eToro alternatives

CFDs, currencies, and cryptocurrencies are complex financial instruments that are inherently risky. That aside, choosing the wrong broker can cost you more in form of high charges, fees, and an unfavorable market environment, especially for beginners. eToro has distinguished itself as an easy-to-use copy-trading platform. In other words, beginners can copy trades from experienced investors and receive related advantages. The platform offers a comprehensive trading experience that covers more than 3000 tradable symbols, including securities, forex, and CFDs. 

Why eToro is a popular choice

eToro was established in 2007, and it has more than 17 million users. As a result, it is arguably one of the largest trading communities that offer securities trading to customers in major parts of the world. The most popular feature of the platform is its copy-trading. 

Fees

eToro charges a reasonable fee on transactions. The only price you will pay is the bid and ask market spread. It charges 0% commission on stocks, and there are no management fees, including when you copy trades. Also, there are no ticket fees, rollover fees, and additional fees on ETFs and stocks. You will pay 1% for buying and selling cryptocurrencies and between 1-2 pips on commodities.

Licensing and security

Clients can trade cryptocurrencies, stocks, indices, commodities, currencies, and ETFs on eToro. Also, the platform offers negative balance protection. As a publicly-traded company on Nasdaq, eToro complies with related standards and follows FCA, ASIC, and CySEc rules. It is also licensed by the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority and regulated by the Cyprus Security and Exchange Commission. 

Other benefits

eToro only offers a proprietary trading platform. All retail traders also have the same accounts with slight variations in the regulatory environment, protection, and restrictions. You can enjoy a $100,000 demo account with no time limit and 24/5 customer support and live chats. You can also reach out to the company via email or phone number. 

How to pick an alternative

Did you wonder why we went to a great length to state the advantages of eToro? It is because we needed to lay a foundation for comparison. To pick alternatives to eToro, we must ensure that the platforms have the same offerings and more, not less. In other words: 

• The alternatives must offer the same or almost the same products, i.e., CFDs, stocks, crypto, etc. 
• The alternatives must target the same clients.
• The alternatives must offer similar fee structures. 
• They must be backed by similar methodology, etc. 

If you want to switch from this broker completely, don't forget to delete your eToro account. Otherwise, you'll end up paying inactivity fees.

Best eToro alternative

Now that you know the basis of comparison, below are the best eToro alternatives you can’t go wrong with. 

Trading 212 

Trading 212 is a CFD broker regulated by the Bulgarian FSC, UK FCA, and CySEC. It has more than 1.5 million clients and 3 billion euros in client assets. 

Security

Trading 212 keeps all client funds in separate segregated bank accounts covered by the provisions of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. What this means is that, in the unlikely event of the company failing to safeguard your assets, the scheme protects your assets to a maximum of 85,000 euros. 

Trading 212 uses a 24/7 security operations center that analyses and monitors traffic to your account. It also generates real-time alerts to ensure your data protection. Apart from this, the platform uses US-based security metrics to conduct scans of applications and infrastructures and regular penetration tests. Unlike eToro, you can enjoy dedicated customer service regardless of the time of the week. 

Trading instruments and fees 

You can trade stocks, indices, commodities, and more than 150 Forex pairs on Trading 212. The fee structure is as follows: 

• Minimum deposit: USD 10, EUR 10
• Deposit fee: no fee
• Minimum withdrawal: USD 10, EUR 10
• Withdrawal fee: no fee
• Commission charge: no charge

Trading 212 charges 0.5% on currency conversation. You will also incur an interest swap on your account if you leave open positions until the next day. 

The margin requirement varies depending on the instrument you want to trade. However, the common ones are below: 

• Commodities: Gold 5%, other commodities 10% 
• Forex: Major currency pairs 3.33%, non-major pairs 5% 
• Stocks: 20% 
• Indices: Based indices 5%, non-major indices 10% 

Trading 212 service is at the same level as eToro. The deposit and withdrawal process are the same, and there is just a slight variation in the fee structure. However, Trading 212 offers higher customer service. 

XTB

XTB is another worthy eToro Alternative. You can trade over 2.100 global markets in a single place and enjoy superior execution speed and a fully customizable dashboard. The company has been around for more than 20 years and has offices in over 13 countries, including Poland, Germany, Chile, the UK, and France. 

XTB has won the following awards and recognition: 

• Best Mobile App for Investing – RANKIA Awards 2019 
• Best Mobile App for Investing – RANKIA Awards 2020
• Best NDD Forex Broker – Online Personal Wealth Awards 2021
• Best Forex Broker for Low Cost – Investopedia 2021 
• The Best Execution Broker – Technical Analysis Exhibition 2019

Security 

The XTB group is regulated worldwide. Client deposit and funds are also insured by LLOYDS in case of bankruptcy. The insurance is available for users whose account balance is between 20,000 and 1 million USD. Plus, the company’s results are reviewed and audited annually by a member of the Big 4. For transparency, the company switches its auditing company every two years. 

Trading instruments and fees 

• Forex: you can trade 48 currency pairs with low spreads from 0.1 pips. Micro lot is also available, and customers can trade 24 hours/5 days a week. There is no minimum deposit, and the withdrawal process is fast. 
• Indices: you can go short or long with over 20 indices from all over the world. You can also use leverage up to 500:1, and transparent rollovers are visible directly on the chart. 
• Commodities: like with indices, you can use leverage up to 500:1 trading commodities on XTB. The market is available throughout the day, and you can monitor your trades on smartphones, tablets, and PC. 
• CFD: XTB does not charge commission on stock and ETF CFDs. You can also leverage up to 1:10, and there are more than 2.100 equities and 60 ETF CFDs you can choose from. 
• Crypto: Clients can trade cryptocurrencies every day, including on weekends, and enjoy low trading costs and spreads starting from 0.22%. 

Again, XTB and eToro are on par regarding their overall offering. XTB offers outstanding customer service, education, and a wide variety of assets. Also, its xStation 5 trading platform is innovative, and it offers MetaTrader 4, which eToro does not. 

Plus500

Trade CFDs on shares, indices, Forex, and cryptocurrencies from anywhere with Plus500. The company has been around since 2010 and has recorded more than 22 million registered users, $800 billion traded value, and 300 million positions opened. You can trade from anywhere using the Android app, Web trader, or Windows 10 trader. 

Security 

Plus500 holds all client money in segregated bank accounts according to the Financial Conduct Authority client money rule. The company uses its money for hedging and has no exposure to sovereign or corporate debt. Also, Plus500UK is regulated and authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 509909).

Fees 

• Deposits: no fee 
• Live share CFD prices: no fee 
• Real-time forex quote: no fee 
• Opening or closing trades: no fee 
• Rolling your position: no fee

Plus500 earns through the spread. Other fees that can be applied to your account include overnight funding, currency conversion fee, guaranteed stop order fee, and an inactivity fee of $10 after three months. 

Plus500 wraps our list of alternatives to eToro. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and the platform is secured by SSL. It offers advanced tools and features like guaranteed stop, stop limit, trailing stop, stop loss, and negative balance protection to avoid wrecking your portfolio. Also, you can enjoy alerts on price movements and free email and push notifications on market events. 

Conclusion 

There are many eToro alternatives, even in UK, you can use to invest and earn money. However, not all of them will give you the satisfaction and peace that eToro will. If you can’t use eToro because of any constraint, try out any of the three we have listed above. Alternatively, you could check our trading app comparison tool. Still, eToro is a great broker. If you don't believe us, read our eToro review and convince yourself.