eToro USA - Usability, Look & Feel
When testing their website for this eToro review, it’s hard not to be aware of their open desirability to be the ‘social media of financial trading’. It’s certainly fair to say that eToro’s website resembles a social media site, however, it also manages to retain its own identity and character – not to mention the fact it’s sleek, clever, and extremely easy to navigate.
The design follows a green-and-white colour scheme that’s pleasing to the eye without being too bland or boring. In terms of getting around the website, everything is where you want it to be, with a button for everything you seemingly need on each page managing to appear as if by magic.
The eToro open account process is quick, easy and safe with a secure two-step login system. Once you’ve created your account and are inside, making deposits can be done quickly and seamlessly. Withdrawals are equally as easy to do, however, withdrawal times can be slow.
Overall, this is just what a modern financial trading website should look like – much better than the dated look and feel of some of their competitors as discussed in our Fortress Capital and
Autoshares review.
As this is an eToro review USA, we’ll be focusing on the parts of the website and trading platform that are available to US account holders.
Our eToro review noted that eToro operates in numerous countries throughout the world, the different types of eToro open account clients can have depends strictly on the laws and regulations of each country. Rather than being dictated by what type of account you have, it’s the country you open your account in that has a bigger influence on what you can and can’t do with your eToro open account.
Worldwide, there are 2 different types of eToro open account: Retail and Professional.
Retail Clients
A retail client is essentially an individual, private and non-professional client. Retail clients have access to all of the eToro trading functions and platforms that are available in their country of residence. US clients do not have the option of working with leverage. However, depending on the country, funds are protected by the supervisory authorities and they receive protection against negative balances and restrictions on the closing of margins.
Professional Clients
To become a professional client at eToro, you must successfully pass an eligibility test to verify that you qualify as a professional trader. Professional clients at eToro still have protection against negative balances. Professional clients also cannot trade with leverage in the US. However, professional clients must forgo certain asset protection measures such as the Investor Compensation Fund.
Demo account
If you’re completely new to the complex world of trading, then you can get to grips with it and practice without investing any real money thanks to the eToro demo account. The eToro demo account allows you to do absolutely everything you can do with an eToro Retail Client Account, only with virtual money so it involves zero risk. The eToro demo account is easy to open: simply register with your email, Google+ or Facebook account and you’re off!
eToro Open Account USA
Before we go any further, only customers from the following states are eligible for an eToro open account in the USA:
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.*
*As the laws and regulations are ever evolving and changing, it’s highly likely that the states allowed to open eToro accounts will be updated, as will the capabilities for US customers. We hope (and are confident) that these changes will be for the better, however we always recommend reading through EToro’s updated T&Cs before opening an account.
eToro open account: step by step
Opening an account with eToro USA is quick and can be done within a day.
You can register your eToro open account by signing up with your email, Google+ or Facebook account and entering a couple of extra details. At this stage, you’ll already be able to use your eToro demo account with virtual money. If you want to go on to create a proper account and invest real money, move onto step 2.
To open a fully functional eToro open account in the USA you’ll have to provide the following documents to prove your identity and residence:
- ID:
copy of your passport or personal ID (drivers license etc.)
- Residence:
copy of a utility bill or bank statement
It shouldn’t take eToro USA more than 24 hours to verify your documents and open your account providing there aren’t any problems, however it can take longer.
Once verified, you can make your first deposit — starting from as little as $1. From that point, you can begin trading and also earn 3.5% interest on available balances. For more details on payment methods, see the payment section of this eToro review.
If you’re interested in international brokers and our eToro opinions and reviews, read on! If you’re interested in a US-based broker, check out our
Ally Invest review
and
Betterment review!
Much like their website, eToro’s trading platforms are sleek, easy on the eye and extremely user friendly, which is why we’ve scored them so highly in this part of our eToro review. If there’s one tiny negative we can get out of the way early on here, it’s eToro’s lack of a downloadable desktop trading platform. However, we have to say that it’s not really missed or needed as their web-based platform as quick and well – just as an online trading platform should in this modern age we live in!
eToro Web Platform
The web-based trading platform is clean, innovative, and easy to navigate—especially for beginners. More experienced users may miss deep customization options, as most elements are fixed in place. Still, the layout is logical, the search function works well, and helpful guides are readily available. Features like the CopyTrader™ system also highlight eToro’s strength in social trading—setting it apart from traditional brokers.
eToro Mobile Platform
Replicating an impressive web or desktop trading platform for the small screen is a hard feat to pull off, and many big online trading companies have failed. eToro have managed to bring their platform to mobile excellently. There are some things missing on the mobile version, such as less charting features and even more limited customization options, but that’s to be expected when reducing such a large scale and highly functioning platform. When testing the mobile platform for our eToro review, we experienced no bugs or lagging. The eToro mobile trading platform is available for both iOS and Android.
Making payments with eToro is quick and easy, with numerous payment options available. Rather strangely, given that eToro was unavailable to US customers for a number of years, the only base currency permitted with eToro is USD. This shouldn’t restrict any readers of this eToro review.
Deposits
Depositing money with eToro USA is straightforward. You can fund your account using a variety of methods including bank transfer, credit/debit card, PayPal, Skrill, and Neteller. The minimum deposit is just $1, and deposits made with cards or eWallets are typically processed instantly. Bank transfers may take 4–7 business days. Note that deposits must come from an account in your name—third-party payments are not accepted.
There are no deposit fees for US clients, and since the account base currency is USD, there are no currency conversion charges either.
eToro Review: Deposit step by step guide
- Sign in to your eToro account
- Click the “Deposit Funds” button in your account homepage
- Enter the amount that you want to deposit
- Choose your preferred deposit method
Withdrawals
Withdrawals are also easy to initiate, with a minimum amount of $30 USD. However, eToro charges a $5 withdrawal fee, and processing can take some time. Internal approval may take up to 2 business days, provided your account information is verified. After that, payment processing by your bank or eWallet can take another 1–3 business days, though in some cases longer. For bank transfers, the full process may take up to 7 days or more.
eToro Review: Withdrawal step by step guide
- Sign into your account
- Click on the “Withdraw Funds” button on the left-hand menu
- Enter the amount you wish to withdraw in USD
- Fill out the online withdrawal form
- Click “Submit” and wait for the lengthy withdrawal period to begin
eToro’s FAQs, help tools and educational tools are extremely helpful and work efficiently, which is just as well as their customer service leaves a lot to be desired, unfortunately. For a website that we’ve otherwise lauded for being super slick, easy to navigate and efficient, the customer 24/7 live chat is extremely difficult to locate. In the end, what we had to do was type “Customer Service” into the search bar in order to find it.
During our eToro review it’s easy to see why eToro USA might want to keep their customer support live chat hidden; it’s not very good and they’re often unavailable. They claim to be 24/7, but we had difficulty getting through on evenings and weekends. When we did get answers they were, for the most part, useful, however sometimes answers appeared to be simply copied and pasted from the FAQs. If you’d like compare service support with another platform, check out our
Tastyworks review, a great option for active traders.
If you do want to get in touch with eToro USA, we’d recommend doing so via email or their phone line, where you’ll get dealt with on a more personal level. The good news for US customers here is that they are contactable via a toll-free phone line with an American number.
Our overall experience with eToro’s customer service was a decidedly average one, as they could never strike the right balance; either the response times were slow but the answers were good, or the response times were fairly quick but the answers were either copy and pasted, not useful or impersonal. When we looked into other customers’ experiences, we found similar results, with many citing saying they had to go through bad experiences until they found the right service agent to help them. From this, it seems that eToro need to work on their customer service staffing and their live chat’s functionality.
Regulation & Deposit Insurance
Let’s start off here by answering the first question everyone wants to know when researching a trading platform or broker,
is eToro legit?
The answer is yes—eToro is a fully legitimate brokerage. It’s licensed by the Cypriot Investment Firm (CIF) and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
In the US, things work a bit differently. eToro is registered as a Money Services Business (MSB) with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and operates in more than 40 US states under individual state-level licenses:
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
A full list of state regulators, including contact details and consumer rights, can be found on eToro’s website.
Deposit Protection
UK customers are protected up to £85,000 via the FCA, and European clients up to €20,000 through CySEC. In the US, however, protection schemes vary by state and apply only to specific financial instruments.
As crypto trading is currently the only service available to US customers, no federal or state-level investor compensation scheme applies. Funds are not protected by the FDIC or SIPC. However, eToro USA keeps client funds in segregated accounts and complies with anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) obligations under US law.
eToro Referral Program – Earn Bonus Cash
If you refer a friend to eToro and they sign up, verify their account, and make a qualifying deposit, you may both be eligible to receive a referral bonus. The exact bonus amount and eligibility criteria can vary depending on your location and the current promotion. Referral bonuses are subject to specific terms and conditions, so be sure to review the latest details on eToro’s website. If someone you know is already an eToro user, it might be worth checking if both of you can benefit from this program!
eToro Demo Account
If you’re new to online trading—or just want to get a feel for the platform—you can sign up for a free demo account. It allows you to explore the eToro platform using virtual funds, so there’s no risk to your own money. Signing up is quick via email, Google, or Facebook. You’ll be able to simulate real trading in real market conditions—perfect for gaining experience before switching to a live account.
