eToro Review: Is It Safe To Trade Crypto?

Finding a the right platform to trade digital currencies can be a difficult task with so many options to choose from. A reputable and well-known platform that offers cryptocurrencies, stocks and CFD trading is eToro. Used by millions of customers worldwide, we will examine eToro's best features, supported crypto assets, trading fees, security and customer service in this review.

eToro is a leading social trading platform that offers cryptocurrency, stocks and CFD trading. Users on the platform can connect with like-minded traders and join a community to discuss trading strategies or automatically copy-trade successful traders and portfolios.

Etoro was established in 2007 and has grown into a popular online trading platform that is highly visual, intuitive and beginner-friendly. The broker is used by millions of investors and traders across multiple jurisdictions in the world. The company expanded its offering to allow US customers to invest in cryptocurrency assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin.

eToro is a licensed and registered financial company in multiple trading jurisdictions around the world including Europe under the Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission, in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and a holder of Australian Financial Services Licenced issued by ASIC in Australia.

eToro is well-known for its social trading community where traders can join and connect with other traders to share ideas, strategies or mirror the trading performance of profitable traders. Beginners can use the filter system to discover an investor's portfolio to copy that fit's their criteria such as return on investment, risk tolerance and the number of copiers. To limit potential losses, there is the option to set a stop loss level.

eToro supports 94 cryptocurrency pairs that can be traded against altcoins or fiat currencies. Investors in the US and the UK can purchase the actual crypto asset whereas investors in other regions such as Europe and Australia can buy a CFD only. Popular digital coins that can be traded include Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin, Cardano, Tezor, Stella Lumens and more.

Purchasing cryptocurrencies on eToro will incur a spread cost only for the actual asset. The spread charge varies for each digital asset and rise and fall depending on market conditions. For example, the fee to buy and sell Bitcoin is 0.75% per trade. Compared to other cryptocurrency providers such as Coinbase which charges between 0.5% and 3.99%, the fees on eToro are very competitive. 

Cryptocurrency staking is becoming very popular among investors for the positive yield on holding digital currencies that use the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanism. eToro has expanded its offering to include some of the most popular staking coins such as Cardano (ADA), Tron (TRX) and Ethereum 2.0 (ETH2.0). The benefit is that eToro users can grow their digital assets on the platform without having to trade or doing anything special. Depending on the account level, users can earn up to 90% of the staking rewards.

Cutting-edge security measures, an intuitive user interface for beginners and a mobile trading app are important features on eToro. This comparison table lists alternate crypto trading platforms like eToro that allow investors to invest in digital assets such as cryptocurrencies.

Disclaimer: 67% 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.

To create an account with eToro, users will need to go through a registration process to deposit funds to purchase digital assets or CFD's depending on the location. The information required to get started includes a username, email address and password.

eToro verification is mandatory for all users that want to trade on the platform. The process and information to be submitted varies slightly across each jurisdiction in accordance with local regulations. It usually takes a few days for eToro to complete the identity verification procedure.

New users can begin their trading journey by funding a real account using a variety deposit of method methods such as credit card, PayPal, Neteller and Skrill to send money to fund a trading account. Each payment option has different limits and transaction speeds to consider as listed below. One of the best ways to buy Bitcoin is using a credit card which is instant and has a daily deposit limit of up to $40,000.

eToro operates using US dollars and customers that reside in other jurisdictions or prefer to deposit in other fiat currencies such as EUR, GBP, AUD, RMB, THB, IDR, MYR, VND and PHP will be charged a conversion fee to USD. The conversion fee is based on percentage points (or pips). There is no fee to send USD to fund a real money trading account.

eToro trading platform is available to customers worldwide in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Europe and Australia. There are several countries and territories that may not use eToro due to regulations and legal restraints. A full list of restricted and banned countries can be found on the website, or read our article on which countries have banned crypto.

eToro offers a simple to use and visual platform that is designed for beginners and intermediate investors to get started with digital currencies. The user interface provides a news feed that features pinned articles from the community on a particular asset which can be useful for beginners. 

Investors that rely on technical analysis will find eToro's charting features limited. There are basic charting features such as indicators and drawing tools that can be applied, however it is difficult to use and the overlays are lost when the chart is closed. In our opinion, we recommend using a professional cryptocurrency charting program such as TradingView to perform technical analysis and then place the trade with eToro.

eToro's social trading platform allows its users to discover other traders to copy and follow their trades. It is a powerful network used by millions of investors around the world to see how professional and successful traders manage their positions in real time and connect to follow each trade automatically.

Each trade the followed trader makes it automatically placed using the available trading account balance. There is no additional fee or cost to join eToro's social network, although there is a minimum $200 balance requirement. Beginners can benefit from copy-trading by following the most profitable traders on the platform to earn a passive income that can be used to purchase crypto or simply learn how to trade.

The platform provides 100% visibility of the trader's statistics, portfolio and equity curve for the trader's past performance. Potential investors can investigate each trader to ensure their trading strategy and risk exposure aligns with their own risk appetite and profit expectations. The full history of the trader's positions, take profit and stop loss entries are shown for transparency. 

The risk rating, number of copy-traders and assets under management are popular metrics to assess. It is recommended to copy-trade long term traders with a proven track record of profitable months with minimal drawdown. While past performance does not guarantee future results, a thorough review and audit can be performed using eToro before allocating capital to copy-trade their strategy.

eToro is free to register an account and new users can begin with a $100,000 demo trading account to become familiar with the platform's products, features and user interface. The practice mode has the same appearance as a funded account and users can switch between the real and demo modes.

Trade with a free $100,000 practice account now.

Disclaimer: 67% 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.

eToro trading fees for cryptocurrency coins are calculated based on a spread cost from 0.75% depending on the actual asset purchased and sold on the platform. The spread for Bitcoin and Ethereum are slightly cheaper when compared to Uphold which offers similar features and services to eToro.

For example, the cost to own Bitcoin (BTC) will incur a spread cost of 0.75%, whereas to invest in Ethereum the spread fee is 1.90%. The lesser-known altcoins will generally have a higher spread charge as the trading volume is lower.

In comparison to other trading platforms, the fees to buy coins other than Bitcoin is quite high. Users are better off using an exchange such as Binance, Bittrex or CEX.IO which have lower altcoin fees from 0.1% per transaction.

In regions such as Australia where cryptocurrency CFD's may only be purchased, there is a small fee to cover the interest cost of holding a leveraged position overnight. There is also a weekend fee which is three times the cost of the over night fee. Overnight fees appear at the bottom of the trade window when opening a new trade. Overall, eToro's overnight fee is comparable to other cryptocurrency CFD providers such as Plus500.

To conclude our eToro review, the platform is overall well-suited to beginners and investors that are looking to copy-trade profitable traders or learn how to trade. There are several methods to fund a real trading account and supports multiple fiat currencies to get started. 

Before trading on the markets with real money, eToro has one of the best cryptocurrency demo trading accounts to practice with virtual funds. Of course, when deciding to buy Bitcoin with actual money, we recommend withdrawing the funds to a hardware wallet for safety.

eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFDs.

Please note that CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

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.

Copy trading is a portfolio management service, provided by eToro (Europe) Ltd., which is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cryptoasset investing is unregulated in some EU countries and the UK. No consumer protection. Your capital is at risk.

eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs and makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication, which has been prepared by our partner utilizing publicly available non-entity specific information about eToro.