Author:
hannah
Last Updated on:
17.09.2024
Topic:
Review
Topic:
Review
The world of cryptocurrency trading can seem daunting to beginners, and the transition from Crypto Parrot’s risk-free trading simulator to a real deal trading platform can leave some traders feeling nervous.
Our eToro review looks to relieve some stress, uncovering precisely what the eToro platform has to offer. We look at whether eToro is suited to your cryptocurrency trading needs by offering a full review of the usability, customer service, security and any additional features that could place this platform ahead of the pack.
When signing up to eToro, you get much more than a reputable trading platform – you unlock a social and educational hub full of like-minded traders and plenty of privileges.
As with most top-end brokers, you will be required to provide proof of National ID or passport and a utility bill or bank statement before signing up.
eToro takes the know your customer process very seriously, requesting legitimate documentation to confirm you are who you say you are. Not only this, eToro will tailor your account based on your planned investments, purpose of trading, your annual income, planned strategies and trading knowledge (proven by the completion of a short questionnaire).
For traders of the Muslim faith, eToro has created an account that aligns with your beliefs allowing for an interest-free trading experience.
Once your identification and account have been verified, you will be ready to begin your trading journey. As you head to the market, you will see the eToro crypto selection is not the most convincing, hosting crypto crosses and 18 big-name coins including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP) and Litecoin (LTC). For those of you looking to trade lesser-known cryptocurrencies, you may need to use another platform alongside eToro.
Offering a simplistic and welcoming platform for beginners, users can have their accounts set up within minutes.
As an eToro customer, you can create your own watch list, allowing you to view cryptocurrency market movements in real-time that are relevant to your portfolio or those you are looking to add to it!
Although offering fewer charting tools than other top competitors, eToro does allow for the simple placement of buy or sell orders – a day trader’s dream when looking to enter and exit positions at ease.
Similar to our Crypto Parrot trading simulator, users of eToro can benefit from a social element to their trading. The user-friendly platform allows users to interact and comment on potential price movements of your favoured cryptocurrencies. Simply click on your chosen crypto and see what the eToro community has to say!
If you choose to make use of the eToro wallet, you will find a seamless transaction process from marketplace to wallet. Whether you are trading through the mobile app or desktop platform, you can be sure of the swift movement of funds to purchase your crypto at the best market price.
Another nice feature that comes with the eToro site is the ability to set notifications. Turn these on to make sure you stay up to date with your account, market movement and more.
As previously mentioned in our eToro review, the sign-up process is faultless – swift and secure. Once you have established your deposit method and fuelled your account, trading can be completed with a click or tap of a few buttons. As a fully-fledged member of eToro, you can now begin to use your equity to better your trading experience in more ways than one.
A recent addition to the eToro platform is the eToro Club. Depending on the assets within your portfolio, eToro will provide customers with additional educational resources to support your understanding and further enhance your knowledge. Split into five categories, Silver, Gold, platinum, Platinum+ and diamond; benefits extend from in-depth market webcasts to Wall Street Journal subscriptions to in-person invites for popular trading events.
Your eToro club membership tier is based off of your realised equity as of midnight each day. Providing you meet the equity requirements below, you will begin to receive the relevant privileges the following day.
If your equity falls below the minimum requirement for each tier, you will continue in your current membership status for a courtesy period of three months.
When signing up to the eToro trading platform, users will be able to access their account via desktop or on the go with the use of a mobile browser and a specifically designed app. Whether you are reviewing, plotting or looking to trade on the available eToro crypto markets, you will find the same reliability, functionality and performance regardless of how you access your eToro account.
The eToro mobile app is available for both iOS and Android users and is home to the same features as the broker’s web-based version, minus a small selection of analytical capabilities.
The web-based platform is built on JAVA, allowing for speedy and glitch-free trading under live market conditions. Users can make the most of eToro’s technical indicators, charting tools and trade with ease too.
eToro fees depend on your location and your purchased asset class; however, it is likely for users to pay between 0.5%-5% depending on which cryptocurrency has been traded. This percentage is factored into the price at execution and is not overly transparent.
The minimum first-time deposit at eToro varies between $50 and $10,000, with any further deposits after that needing to hit a minimum requirement of $50 (or $500 if made by wire transfer).
All eToro trading accounts are set in USD, meaning any other deposited currencies will be converted at the current exchange rate and incur a conversion fee.
eToro users can make deposits and withdrawals using various payment methods, including debit and credit cards, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, and more. Individual criteria for max deposits and deposit/withdrawal times feature on the eToro website.
When making your eToro withdrawal, you must ensure your account is verified, and there is a minimum of $30 available funds in your account.
For those of you who prefer the long game with plans to invest in cryptocurrency, be sure to log in to your account from time to time to ensure you are not subject to any inactivity fees. A fee of $10 is applied if you have not logged into your account within a 12 month period.
eToro is home to a comprehensive self-help page, identifying an array of frequently asked questions and providing answers from their experts. Unfortunately, the eToro experience and rating take a bit of a knock when considering other available customer service options.
When visiting the Customer Service Center, users are met with a message explaining that it could take up to 7 days to receive a response due to a peak in user activity. To combat this, eToro has suggested users refer to the FAQ page mentioned above and self-diagnose any problems.
For those of you who experience an urgent need for assistance, you can make use of the eToro live customer agents who will be readily available to share their knowledge 24 hours a day, Monday to Friday.
Unfortunately, if you experience an urgent problem over the weekend, there are no agents available, or a telephone number to call, so you will need to wait until Monday to resolve your issue.
Before signing up to your chosen broker, you need to ensure your platform is secure and your funds will be kept safe. We at Crypto Parrot are happy to confirm the legitimacy and security of the eToro platform.
We came to our conclusion by discovering various security measures eToro utilises to ensure client account safety. Firstly, eToro is SSL encrypted and keeps client’s money in a segregated bank account, ensuring any company funds are kept separate from clients, allowing all customer accounts to be traced easily.
When signing up for your eToro account, users can add two-factor authentication (2FA), offering customers the chance to add a second level of security to their account. When logging in, depositing or withdrawing, eToro account holders will be required to enter a one-time code (received through SMS or by the Authenticator app) to confirm the transaction.
To further cement eToro’s legitimate status, we found the platform is authorised and regulated in the below jurisdictions: eToro AUS Capital Pty Ltd. is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).eToro (Europe) Ltd. is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) eToro (UK) Ltd. is regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority
Two additional features of the eToro platform that really make it stand out from the crowd are the Copy Trader and the Copy Portfolio.
The idea of the Copy Trader is to give eToro users the ability to follow fellow traders’ market movements and copy trades they like the look of. As an eToro customer, you can browse through user profiles uncovering traders with a proven track record and filtering through risk score, trades per week and average hold time. Follow and copy up to 100 traders, investing a minimum amount of $200 per trade, with a maximum trade value of $500,000.
The Copy Portfolio selects the top-performing assets for you, built around an algorithm that automatically copies multiple markets or traders positions. In simple terms, the Copy Portfolio is an investment management product that does a lot of the hard work for you!
All eToro users can copy portfolios of the world’s largest banks, the platform’s star traders, all cryptocurrencies or any other theme they can think of. In comparison to the singular trade option available by using the Copy Trader. Both have their pros and cons and, although we at Crypto Parrot are advocates for building your own research and understanding, we can see how these options could become very rewarding over the course of your trading journey.
Since its birth in 2007, eToro has gone from strength to strength, forever adding to their available markets and allowing investors to diversify their portfolios.
Things have moved on considerably since first being able to trade Bitcoin as a CFD in 2013. As recent as 2017, we saw the addition of Bitcoin and other leading cryptocurrencies become available as tradable assets on eToro. Now, we are graced with over 18 tradeable cryptocurrencies, and over 100 crypto crosses available in 2021.
Enjoy a social element to your trading experience by making good use of the Copy Trader, a way for customers to view top-of-the-chart investor’s market movements with the option to comment, share or mimic their trades. Add to your watch list and review market movements of new assets of interest before placing your trades easily at the click of a button.
To open an eToro account is free of charge, and the initial outlay will be your deposit amount. Say goodbye to management fees and deposit free of charge using a variety of payment methods, including debit and credit card, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, Web Money and Yandex. eToro’s base currency is USD, meaning any deposits that are made using any other currency will need to be converted and will be subject to a conversion fee.
Keeping in line with industry standards, all cryptocurrency transactions will include a transfer fee and will vary depending on the blockchain used. A full list of transfer fees can be accessed easily on the site.
When discussing spreads, again, we see a varying amount depending on your chosen cryptocurrency. Generally, the spread will range between 0.5% and 5%.
When you buy crypto with eToro, you gain ownership of the asset. However, any trades performed by clients under the Australian Securities and Investment Commission will be executed as CFDs. It is also worth noting that any sell or leveraged trades are also executed as CFDs and will incur overnight fees.
The cryptocurrency market can be volatile. To save your blushes, eToro has included negative balance protection, ensuring that if your account fell below zero, eToro would absorb the loss and reset your equity to nil.
eToro provides a solid, user-friendly platform that makes light work of trading the better-known cryptocurrencies.
Although the eToro platform may not hold the most diverse selection of cryptocurrencies, the ability to trade as an asset or as a leveraged CFD increases interest from day-traders, scalpers and investors alike.
Home to zero deposit or overnight fees (when purchasing crypto an owned asset) and offering spreads and transaction fees in line with industry standards, eToro ticks plenty of boxes, whether you are a trading beginner or a crypto guru.
When we consider the ease at which trades can be placed, their intuitive wallet to platform transaction process and the ability to copy trades or portfolios of leading banks and star traders, it is easy to see why eToro has acquired millions of users across over 140 countries worldwide.
As we come to the end of our eToro review, we hope we have left you with plenty to think about and a deeper understanding as to whether the eToro trading platform is the right choice for you.
Taking your strategies and proven track record away from the training ground and into the main arena is a difficult task, especially when you’re used to being supported by countless resources, a welcoming community and a well-designed trading simulator such as Crypto Parrot.
When using the eToro platform, you will find many similarities to the Crypto Parrot platform. Both are simple and easy to navigate, home to plenty of educational resources and tools to help you along the way, as well as a fantastic and thriving community looking to inspire your trading journey.
Rise through the ranks, and membership tiers, as you showcase all you have learned from your Crypto Parrot trading experience, sharing your views with like-minded investors. Be mindful that eToro’s live customer service facility does not operate over the weekends, and crypto availability is limited for lesser-known coins.
We recommend trialling your new strategies and research risk-free from your Crypto Parrot simulated account before taking the dive into the eToro crypto market place and, as always, enjoy the process and ensure you only risk capital you can afford to lose.