eToro: what the sources say

The questions, with sources

"Not verified" means we could not confirm it from a source we could read. Check the entity and rules for your own country. Education only, not investment advice.

How the points add up

• Regulation 20 of 20. Licensed by a major financial regulator (see the broker page for the register entry)
• Client protection 20 of 20. Investor compensation scheme applies: Cyprus Investor Compensation Fund (ICF) for etoro (Europe) Ltd; FSCS for etoro (UK) Ltd; none stated for ASIC, Seychelles, ADGM, MAS entities; Client assets held separately from the broker's own (stated in its documents)
• Transparency 10 of 10. Annual financial statements are public (listed parent or published report)
• Security record 10 of 15. Worst incident in the last five years scored: 10 of 15
• Compliance record 5 of 25. 4 regulator or court action(s) in the window; reports from press only are shown but not scored
• Costs – of 10. Trade cost not verified (unscored)

Points earned of points available. A criterion we could not verify is left out and lowers the evidence share. See how we score.

Security incidents

• 2020-07-06 Credentials of about 62,000 eToro accounts advertised for sale on a cybercrime forum by a threat actor (claims not confirmed by eToro; researchers Bank Security/AdvIntel reported). Pre-window item. Customer funds lost: not verified. Outcome: No eToro confirmation or response reported (press, BleepingComputer). source older than 5 years
• 2021-01-19 Intermittent login problems and failed deposits for several hours (pre-window item). Customer funds lost: no. Outcome: eToro said cause identified and fixed; no compensation mentioned (press). source older than 5 years
• 2021-02-23 Platform down for over four hours from about 15:00 GMT after a 'technical issue that affected our Microsoft database'; users could not log in or manage positions; offline trader tool also down at one point (pre-window item). Customer funds lost: not verified. Outcome: eToro said systems not compromised and no data lost; no compensation mentioned (press). source older than 5 years
• 2023-07 UK Financial Ombudsman case DRN-4628799: after a client's phone was lost, a third party accessed the etoro (UK) account, closed crypto positions and moved proceeds to external wallets; a GBP 1,240 withdrawal to a third-party bank account was later returned. Customer funds lost: yes. Outcome: Ombudsman did not uphold the complaint against eToro (login, 2FA and IP checks gave no reasonable cause to suspect fraud); no redress ordered. Decision deadline 20 Mar 2025. Individual case, not a platform-wide incident. source

Regulator and court actions

• 2023-11-03 ASIC (Federal Court of Australia): ASIC commenced first design-and-distribution action against eToro AUS Capital over its CFD product (initial media release 23-204MR, 2023). Outcome: No final outcome published: the ASIC page shows the case still before the Federal Court, trial dates 20-24 Oct 2025 vacated, hearing listed to continue 27-28 Apr 2026; ASIC seeks declarations and pecuniary penalties for alleged conduct 5 Oct 2021-14 Jun 2023. No judgment found on asic.gov.au as of 2026-10-11 (not confirmed beyond pages read). Earlier press source: https://www.asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/find-a-media-release/2026-releases/26-004mr-asic-secures-nearly-40-million-in-refunds-to-investors-and-drives-change-after-cfd-sector-falls-short/ source
• 2024-09-12 US SEC: eToro USA LLC operated as an unregistered broker and unregistered clearing agency via its US crypto platform since at least 2020 (SEC press release 2024-125). Outcome: USD 1.5 million civil penalty; cease-and-desist; neither admitted nor denied; US crypto limited to Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ether; 180-day wind-down of other assets. Earlier press source: https://www.wealthmanagement.com/regulation-compliance/sec-fines-etoro-15m-acting-unregistered-broker-over-crypto-trading source
• 2023-07-17 Italian Competition Authority (AGCM): Website suggested shares could be bought without any fees while omitting costs and limits; breach of Consumer Code arts. 20-22. Outcome: EUR 1.3 million fine on eToro Europe Ltd. source
• 2025 (20-F FY2025, no date stated) CySEC: Form 20-F FY2025 discloses CySEC inquiries into possible breaches by eToro (Europe) Ltd relating to product governance, appropriateness and suitability. Outcome: No outcome disclosed in the 20-F excerpt read; no CySEC decision found. source
• 2018-10-11 Ontario Securities Commission: Proceedings against eToro (Europe) Ltd for trading securities without Ontario registration (outside 5-year window; also disclosed in 20-F). Outcome: Administrative penalty paid; eToro ceased providing services in Canada (per 20-F). OSC proceeding page: https://www.osc.gov.on.ca/en/Proceedings_rad_20181011_etoro.htm (not opened). source older than 5 years

Actions reported by press only are shown and not scored.

Other reports

• not stated (20-F FY2025) Form 20-F FY2025: BaFin rejected eToro's application for crypto custody and trading services, leading to a wind-down of certain German products; client assets temporarily moved to local providers until the CASP (MiCA) licence was activated. source

Reports that are not security incidents or regulator actions against the broker, shown for completeness and not scored.

Key facts in five lines

• eToro's regulation page lists entities licensed by CySEC (109/10), FCA (583263), ASIC (491139), MAS (CMS101824), SEC/FINRA (CRD 298361), FSAS, ADGM FSRA; it states client funds are held in segregated accounts and that ICF (EUR 20,000) and FSCS (GBP 85,000) apply to the EU and UK entities. [source 1]
• eToro Group Ltd (Nasdaq: ETOR, BVI-incorporated) reported in its Form 20-F FY2025 net income of USD 216m and about 3.81m funded accounts across 77 countries. [source 8]
• The fee page states a USD 1 or USD 2 commission per open and per close of a stock position depending on residence and exchange, zero commission on ETFs, and a USD 5 withdrawal fee from the USD account. [source 2]
• On 2024-09-12 the SEC announced eToro USA LLC agreed to a USD 1.5m penalty for operating an unregistered broker and clearing agency. [source 3]
• Italy's AGCM fined eToro Europe EUR 1.3m (2023-07-17); ASIC's DDO case against eToro AUS Capital remained before the Federal Court as of the pages read; the 20-F discloses CySEC inquiries into product governance. [source 5]

Questions about eToro

Is eToro safe?

We do not give a yes or no. We record its regulation (CySEC, FCA), whether an investor compensation scheme applies, and what we found about incidents and regulator actions. Read the sections above, and check which entity holds your account.

Does eToro charge commission on US stocks?

eToro fee pages (global etoro.com/trading/fees, etoro.com/customer-service/fees, en-sg and AU versions, all read 2026-10-11): 'A commission fee of $1 or $2 may apply when opening and closing a stock position', calculated in USD, depending on country of residence and exchange; the exchange table ('Australia, Hong Kong, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Tokyo exchanges' vs 'All other exchanges' / 'Implementation date') has blank cells in every version read and the country selector shows no per-country amount. Not applied to CFDs, ETFs, copy trading, Smart Portfolios; recurring investment plans: no commission on open, possible on close. Stock Margin: 0.15% of trade value on open and close. Estimated cost shown in the trade ticket only.

Where this comes from

• [1] eToro Regulation and License (entities, ICF/FSCS, segregation) accessed 2026-10-11
• [2] eToro fees (global) accessed 2026-10-11
• [3] SEC press release 2024-125: eToro settlement accessed 2026-10-11
• [4] Wikipedia eToro accessed 2026-10-11
• [5] AGCM press release PS12313 accessed 2026-10-11
• [6] ASIC release 26-004MR accessed 2026-10-11
• [7] eToro UK FSCS document (2021) accessed 2026-10-11
• [8] eToro Group Ltd Form 20-F FY2025 (SEC EDGAR) accessed 2026-10-11
• [9] ASIC release 23-204MR (eToro DDO action) accessed 2026-10-11
• [10] BleepingComputer: eToro accounts peddled on cybercrime forums (2020) accessed 2026-10-11
• [11] Finance Magnates: eToro login/deposit issues (Jan 2021) accessed 2026-10-11
• [12] Finance Magnates: eToro down (Feb 2021) accessed 2026-10-11
• [13] Financial Ombudsman decision DRN-4628799 accessed 2026-10-11
• [14] eToro fees (Australia) accessed 2026-10-11
• [15] eToro help centre: What is a fractional share accessed 2026-10-11
• [16] eToro fees (customer-service version) accessed 2026-10-11
• [17] eToro fees (Singapore) accessed 2026-10-11

Not verified: Not verified: which countries pay USD 1 vs USD 2 stock commission (fee-page table cells blank in the global, customer-service, SG and AU versions read 2026-10-11, so cost_1000usd_pct stays null; no help-centre article giving the mapping was found within search budget); FX fee amounts (not published as numbers on fee page); market list; fractional-share minimum amount. FCA and CySEC register pages were linked from eToro's page but the fetch tool refused to open them, so licence details rest on eToro's own page; ASIC/MAS/FINRA registers not opened. ICF/FSCS limits read on eToro's page, not on the schemes' pages. Form 20-F read only in part (two chunks); CySEC inquiry and BaFin rejection dates not stated there. Incident search (3 searches) found no platform-wide incident dated after 2021-10-11; pre-window items listed and flagged. ASIC case outcome not found. Founding year and IPO date rely on Wikipedia.

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