Admirals (Admiral Markets) vs eToro — which broker is better?

Pros

• Real share and ETF ownership through Invest.MT5 — roughly 4,800 listed companies and 200-plus ETFs from USD 0.02 per share with a USD 1.00 minimum, with no custody or platform fee.
• Zero.MT5 prices FX from 0.0 pips plus commission starting at USD 3.00 per lot per side (USD 6.00 round turn), falling towards USD 1.80 per side at high volume.
• Inactivity is only EUR 10 a month and only after 24 months without activity, and only while the balance is positive — among the most forgiving dormancy terms in CFD broking.
• Four meaningful licences: FCA 595450 (FSCS to GBP 85,000), CySEC 201/13, ASIC 410681 and FSCA FSP 51311, plus regional entities in Jordan (JSC 1/3/01970/21), Kenya (CMA 178) and the Seychelles (FSA SD073).
• MetaTrader Supreme Edition is free and genuinely useful — mini terminal, correlation matrix, sentiment data and Trading Central analysis grafted onto standard MT4 and MT5.
• Research is above its weight: Dow Jones news, Trading Central technical analysis and Acuity sentiment indicators, plus a Zero to Hero course and a deep webinar programme.
• Nine base currencies including EUR, GBP, CHF, PLN, HUF and CZK, with one free withdrawal per payment method every calendar month.

Cons

• Support is weekday office hours only, with no weekend desk — a genuine gap for anyone holding crypto CFDs over a Saturday.
• The Estonian investment firm licence was withdrawn in April 2026 during a restructuring, moving EEA clients to the Cyprus entity where compensation is capped at EUR 20,000 rather than the UK's GBP 85,000.
• A 0.3% currency conversion charge applies whenever the instrument currency differs from your account currency, which quietly adds up on a US share portfolio funded in euros.
• Only the first withdrawal per payment method each calendar month is free; the charge on subsequent withdrawals varies by method and is not published as a single figure.
• The experience is MetaTrader-shaped. If you find MT5 dated, the proprietary Admirals Platform is a lighter companion rather than a genuine alternative.
• No options, no bonds, no mutual funds and no exchange-listed futures — the catalogue is broad within CFDs and equities but stops there.

Pros

• CopyTrader is one of the most mature copy-trading products in Europe: no separate fee on top of normal trading costs, a USD 200 minimum per copied trader, and up to 100 traders copied at once.
• Nasdaq-listed since May 2025 under ETOR, which forces quarterly audited disclosure that most retail brokers never publish.
• Licensed by the FCA (583263), CySEC (109/10), ASIC (491139), MAS (CMS101824) and the SEC (8-70212) - a genuinely multi-jurisdictional stack rather than a single offshore licence.
• 300+ ETFs with zero eToro commission and fractional investing from USD 10, so small monthly contributions are not swallowed by minimum ticket sizes.
• The inactivity fee was removed in 2026; dormant accounts now cost nothing to hold.
• 150+ cryptoassets held as real coins on the investing account rather than only as CFDs, with coins transferable out to the eToro Money wallet for a 2% fee.
• The demo account carries all 11,000+ instruments and every platform feature, which makes it a usable rehearsal rather than a stripped-down toy.

Cons

• Currency conversion costs 0.75% each way between a European local-currency account and USD, before Club discounts whose size eToro's own pages state differently - for a broker whose core product is USD-denominated, that is the one number you most need.
• Stock orders cost USD 1-2 in most countries. On a EUR 200 monthly savings order that is a 0.5-1.0% drag before any conversion cost, which is expensive against Trading 212 or XTB at zero.
• Crypto costs 1.00% per position for Bronze, Silver and Gold members - charged on the way in and again on the way out. Only Platinum and above see meaningful discounts.
• No exchange-traded options or futures outside the US entity, no individual bonds and no mutual funds. The range is wide across asset classes but shallow within them.
• Withdrawals from a USD account cost USD 5 with a USD 30 minimum; only local-currency accounts (EUR, GBP, DKK) escape the charge.
• Support is chat and ticket only, with no general retail phone line, and priority routing is tied to Club tier - so the smallest accounts get the slowest service.