eToro Review: Buy and Sell Crypto for Free

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If you are interested in actively trading cryptocurrencies in the U.S., you may have heard of eToro. eToro is a popular international trading platform with more than 13 million registered users in over 140 countries.

For traders located in the United States, eToro is focused on cryptocurrency markets and assets including bitcoin, ethereum, ripple, litecoin and other popular coins. If you’re interested in starting with cryptocurrency trading or are looking for a new home for your prized digital assets, learn about how eToro works and if its the right fit for your crypto trading needs.

Slickdeals updates terms periodically. Details accurate as of August 2021.

What Is eToro?

eToro is an international brokerage platform available to users in more than 140 countries including the United States. While traders outside of the U.S. can access a wide range of assets including stocks, ETFs, commodities, foreign currencies (FX) and indices to trade, traders in the United States can use eToro exclusively for cryptocurrency trading.

With an eToro account, you can buy and sell more than a dozen cryptocurrencies, also called digital coins, in an online brokerage account.

eToro was founded in 2007 with offices in Cyprus and London. It has its main U.S. office in Hoboken, New Jersey just outside of New York City with additional offices in Shanghai, Sydney and Tel Aviv.

Special Features That Make eToro Unique

eToro has several features that are particularly useful or unique to the eToro platform.

Here are key aspects of the service to know about.

What Types of Assets Can You Trade With an eToro Account?

eToro supports 24/7 cryptocurrency trading on web and mobile platforms.

For U.S. traders, eToro is exclusively used for cryptocurrency trading. eToro doesn’t have the licenses to offer the full suite of products it does for international traders. Here is the cryptocurrency list available today:

• Aave (AAVE)
• Alogrand (ALGO)
• Basic Attention Token (BAT)
• Bitcoin (BTC)
• Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
• Cardano (ADA)
• Chainlink (LINK)
• Compound (COMP)
• Decentraland (MANA)
• Dash (DASH)
• Dogecoin (DOGE)
• Eos (EOS)
• Ethereum (ETHEREUM)
• Ethereum Classic (ETC)
• Iota (MIOTA)
• Litecoin (LTC)
• Miota (IOTA)
• Neo (NEO)
• Polygon (MATIC)
• Ripple (XRP)
• Stellar (XLM)
• Tezos (XTZ)
• Tron (TRX)
• Uniswap (UNI)
• Yearn.finance (YFI)
• Zcash (ZEC)

If you live outside of the United States, eToro includes more than 2,000 tradeable assets. Those include stocks, ETFs, foreign exchange (FX), commodities and indices.

eToro Bonus

eToro offers current account holders a referral bonus through its Refer-a-Friend promotion. The eToro referral bonus is $50 for each friend who signs up and meets the minimum requirements.

What Kinds of Accounts Can You Open on eToro?

One downside of eToro is limited availability for types of accounts. There is just one type of account, which works like a taxable brokerage account. There are no IRA or other retirement account options at eToro.

Hopefully, we see new investment types and account types added in the future. But for now, there is just one type of account for U.S. investors.

eToro Minimums

There is a $50 account minimum, $25 minimum trade size and $30 withdrawal minimum.

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What Costs and Fees Can You Expect With eToro?

eToro doesn’t charge trade commissions when buying and selling crypto. Instead, the cost is built into the sale price. This is called spread pricing and is common among international active trading platforms.

The cost of your cryptocurrency trade is built into the sale price of an asset. Those range from a modest 0.75% spread for bitcoin up to 5% for tezos as of this writing.

There are no fees from eToro to send or receive, though there may be some fees charged by the various blockchain or coin management platforms. If you are converting between crypto currencies, you’ll pay a 0.1% conversion fee.

There are no recurring monthly account fees for a typical U.S. account. However, there is a fee of $10 per year for accounts with no activity over the prior 12 months.

Is eToro Safe and Secure?

eToro has been around for over a decade and makes safety, security and privacy a major focus. However, it is not a bank or stock brokerage, so there is no FDIC or SIPC coverage for eToro accounts.

Overall, eToro is a well-known and respected trading platform around the world. While it is less known in the United States, it is a legitimate and safe place to handle your crypto trading needs.

Open an eToro Account

If you’re looking to get started with cryptocurrency, eToro is an option. It offers safe and secure options to buy, sell and convert over a dozen different digital currencies as well as a fully-featured cryptocurrency wallet.

While the spread-based pricing does somewhat bury the costs, it is an overall low-cost and competitive platform for cryptocurrency enthusiasts in the United States.

Hopefully, eToro will grow to offer stocks, ETFs and other investments in the U.S. in the coming months or years. But in the meantime, it works well for active cryptocurrency traders looking to make the most of popular crypto markets in the U.S.