- Best at: breadth. UK and global stocks commission-free, 100+ cryptos, copy trading, ISAs, and a proper GBP account that eliminates conversion fees. The only platform we review with FSCS protection on its investment side.
- Worst at: crypto costs and exits. 1% each way plus spread, a 2% one-way transfer to its wallet, and staking has been closed to new UK customers since 2022, whatever the adverts imply.
- Know: get the GBP account. The default USD account pays roughly 1.5% converting your pounds and $5 per withdrawal. Copy trades still require dollars.
eToro is the everything-app of this review series: nineteen years old, listed on Nasdaq, forty million registered users, and a product list that reads like three companies stapled together: a stockbroker, a crypto platform and a social network where you copy other people’s portfolios. For UK crypto specifically, it sits in an odd middle seat: more open than Robinhood, pricier than the exchanges, with a couple of UK-only restrictions its marketing doesn’t dwell on. This review pulls those out first.
Everything below was checked against eToro’s own fee and legal pages, the FCA, SEC documents and its investor filings in August 2026. We have no affiliate relationship with eToro and no position in it; if that ever changes, it will be disclosed on this page.
What you get
The core: commission-free real stocks and , including over a thousand London-listed shares since its LSE partnership; around 100 cryptocurrencies for UK users (its 200+ headline is the global figure); and CopyTrader, the signature feature: put $200 or more behind another investor and your account mirrors their trades, with eToro paying its best “Popular Investors” a cut of the money following them. ISAs come via a partnership with Moneyfarm, freshly sweetened in July 2026 with fee-free stocks-and-shares dealing and a headline 4.87% cash ISA rate (a 12-month boosted rate with conditions; read them). Opt-in interest of up to 3.55% is paid on uninvested dollar balances. US-style options trading isn’t available in the UK.
Two UK-specific catches its adverts skate past. Staking is closed to new UK customers: anyone who opened their account after early February 2022 earns nothing, a restriction adopted after discussions with the FCA, so the “up to 12% APY” banners are for other markets and grandfathered accounts. And several features (copy trading, Smart Portfolios) must be funded in dollars even if you hold the GBP account, so the conversion fee finds you eventually if you use the social features.
What it costs
| Item | Cost | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Crypto | 1% each way, plus market spread | Charged on the buy and again on the sell. High Club tiers pay less; most people are on 1%. |
| Stocks and | £0 commission | Real shares, including UK ones: genuinely free dealing. |
| GBP account | Free deposits and withdrawals | The single most important setting on the platform. Without it… |
| USD account | ~1.5% converting your pounds in, $5 per withdrawal | …this is what you pay. eToro’s conversion page now shows 150 pips on bank transfers, higher than the older figures many review sites still quote. |
| Moving crypto out | 2%, to eToro’s own wallet only | And it’s one-way: coins sent to the wallet can’t come back to the platform. From the wallet, sends cost only network fees. A subset of major coins qualifies. |
| Inactivity | None | The old $10/month fee was abolished in May 2026, another stale figure still circulating elsewhere. |
The crypto, honestly
Buying £500 of bitcoin costs £5 in fees here against about 50p at Robinhood or £3 on Coinbase Advanced, and eToro charges again on the way out, either 1% selling or 2% withdrawing to its wallet. What that buys you over Robinhood is a real door: coins can leave to , which our head-to-head concluded matters more than the fee gap for anyone serious about ownership. But test the door before you rely on it: the transfer list is a subset of majors, the trip is one-way, and positions held inside copy trades or Smart Portfolios can’t transfer at all. As everywhere now, expect the FCA’s ritual on the way in: risk warnings, an appropriateness quiz and a 24-hour cooling-off for first-time crypto buyers.
Is your money safe?
eToro’s UK entity holds full FCA investment authorisation, which brings something rare in this series: FSCS protection up to £85,000 on the investment side if the firm fails, plus Ombudsman rights. The crypto, as on every platform we review, sits outside all of that: custodied mostly in , with your pounds in the GBP account protected by e-money safeguarding rules rather than deposit insurance. As a Nasdaq-listed company it publishes audited accounts and is solidly profitable ($53.5m net income last quarter). The honest structural note: its revenues lean heavily on trading appetite (crypto commissions were briefly 73% of the business in 2021 and fell 73% year-on-year last quarter), so it lives with the market’s mood swings, cushioned by the fact that it now makes money anyway.
The history you should know
The record is busy but not alarming. A UK advertising ban in 2021 (a crypto ad with no risk warning, in the ASA’s sweep that also caught Coinbase); the staking withdrawal for new UK customers in 2022 after regulator conversations; a $1.5m SEC settlement in September 2024 that shrank its US crypto offering to three coins, UK users unaffected; and an IPO in May 2025 at $52 a share that has since roughly halved, which bothers shareholders more than customers. No FCA enforcement on its UK file. Its Trustpilot sits at a respectable 4.1–4.2, with the usual complaint cluster (withdrawal delays and account holds) at the usual industry volume.
Who it’s for, and who it isn’t
eToro fits someone who wants one app for shares (including UK ones), some crypto, and an ISA (with the safety net of FSCS on the investment side) and who values the social layer, understanding that copying a stranger’s portfolio is a bet on the stranger. It’s the wrong pick for cost-sensitive crypto trading (1% each way is the most expensive verified fee among our reviewed platforms), for staking (closed to new UK customers), or for anyone who wants frictionless : the 2% one-way exit is a door, but a heavy one. Pure crypto users will do better at an exchange from our where-to-buy guide.
Common questions
Is copy trading a good idea?
It’s a genuinely novel feature and the honest answer is: it depends entirely on who you copy, and eToro publishes no current statistic on what share of copiers make money. Past returns are displayed prominently and guarantee nothing; the people most worth copying tend to be boring, and the exciting ones are exciting in both directions. Treat it as active investing with extra steps, not a shortcut past learning.
GBP account or USD account?
GBP, always, unless you know you’ll copy-trade: copy trades and Smart Portfolios must be funded in dollars. The GBP account removes conversion fees on UK stocks and crypto and makes withdrawals free; the USD default quietly costs ~1.5% of every deposit and $5 per withdrawal. This one setting is worth more than any fee tier.
Can I actually get my coins out?
Yes, for a subset of major coins, at 2%, one-way, via the eToro Money wallet, and from there anywhere . That beats Robinhood’s sealed box and loses to every real exchange, where withdrawal costs pennies. If self-custody is your destination, our guide suggests starting somewhere the exit is cheap.
Does the halved share price mean my money’s at risk?
No: a share price measures what investors will pay for future profits, not whether client assets are safe, and eToro is profitable with segregated client money and FSCS cover on the investment side. It’s worth watching only as a signal of business pressure, and even that is cushioned: the firm made money right through the current crypto downturn.
Checked against eToro’s published fee, legal and investor pages, the FCA, and SEC documents in August 2026. This review is updated on a schedule and when something material changes. We have no affiliate relationship with eToro; if that ever changes it will be disclosed here, in line with our affiliate disclosure and editorial policy.