eToro review 2026: fees, copy trading and safety in Europe

eToro is a multi-asset investment platform for stocks, ETFs, crypto and CFDs, best known for its social trading features such as CopyTrader. Our verdict: it is a convenient way to hold stocks and MiCA-licensed crypto in one app, but euro investors pay for currency conversion on almost everything, and the CFDs that sit one tap away lose most retail traders money.

We checked eToro’s fee pages, licence records and help articles on 23 October 2026. This eToro review is written for European investors, especially in the Netherlands and Germany, who are served by eToro (Europe) Ltd. UK investors use a different company, eToro (UK) Ltd, and pay different fees.

eToro review: the short verdict

eToro is good for beginners who want stocks and crypto in one app, can live with USD balances, and stick to real, non-leveraged positions. It is a poor fit for long-term ETF investors who want the lowest costs, because the 0.75% currency conversion fee and the $1 stock commission for Dutch, German and Belgian residents add up.

• Strongest use case: a first account for a mix of individual stocks, ETFs and crypto, with a free $100,000 virtual portfolio to practise first.
• Biggest drawback: conversion fees between euros and dollars, plus 1% per crypto buy and sell.
• Avoid it if: you want to build a diversified portfolio of euro ETFs as cheaply as possible, or you don’t trust yourself to stay away from CFDs and leverage.

What is eToro?

eToro is an online broker and stock broker app, founded in 2007, that combines investing with a social network: you can follow other traders and copy their trades. Since May 2025, eToro Group has been listed on Nasdaq under the ticker ETOR; the IPO was priced at $52 per share and raised $620 million in gross proceeds, including shares sold by existing shareholders.

At the end of 2025, eToro reported 3.81 million funded accounts and $18.5 billion in assets under administration. EU clients are served by eToro (Europe) Ltd in Limassol, Cyprus. Euro accounts and the eToro debit card come from a sister company, eToro Money Malta Ltd.

What eToro offers depends on the product: real stocks and ETFs, real crypto under a MiCA licence, and CFDs (contracts for difference) on stocks, crypto and other underlying assets. Knowing which one you are buying is the most important thing in this review.

Is eToro safe? Licences and protection in Europe

eToro (Europe) Ltd is licensed by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) as a MiFID II investment firm under licence 109/10, held since January 2010. That licence lets it serve customers across the EU, including the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Ireland.

For crypto, eToro has a MiCA licence. ESMA’s interim register lists eToro (Europe) Ltd as authorised by CySEC on 16 January 2025 for custody, exchange, order execution, advice, portfolio management and transfer of crypto-assets, passported to all EU and EEA states. For German residents, crypto custody is provided through Tangany GmbH.

How your money is protected

eToro says all client funds are held in separate, segregated accounts at partner banks, apart from company money. If eToro failed and client assets were missing, the Cyprus Investor Compensation Fund covers up to €20,000 per investor. eToro says that in some cases deposits at eligible EU banks are also covered by a deposit guarantee scheme up to €100,000, and that private insurance covers larger balances up to €1 million; that insurance is eToro’s own statement, and we haven’t seen the policy.

No scheme covers trading losses, and don’t count on compensation for crypto: the Dutch investor compensation scheme, for example, explicitly excludes crypto-assets.

Regulatory history

eToro’s regulatory actions in our records concern group companies outside the EU:

• 2023, Australia: ASIC sued eToro AUS Capital, alleging the target market for its CFD product was too broad.
• 2024, United States: eToro USA LLC paid $1.5 million to settle SEC charges that it operated as an unregistered broker and clearing agency, and limited US crypto trading to BTC, BCH and ETH.

Neither case concerns eToro (Europe) Ltd. Both involved high risk products or registration, which is why eToro scores 7 out of 10 for protection rather than 9; see how we score.

Real stocks or CFDs: what you actually own on eToro

On eToro, a normal buy order without leverage usually gets you the real asset, while leveraged positions and short sells are always CFDs. A CFD is a contract that tracks the price of an underlying asset: you never own the share or the coin, and leverage multiplies both gains and losses.

eToro’s fee page is explicit about this:

The catch: because of product restrictions, some non-leveraged buy orders in stocks, ETFs or crypto may also be executed as CFDs. eToro marks these trades with “CFD” on the order screen, so check the trade ticket before you confirm.

CFD positions held overnight pay a financing fee, charged every night from Monday to Friday at 22:00 UK time, and they carry CFD spreads.

eToro fees: what you pay

eToro charges $1 per stock trade for Dutch, German and Belgian residents, no commission on ETFs, 1% on crypto and 0.75% whenever euros are converted into dollars. Here are the eToro fees that matter for European investors:

The $1 stock commission took effect in the Netherlands in August 2024, in Belgium in October 2024 and in Germany in March 2025. Irish and UK investors still pay $0.

Worked examples

These trading costs assume a Dutch or German resident paying from a euro balance, with the price unchanged between buying and selling.

€500 of a US stock, for example Microsoft stock:

• Conversion to dollars: 0.75% of €500 = €3.75
• Commission to open: $1
• Later, commission to close: $1, plus 0.75% (about €3.75) to convert back to euros
• Round trip: €7.50 plus $2, close to 2% of the €500

€100 a month into an ETF with a recurring investment:

• Commission: €0
• Conversion: waived on the deposit that the recurring investment triggers
• You still pay the spread on each buy, and 0.75% if you later convert dollar proceeds back into euros. After a year of €1,200 invested, converting it all back would cost €9.

€1,000 of Bitcoin:

• Buy: 1% = €10
• Sell: 1% of the sale value, €10 at the same price
• Round trip: €20, or 2%, plus 0.75% each way if your euros must be converted into dollars first

For comparison, Bitpanda’s premium for Bitcoin is 0.99% per trade and Interactive Brokers charges 0.12% to 0.18% on crypto, so eToro is not the cheapest place for crypto trading.

Currency conversion: the main hidden cost

Currency conversion is the eToro cost that surprises most new investors. Most balances on eToro are held in US dollars, so euros have to be converted, and that conversion is where the hidden fees sit.

• From your eToro Money EUR account to USD: 0.75% each way. Club members get a discount of 20% to 80%.
• A euro deposit straight into the USD account: a mark-up of 150 pips, which means 0.0150 on the EUR/USD exchange rate. At any rate below 1.50 dollars per euro, that is more than 1% of your deposit.

So the cheaper route is to deposit euros into the eToro Money EUR account by SEPA bank transfer, which is free, and convert from there. With recurring investments, eToro waives the conversion fee on the triggered deposit.

Withdrawal fees, inactivity fee and interest

eToro withdrawals from the EUR account are free; withdrawals from the USD account cost $5, with a minimum withdrawal of $30. eToro’s fee page showed no inactivity fee on 23 October 2026. Older versions charged $10 a month after 12 months without a login.

eToro’s interest page mentions only USD cash, if you opt in: 3% a year on a total balance of $1 to $50,000 and 3.80% above $50,000 (EU rates). eToro keeps part of the interest it earns. We couldn’t confirm whether it pays anything on euro balances.

How to avoid fees on eToro

You can cut most eToro costs with four habits:

1. Deposit euros by SEPA into the EUR account, not straight into the USD account.
2. Use recurring investments for ETFs, which waive the conversion fee on the triggered deposit.
3. Place fewer, larger stock trades, because the $1 commission is the same on €50 as on €5,000.
4. Avoid CFDs, which add spreads and overnight fees on top of the risk.

Copy trading on eToro

Copy trading on eToro, through its CopyTrader feature, means your account automatically follows another eToro user’s trades: you pick a trader and an amount, and positions open and close in your account as that trader opens and closes theirs, scaled to your amount. It is a way to put your money behind someone else’s own decisions.

The basics from eToro’s CopyTrader page:

• The minimum amount to copy a trader is $200, and each copied position must be at least $1.
• There is no extra charge for copying. Copied positions pay no commission, but the same spreads and overnight fees apply as for manual trades.
• eToro states that copy trading does not amount to investment advice, that your capital is at risk, and that past performance is not an indication of future results.

Copy trading risks, in plain words

Copy trading is not a shortcut to investment returns. When you copy someone, you get their losses as well as their gains, and you have far less control than with your own decisions.

• Past returns are a poor guide. A trader at the top of the rankings this year can lose money next year. A good year can come from one lucky bet or from taking large risks.
• You may end up with CFDs. If the trader you copy uses leverage or short positions, those positions are CFDs, the product on which 55% of retail investor accounts lose money with eToro.
• Concentration risk. One trader can hold a handful of stocks or coins. That is the opposite of a diversified portfolio.
• Costs add up. A trader who opens and closes many positions makes you pay the spread each time, plus overnight fees on any CFDs.
• It is not a recommendation. eToro says copy trading is not investment advice, so the choice and the risk are yours.

If you want to try copy trading, use a small amount you can afford to lose entirely, check whether the trader uses leverage, and compare their record with a plain world-index ETF over the same period. Copy trading is high risk; most new investors are better served by a simple ETF plan.

Crypto trading on eToro

eToro offers cryptocurrency trading under its MiCA licence, so you can buy real crypto as an EU resident with a licensed provider. The cost is 1% per buy and per sell for most customers, falling to 0.10% to 0.95% only at Platinum and higher tiers.

Transferring coins to the eToro Money wallet costs 2% of the amount. Short and leveraged crypto positions are CFDs, and as with stocks, some non-leveraged crypto buys can also be executed as CFDs, so check the trade ticket.

Crypto prices are highly volatile: they can fall sharply in a single day, and market volatility can wipe out most of a position. Only put in money you could lose entirely.

Stocks, ETFs and global markets

eToro gives access to stocks and ETFs on exchanges in Europe, the US and other global markets, with fractional shares and recurring investments. There are no bonds and no options for EU clients, and futures are only in a limited beta that we couldn’t confirm for the EU.

Fractional shares

Fractional shares let you invest a fixed amount instead of buying whole shares. With €50 you can buy a slice of a stock that costs far more than €50 per share. The catch for Dutch, German and Belgian residents: the $1 commission on a €50 buy is about 2% of the trade, and a US stock adds 0.75% conversion. Fractional investing works best through recurring ETF investments, where commission is €0.

eToro also offers Smart Portfolios; its fee page says commission doesn’t apply to them either.

Deposits, the app and getting started

You open an eToro account online, verify your identity and fund it with one of many payment methods. The minimum deposit varies by country, from $10 to $10,000 for a first deposit; we couldn’t confirm the exact figure for the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium or Ireland.

• Payment methods: bank transfer, cards, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, iDEAL (Netherlands), Trustly and instant euro transfers from an eToro Money account.
• SEPA: free in and out of the eToro Money EUR account.
• Virtual portfolio: every eToro account includes a free $100,000 virtual portfolio, eToro’s version of a demo account, so new investors can practise first.
• Support: an online help centre and customer service tickets. We couldn’t confirm live chat or phone support for EU customers.

eToro works in the browser as a desktop platform and in its mobile app, with the social trading features built in. Because leverage and CFDs are offered in the same app as real shares, check the trade ticket before every order: it shows when a position is a CFD.

Tax for Dutch, German and Belgian investors

eToro does not withhold tax for EU residents, so you report your own investments, but it offers annual tax reports for the Netherlands and Germany.

• Netherlands: no Dutch tax is withheld. eToro offers a free annual tax report for Dutch residents, which its help page describes as made for Club members. You report your holdings in box 3: in 2026, a fixed notional return of 6.00% on investments, taxed at 36% above a tax-free allowance of €59,357 per person.
• Germany: eToro does not withhold Abgeltungsteuer and doesn’t accept a Freistellungsauftrag, so you declare income and gains in Anlage KAP. Capital income is taxed at 25% plus 5.5% solidarity surcharge (26.375% in total, plus church tax where it applies), with a €1,000 allowance per person. eToro offers an annual German tax report.
• Belgium: we couldn’t confirm whether eToro withholds the stock exchange tax (TOB). If a foreign broker doesn’t, you must declare and pay it yourself.

Is eToro good for beginners and long-term investors?

eToro is good for beginners who want a simple app, small amounts and a mix of stocks and crypto, as long as they stay with real, non-leveraged positions. For long-term ETF investing it works, but it costs more than specialist brokers.

Beginners: the virtual portfolio, fractional shares and simple app help new investors learn. The main limitation is that the same app puts CFDs, leverage and copy trading in front of you. Start with a small amount, check that no order is marked CFD, and don’t add leverage.

Long-term investors: recurring ETF investments with no commission and a waived conversion fee are a reasonable way to invest €100 a month. But balances in dollars, 0.75% conversion on the way back to euros, no bonds and, in Germany, no tax withholding make a dedicated ETF broker simpler for a buy-and-hold investor.

eToro vs other brokers: who should look elsewhere

eToro wins on convenience for stocks plus crypto, but other brokers are cheaper or simpler for most specific goals. Pick by what you want to do:

• Euro ETF savings plans: Trade Republic charges €0 per savings plan execution and €1 per order, lists no FX fee and withholds German tax. Scalable Capital charges €0 for savings plans in Germany and the Netherlands.
• Low-cost stocks on many exchanges: DEGIRO charges €0 plus a €1 handling fee for its ETF core selection and 0.25% for currency conversion via AutoFX.
• Active and global investing: Interactive Brokers adds only 0.03% to the exchange rate on automatic conversion and charges 0.12% to 0.18% on crypto.
• Crypto plus stocks from an EU company: Bitpanda charges a 0.99% premium on Bitcoin, €1 per stock or ETF trade, and withholds German tax on securities.
• Bonds and options: Saxo offers both, for Dutch and Belgian residents.

For more options, see our comparison of the best ETF brokers.

The bottom line

eToro is a licensed, easy-to-use app for real stocks, ETFs and MiCA-licensed crypto, with social trading features built in. The price is a 0.75% currency conversion fee, $1 per stock trade for Dutch, German and Belgian residents, 1% on each crypto buy and sell, and CFDs that are never far away. Turn here if you want stocks and crypto in one app and will watch the conversion costs; look elsewhere if you want a cheap, simple home for long-term ETF savings.