eToro lets you invest commission-free in a number of different assets
eToro is a social trading platform that lets you invest in a number of different assets, including shares, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and ready-made portfolios. You can also put money into a stocks and shares ISA using the platform, but this has some limitations. Here’s everything you need to know about eToro’s investment platform and how to get started.
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What is eToro?
eToro is an investment platform that lets you buy and sell a huge range of assets — shares, commodities, crypto and funds, to name a few. It has a mobile app, letting you invest on-the-go, and a range of features targeting everyone from first-time investors to seasoned traders.
The platform can be a little overwhelming at first, as it’s got loads of different types of investments and features for investing, but it’s actually really easy to use.
What can you invest in with eToro?
eToro has a pretty vast selection of different investments – you can choose to either invest in individual assets and build a portfolio yourself, or you can go for a Smart Portfolio — eToro’s set of ready-made portfolios. Here’s what you can invest in.
DIY investing
These are the investments that you can use to create a portfolio of investments.
Stocks
You can choose between more than 6,000 stocks on 20 different global stock exchanges. You can also invest in fractional shares — this lets you get a small part of a share and gives you more freedom to diversify your portfolio if you’re only investing a small amount.
ETFs
As the name suggests, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are a type of fund that’s listed and traded on a stock exchange. There are around 300 ETFs on the eToro platform to choose from.
Smart Portfolios
eToro’s got a number of ready-made portfolios, created by its analysts. These include:
Smart Future
With these, you choose which one to invest in based on your planned horizon — for example, if you plan to use the money in 2035, you would go with the “Target 2035” portfolio. These portfolios start by targeting investments that are higher risk, but higher potential returns, then move your portfolio to be more conservative as you get closer to your goal date.
Core Portfolios
The Core Portfolios are all named after their different goals — Equity, Dynamic, Moderate, Stability and Income. These
Themed Portfolios
Finally, there are more than 65 themed portfolios. These are themed, which means that they’re collections of stocks and ETFs that follow a specific theme — for example, you can get a “Space Tech” portfolio, that’s full of investments into companies that are creating technology that allows us to explore space.
Speculative trading
With these investments, you don’t buy the assets — it’s all about speculation and is a bit of a complex product, for more experienced traders. eToro will make you answer additional questions in order to make sure you understand how these products work before you can get started.
Indices
Indices trading is where traders speculate on the movement of a group of stocks — such as the FTSE100 (the 100 biggest stocks on the London Stock Exchange) or S&P500 (the 500 largest stocks in the US).
Commodities
You can speculate on precious metals, like gold and silver; or raw materials, like oil or cocoa. There are also commodity ETFs that you can put into your portfolio.
Crypto
Also available with eToro is Crypto Trading. I won’t get into much detail about this, as it’s a high-risk, unregulated investment. eToro has more than 200 cryptocurrencies on its site available to buy.
Account types available
You can open either a general investment account (GIA) or stocks and shares ISA with eToro.
The ISA, which is powered by another investment provider, Moneyfarm, is a little pared back compared with the GIA, as I’ve covered in my review. You can use your annual £20,000 ISA allowance with it.
There aren’t junior products or self-invested personal pensions available with eToro.
Investment tools
eToro has tools available to help you choose investments and decide when to buy or sell. These include:
- Pro charting — these are charts of the performance of the investments, but you can also add things like averages, Bollinger Bands and oscillators
- Market insights — this includes financial earnings reports, upcoming IPOs, dividend calendars and market data
- Tori — eToro’s AI tool to give you personalised market insights
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Educational tools and materials
You don’t have to already know everything there is to know about investing. eToro has plenty of educational tools to help you learn how to invest. The first is the demo account. This lets you invest with $100,000 in virtual funds to get to know the platform, the tools and how things work in real time.
As well as this, there’s the eToro Academy. This has a whole bunch of guides and courses on investing. You can also join webinars on different topics. It’s not just aimed at beginners either — you can learn everything from basic investing to advanced tools, like depth-of-book market data.
eToro fees
| Fee name | Cost |
| Account opening | £0 |
| Management fees | £0 |
| Withdrawal fee | £0 ($5 if you withdraw from a USD investment account) |
| Conversion fees | 0.75% |
| Stock trading fee | £0 |
| ETF trading fee | £0 |
What is eToro’s CopyTrading feature?
CopyTrading is eToro’s feature that lets you copy other trader’s transactions — so if you choose to copy someone and they opt to spend £500 on a selection of shares, you’ll make trades in the same selection of shares with the same proportions.
This lets you copy the movements of skilled and expert investors,rather than choose a portfolio yourself.
Of course, you need to consider the risks involved with this, as you’re trusting the moves that another investor is making — you can compare portfolios and see the latest transactions made.
Is eToro safe?
eToro is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). It’s considered to be a safe and legitimate company. Client funds are kept secure in top-tier banks or placed in qualifying money market funds.
Of course, this doesn’t guarantee that your investments will perform well. You should only invest as much as you’re prepared to lose.
eToro customer reviews
eToro customers rate the platform 4.05/5. Top reviewers think the platform is easy to use and good for beginners. Negative reviewers found it to be a little overwhelming and confusing.
How to get started with eToro
Setting up an eToro account is really simple — you start by making an account the same way you would with any other website, using an email address and password.
Once you’re in, you need to go through some extra questions and details. This includes your National Insurance number, questions about your income, your rent or mortgage payments, how much you plan to invest, how you feel about risk and how much you know about investing.
eToro stocks and shares ISA
Customer rating
3.8/5
- Offerfree £50 worth of assets*
- Annual feeCustody fee of 0.35% per year (max £45)
- Type of accountDIY and ready-made investing
- Minimum deposit$50
- FSCS Protected? Yes
- Interest on uninvested cash 3% on balances up to $50,000, 3.8% on balances over this
- Fractional shares Yes
- Foreign exchange fee 0.7%
- Fund fees If you invest in funds, you'll have to pay fund fees, which cost on average ~0.16% per year, with additional market-spread effects up to 0.05%
- UK shares trading fee You'll pay £3.95 per trade for shares, ETFs and mutual funds and £5.95 per trade for bonds
- Managed portfolio fees Management fees are tiered, so you'll pay 0.45% up to £50,000, then 0.20% from £50,000 to £100,000, 0.10% from £100,000–£1.5m, and 0% above £1.5m. A platform fee of 0.25% also applies to all managed portfolios.
- Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Yes, FRN 583263
- Risk warning The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk. ISA powered by Moneyfarm. ISA rules apply. UK residents only.
- Offer You need to sign up, verify your account and deposit at least £200 to get the free asset. ISA deposits aren't included in the £200 requirement to get the offer.
Summary: is eToro worth using?
Zoe’s analysis
In short: yes. eToro is a great investment platform. It’s got enough investing features for a beginner investor to get started, and the opportunity to use additional features further down the line. The CopyTrading feature is pretty cool, but you need to make sure you understand exactly how it works and the potential implications of it.
The fact that you can invest in a stocks and shares ISA is a huge perk to the platform — this lets you make use of your annual ISA allowance. However, the ISA is quite limited compared with the general investment account.
The platform alone is a bit more overwhelming than some other free trading platforms, like Trading 212 or Freetrade. This is because some of the details and charting tools are more advanced than other platforms. Once you’ve worked out exactly what you’re looking at, it’s actually quite easy to use, and allows you to learn more about the analysis tools available to you.
You can give the platform a go with its demo account before you get started with real money. You can invest up to $100,000 in virtual funds to get to know the platform and the tools.
Advanced traders might feel like the platform is a little limited.
