eToro vs Trading 212 — which broker is better?

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.

Pros

• One of the lowest all-in costs among mainstream European brokers for buy-and-hold investors: no commission, no custody fee, no inactivity fee, free withdrawals with no minimum, and a 0.15% FX conversion fee.
• Over 13,000 global stocks and ETFs across LSE, Xetra, Gettex, NYSE, Nasdaq and Euronext Amsterdam, all available fractionally from as little as EUR 1.
• Pies and AutoInvest let you define a target portfolio with weights and drip contributions into it automatically - proper portfolio automation rather than a recurring single-stock order.
• A true multi-currency account across twelve-plus currencies including GBP, EUR, USD, CHF, PLN, SEK, NOK, DKK, CZK, HUF, CAD and AUD, so you can hold the currency you trade in and avoid conversion entirely.
• Bank transfers and all withdrawals are free with no limits; card and e-wallet deposits are free up to a cumulative GBP/EUR 2,000 before a 0.7% charge applies.
• EEA clients of Trading 212 Markets Ltd. get EUR 20,000 ICF cover plus, per Trading 212's own disclosure, additional insurance up to EUR 1m through Lloyd's of London.
• Regulated across five jurisdictions - FCA 609146, CySEC 398/21, BaFin 10109603, ASIC 541122 and Bulgaria's FSC - which is unusually broad for a private app broker.
• The mobile app is genuinely excellent: full account functionality, fast, and consistently among the highest-rated broker apps in the UK.

Cons

• Research is the weakest of any broker at this size. There is no meaningful screener, no analyst consensus, no fundamental data worth the name and no export tooling - you will make every decision using data from somewhere else.
• No options, no futures, no individual bonds and no mutual funds. The entire proposition is stocks, ETFs, CFDs and spot crypto; anything more structured has to live at another broker.
• Support is chat and email only, with no retail phone line. For a platform holding a pension and an ISA, the absence of a voice channel is a real gap when something is time-critical.
• Privately held, so there is no quarterly reporting or public market scrutiny of the kind eToro and XTB are subject to as listed companies.
• Governance record has two visible blemishes: blocking retail GameStop purchases in January 2021, which drew UK Financial Ombudsman complaints, and being reported in 2026 to have let UK retail clients buy crypto ETNs between October 2025 and January 2026 before holding the FCA permission.
• CFD costs are much less attractive than the investing side - the FX fee is around 0.5% rather than 0.15%, and overnight interest accrues daily on every leveraged position and compounds over time.