, GiroPay and more. All deposit and withdrawal transactions are communicated using Secure Socket Layer technology.
Customer support services are available through email, live chat or the telephone on a 24/7 basis.
There is no doubt that eToro over the years has grown by leaps and bounds. We can safely attribute at least a part the explosive growth to its unique social trading platform.
