An investor who wishes to invest successfully needs a trading platform that matches their investing objectives, educational needs, and learning style.
The right online stockbroker is particularly important for new investors since it can mean the difference between an exciting new income stream and a frustrating disappointment.
Even though there is no sure-fire method to guarantee investment returns, there is one way to ensure success: Choose the online brokerage that is most suitable for your needs.
In this article, we will outline everything you should look for in your ideal brokerage, from the obvious (such as whether you can trade the securities you are interested in) to the less obvious (such as how easy it is to reach a human being if you have questions).
Key Takeaways
- With the availability of online discount brokers, investors have easy access to the financial markets.
- A wide array of online brokers is designed to cater to different types of customers: from long-term buy-and-hold novices to active and sophisticated day traders.
- Before selecting an online broker, you should conduct some due diligence to ensure that you will obtain the most value from your investment.
Step 1: Identify the Requirements
Before clicking on brokerage advertisements, consider what is most important to you in a trading platform. The answer will differ depending on your investment goals and the investment learning curve.
New traders should emphasize basic instructional tools, comprehensive glossaries, easy access to support personnel, and the option to practice before investing real funds.
For those already knowledgeable about investing but who want to take their career to the next level, they will require additional education and analytical material from experienced investors and analysts, in addition to a good selection of fundamental and technical information.
A truly experienced investor, perhaps one who has already executed hundreds of trades but is looking for a new brokerage, will prioritize advanced charting capabilities, conditional order options, and the ability to trade derivatives, mutual funds, commodities, and fixed-income securities, in addition to stocks.
Honesty is the best policy for where you are and where you want to go with your investment. Do you want to start a retirement fund in an IRA or 401(k) and invest in passive investments to create tax-free income? Want to get into day trading but aren’t sure how to get started?
As you gain experience and refine your objectives, you will have to answer several additional questions.
As a starting point, let’s focus on these four critical considerations to help you determine which of the brokerage features we will discuss below is most beneficial to your needs.
To assist you in getting your analytical juices flowing, we have provided multiple sample questions under each larger topic:
Is There any Best Trading Platform that Is Suitable for Beginners?
For beginners, online trading platforms should be easy to navigate, offer comprehensive educational tools and excellent customer support, and have low fees and minimum account balances. Because eToro is characterized through user-friendliness, educational focus, and robust trading simulator services, we consider it as the best Online Trading Platform for Beginners.
Picking the Best Trading Platform
The fees and available features should be considered when traders and investors decide between trading platforms.
For day-traders and other short-term traders, features such as Level 2 quotes and market maker depth charts are useful for making informed decisions.
In contrast, options traders may require tools designed specifically for analyzing options strategies.
While selecting a trading platform, fees should also be taken into consideration. In particular, traders who use scalping as a trading method will favor platforms with low fees.
The lower the fees, the better, but there may be trade-offs to consider. Low fees, for instance, may not be advantageous if they result in fewer features and information.
Some trading platforms are only available if you are working with a specific broker or intermediary, while some trading platforms are agnostic to the intermediary or broker.
Because of this, investors should also consider the reputation of the intermediary or broker before selecting a particular trading platform for executing trades and managing their accounts.
In addition, some trading platforms may require specific qualifications before they can be utilized. Day trading platforms, for example, may require traders to have at least $25,000 equity in their accounts, and they may also need to be approved for margin trading.
In contrast, options platforms may require the trader to be approved to trade various options before using the platform.
About eToro
eToro is an Israeli social trading platform and multi-asset brokerage firm offering copy trading services for stocks, foreign exchange (Forex), and cryptocurrencies.
Company headquarters are located in Cyprus, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. The company has registered offices in Cyprus, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia.
In 2018, the company had a market capitalization of $800 million, expected to quadruple in the next years.
Marketing and Expansion
Southampton FC, Brighton & Hove Albion F.C., Cardiff City F.C., Crystal Palace F.C., Leicester City F.C., Newcastle United F.C., and Tottenham Hotspur have signed a sponsorship agreement with eToro in August 2018. Aston Villa F.C. and Everton F.C. joined Southampton F.C., Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Crystal Palace F.C., and Leicester City F.C. in the 2019-20 Premier partnership League season.
The company signed sponsorship agreements with the American KTM MotoGP team, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Gael Monfils, a French tennis player, and Eintracht Frankfurt, a German football club.
There are three teams in the Premier League: West Bromwich Albion, Burnley FC, and FC Augsburg.Burnley FC, West Bromwich Albion, and liga 2), Union Berlin, VfL Wolfsburg. AS Monaco, and FC Midtjyllan.
The company signed sponsorship agreements with F.C. Cologne, Hamburger S.V. (Bundesliga 2), Union Berlin, VfL Wolfsburg, AS Monaco, and FC Midtjylland.
In October 2020, Rugby Australia announced that eToro would be a Presenting Partner for the next Tri-Nations rugby tournament, with plans to extend the partnership to become the Principal Partner in the near future.
eToro Leverage in 2021
eToro advised its European investors on January 8, 2021, that “due to high market volatility in the crypto markets, all leveraged crypto bet positions should be converted to non-leveraged positions within four hours” otherwise they will be closed. Several hours later, the firm liquidated all leveraged trades.
Lawyers and users in Cyprus have announced their intention to pursue a class-action lawsuit and a move to cancel eToro’s license. According to the company, “two percent of users” were affected. Jurij Toplak, a law professor, said he would gather users and launch a motion in Cyprus to withdraw eToro’s license.
A Short Report of eToro
Investors on Reddit reported that eToro amended its terms of service following the GameStop short squeeze by requiring the use of stop-loss on positions that were not leveraged.
Some customers who had their positions liquidated on less-than-favorable conditions were reported to have suffered losses due to stop-loss orders being implemented without warning.
Redditors also asserted that by selling such a large number of shares, eToro had lowered the price of game retailers such as GameStop.
Benefits of Choosing eToro
- Investors seeking a well-established trading platform may rely on eToro’s 15-year track record.
- Crypto investors who want to hold positions in regulated investment vehicles may purchase and sell crypto CFDs, while investors interested in buying and selling genuine cryptocurrencies can trade on eToro.
- eToro is regulated in several nations, including the United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia.
Overview of the Company
Tel Aviv-based eToro was founded in 2007 by Ronen Asia, David Ring, and Yoni Asia. Asia is still leading the company as CEO today.
As an online forex broker originally known as RetailFX, the company later changed its name to eToro and began offering commodities, indices, and stocks.
In 2010, it introduced its innovative social trading function, which allows users to copy trades made by successful traders on its platform, establishing itself as the world’s leading social trading network.
Cryptocurrencies Available on eToro
eToro and eToro X support trading of 40+ cryptocurrencies. Here’s a look at some of the most popular crypto assets on eToro:
· Bitcoin (BTC)
· Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
· Cardano (ADA)
· Dash (DASH)
· Dogecoin (DOGE)
· Ethereum (ETH)
· Litecoin (LTC)
· Polkadot (DOT)
· Polygon (MATIC)
· Solana (SOL)
· Stellar Lumens (XLM)
How eToro Measures up to Other Cryptocurrency Firms
eToro has a cryptocurrency CFD trading option and a professional cryptocurrency exchange, allowing users to perform a variety of complex trading methods.
eToro, as one of the world’s most popular social trading networks and CFD trading platforms, was one of the first fintech to embrace cryptocurrencies before launching a cryptocurrency exchange and dedicated crypto wallet for its customers.
eToro is on its way to becoming a crypto behemoth, thanks to its size, decades of business expertise, and a large user base. These capabilities and its copy trading function set it apart from other crypto exchanges on the market today. Here’s how eToro stacks up against Coinbase, another famous crypto exchange:
Coinbase vs. eToro
- Social trading is supported by eToro, which allows users to communicate with others on the platform. A social trading option is not available on Coinbase.
- On Coinbase, there are over 150 supported cryptocurrencies, but on eToro, there are just over 40 cryptocurrencies.
- Coinbase is a Bitcoin trading and investment platform. eToro allows users to invest in equities and ETFs in addition to cryptocurrency.
Customer Service Provided by eToro
Separate customer service is provided for eToro and eToro X by eToro. Help centers and support ticketing are available for both platforms. It is impossible to obtain phone support from Coinbase, as with many other crypto exchanges.
Account managers are also employed by eToro to assist its most loyal customers (those with $5,000 or more equity on the platform) to enhance their experience.
eToro Customers’ Satisfaction
As a company with over 23 million users worldwide, eToro consistently receives positive customer feedback, evidenced by its Trustpilot score of 4.1 out of five stars from 11,000+ reviews.
eToro is equally well-rated in the app stores, with Google Play giving it 4.1 stars and Apple giving it 3.7 stars. The app store ratings for eToro are equally remarkable, with 4.1 stars on Google Play and 3.7 stars on Apple.
Nevertheless, users have complained about the platform both currently and in the past. Two of the most common complaints are the inability to withdraw cash and the long wait times for withdrawals. There have been complaints from consumers about higher-than-expected expenses.
Fees of eToro
eToro has a somewhat complex fee structure for crypto CFDs and cryptocurrency trading. In addition to the comparatively low trading costs compared to competitors, users of eToro should be aware of the currency conversion and withdrawal fees.
Additionally, it is important to note that prices may vary depending on your location.
Security Provided by eToro
As an established online trading company, eToro offers a safe, regulated platform for trading crypto CFDs and has a long history of safe and secure asset holding.
To minimize the risk of cash being lost due to a hack or a technical error, most customer funds are kept in cold storage at eToro. With the collaboration of premier cybersecurity firm GK8, the exchange has implemented a cold storage Custody as a Service (CaaS) solution.
In addition to storing customer cash in cold storage, eToro urges account users to adopt two-factor authentication (2FA) as an additional layer of security.