nextmarkets vs eToro Review 2023

Now home to over 10 million users, eToro has grown from strength to strength since its birth back in 2007. Yoni Assia, the well-known founder and CEO of eToro, had initial dreams to create an online trading platform that allows trades to be completed easily while users have fun and gain industry knowledge along the way. 2009 saw eToro launch its trading platform, allowing beginners and advanced traders to trade financial assets online. 

 An industry first in 2010, as eToro unveiled their social trading platform. The idea allowed users to copy other successful traders. We discuss the eToro social trading platform & Copy Trader feature later on in this eToro review.

 Keeping up with the ever-growing need to trade on the go and looking to take advantage of the rise in mobile technology & performance, eToro released their mobile app. Users could now trade as effectively and efficiently as they could online via the eToro app. 

 2013 allowed eToro users to diversify their portfolios with the addition of stock trading. Previously, commodities and currencies were the main sources of trading options. eToro also listed Bitcoin, tradeable via CFD. Integration of the aforementioned social trading features and the eToro WebTrader began in 2015, merging both elements to create one innovative interface. 

 eToro introduces the CopyPortfolios product, further enhancing their social user experience. In simple terms, the CopyPortfolios are managed portfolios that utilise the same predetermined market strategy for a group of assets or top traders. Back in 2013, eToro offered Bitcoin trading via CFDs. 2017 saw the addition of other popular cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin.

 2018 and beyond has seen the growing popularity of crypto trading. In turn, this has inspired eToro to update their platform, ensuring the broker’s vision can be met – “To open the global markets for everyone to trade and invest in a simple and transparent way.” 

To be deemed legitimate, safe and secure, all stock trading, crypto trading. and forex trading platforms have to comply with strict regulations and hold valid licensing. In answer to the above – is eToro safe? We are happy to say yes. eToro are 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

 Our eToro review also uncovered that, similar to us, client’s money is kept in segregated bank accounts. By keeping records, segregated eToro can ensure company funds and assets are kept separate from clients, meaning accounts can be tracked easily. 

 Alongside the above, the well-known broker offers its users the chance to add two-factor authentication (2FA) to their accounts. The 2FA feature allows users to add a second level of security to their account. When logging in, depositing, withdrawing, or fulfilling any other process that involves your account funds, users will be required to enter a one-time code (received via SMS or created by the Authenticator app) to confirm the transaction.

 Lastly, it is worth noting that eToro is home to a $1 million free investment insurance policy and SSL encryption to help keep your account assets safe and secure. 

Once your account is set up with eToro, you will gain access to thousands of different financial assets across different classes, mentioned below:

• 2000+ stocks, including Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Netflix (NFLX)
• 13 indices, including Nasdaq (NSDQ100), FTSE (UK100), DAX (GER30) and CAC (FRA40)
• 15 commodities, including Gold, Silver and Oil
• 99 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC) and Ripple (XRP)
• 47 currencies/forex pairings, including USD:JPY, GBP:AUD and EUR:CAD.  
• 150+ ETF’s

When using the web-based platform, or the eToro app, users can make use of the Stop Loss, Stop Limit, and Trailing Stop tools. However, one negative to take into consideration is that eToro does not guarantee Stop Loss. If the market experiences a high level of volatility, creating spikes or gaps, then a Stop Loss could incur negative slippage. 

 To counter this, eToro offers negative balance protection. If your account falls below zero, the broker will accept the loss and bring your account back up to a nil balance. This ensures users will never lose funds to a higher value that they have already deposited. 

  When trading with eToro, it is vital to understand which assets you invest in the underlying asset and which assets you will be trading as Contracts for Difference (CFDs). CFDs enable users to speculate on an asset’s short-term price movements, aiming to capitalise on the greater leverage used. 

 Depending on your location, the eToro wallet is a handy tool on site that allows you to pull certain assets directly from the trading platform to somewhere safe and secure (A complete list of available assets and their fees can be found on the eToro site). 

Before choosing your preferred broker, we always advise looking through payment terms, focusing on whether they are host to your preferred payment method(s), the minimum deposits, and any additional fees you may be subject to. 

 Depending on your country/regional regulations, the minimum first-time deposit at eToro varies between $50 and $10,000. All deposits after that will be expected to be a minimum of $50 or $500 if made by wire transfer.  

 All eToro trading accounts are in USD, meaning any other currencies that are deposited will be converted at the current exchange rate (This transaction is subject to a conversion fee).

The platform is home to various payment methods, including Credit/Debit cards, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, Klarna and more. You can find individual details regarding max deposits, currencies and deposit time on the eToro website. 

However, before eToro allows you to withdraw your funds a specific criteria must be met:

• must have withdrawable funds available
•  Your account must be verified (This can be quickly identified by a green tick next to your profile) 
•  You must withdraw a minimum of $30 

 If the above have all been met, you are now in a position to withdraw your funds. Please be advised all eToro withdrawals are subject to a processing fee. The amount is displayed in the cashier before processing, allowing you to halt the request if needed. You may also be charged by the funding provider (credit card provider or receiving bank).

 For users who like a choice of funding options, eToro could be considered a good TD Ameritrade alternative. However, our review has uncovered that once your funds have left your eToro trading account, you can expect to receive funds, depending on your chosen method, anywhere upto 8 business days later. 

 For those of you who are irregular users or long-term investors planning to hold an asset for an extended period of time, please note that an eToro fee of $10 will be applied to your account for inactivity after 12 months. However, simply logging into your account will count towards your activity and reset the clock!

When reaching the eToro site, users will be greeted with a colour palette of green, white and grey. The colour choice is instantly recognisable and makes headers and other important text stand out and easy to read. 

 When focusing on accessibility, a cunning bonus feature is the added ability for users to make their own accessibility adjustments, creating a layout that is easier for you to see, hear, and use. The above feature can be accessed on the homepage, is named Web accessibility solution by accessible, and is depicted by a stickman.

 The Web Accessibility Solution allows customers to enhance website visuals, highlight links, magnify text, mute sounds, add the screen-reader for blind users, have an ADHD-friendly profile, a vision-impaired profile, as well as your choice of 21 languages and much more. 

The eToro trading platform is accessible via desktop, mobile browser and the eToro app. Each site/app has been specifically designed to accommodate the facility and functionality of the eToro platform without losing any performance. 

The web-based platform is built on JAVA. Complete with a whole host of technical indicators and interactive charts, users can plot and trade under market conditions on stocks, forex and cryptocurrencies. 

eToro’s copy trading technology allows clients to copy the trading activity of the top-performing traders. Clients can search through the broker’s complete active trader base, filtering by return, risk, markets and much more. 

 When discussing accessibility, eToro also caters to the Muslim faith, offering a swap-free account option. Those who wish to get accustomed to the technical indicators, or would like a risk-free look into the trading world, can also utilise the demo account option. This demo comes with a virtual $100,000 and full access to live markets.  

The eToro mobile trading app is available on both iOS and Android devices and boasts the same features as the broker’s web-based version, minus some customizability options. 

eToro users can access the customer service team via an online ticket/email or live chat. Unfortunately, similar to our findings from our Trading 212 review, eToro does not offer a telephone service. Users will need to rely on the eToro live chat service accessible on weekdays, operating 24/5. Any urgent queries over the weekend will need to be dealt with via email, or users will need to wait until Monday for a live chat agent. 

Upon opening the eToro Customer Service Center, users are greeted with a note explaining that it could take up to 14 days for their customer service agents to respond due to an increase in requests. As well as this, before opening a ticket with the team, eToro requests you look through the self-help page, where users have access to a comprehensive selection of frequently asked questions. 

 The live chat feature is not accessible from the homepage. For those of you who are looking for a way to contact the eToro live agents instantly, you will need to head to the Customer Service Center and select live chat (this is hidden amongst their opening paragraph). 

 When selecting your preferred broker, we believe that providing the highest standard of customer service should be at the heart of all you do. Excellent customer service builds trust with its users, allows for queries to be resolved quickly and lowers the risk of any financial losses. 

From the points above, we feel eToro has prioritised other aspects of their platform, leaving their customer service needing a little work. 

As with our Plus500 review, our experts now look to uncover what special features of the eToro platform make it stand out from the crowd. 

 Copy Trader 

We briefly touched on the Copy Trader earlier in our eToro review; this is of two unique features of the eToro platform. 

The idea is simple enough – giving eToro users the chance to copy fellow eToro users’ portfolios, with a proven track record of successful trades. When browsing through the user profiles, the use of charts to display performance allows for quick assessments as to whether copying trades could be worthwhile, as well as having the ability to filter specific fields, including risk score, trades per week and average hold time. Users can copy up to 100 traders, investing a minimum amount of $200 per trade, with a top-end of $500,000. 

One negative with this particular approach to trading is the inability to close your trade partially. When you close your Copy Trader buy/sell, you will have to close in its entirety.   

Copy Portfolio 

The second part of eToro’s unique features is the Copy Portfolio. Built around an algorithm that selects the top-performing assets for you, the Copy Portfolio is an investment management product that automatically copies multiple markets or traders.

Not to be confused with the Copy Trader, where users can copy just one trader at a time, the Copy Portfolio allows users to copy themes, including the portfolios of big banks, cryptocurrencies or a portfolio composed of star traders.