Why is the eToro demo account so hard to use?

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eToro demo trading account

eToro does have a demo account, but it’s actually very annoying. eToro has this really irritating habit of ushering you along to things you don’t want to do. I really want to like eToro, as everyone else does, but every time I try to use it, I feel like I’m trying to get through to the British Gas call centre. At every turn, it’s “computer says no”.

I review brokers for a living and I’ve now tried to open two different eToro demo accounts with two different emails. Both times, when I’ve tried to place a demo trade it’s asked me to deposit real money and try and fully verify me for a live account. So both times I have given up. Maybe this is why eToro has so many real accounts because it’s impossible to use the demo and you get salami’d into depositing money to trade.

That aside, once you are up and running, you can toggle between trading on a live account and practising on a demo account. You just need to click the “switch to virtual account link at the bottom of the app or website when logged in. If you can find it…

Update: I actually found it. It’s a line of text at the bottom of the screen that allows you to switch from real to virtual. So maybe it’s not the hardest demo account to try but the easiest. Sometimes, you can’t see the wood for the trees (or should that be the other way round?).

eToro versus other demo trading accounts

Demo AccountVirtual BalanceDemo LengthDemo MarketsGMG RatingMore InfoRisk Warning
City Index Forex Trading£10,00012 weeks13,500
(4.3)
See Demo69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Forex.com Trading Platform£10,00012 weeks13,500
(4.2)
See Demo74% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Pepperstone Forex Trading£200-£50k60 days20
(3)
See Demo75.3% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
IG Forex Trading£10,000No limit17,000
(4.8)
See Demo69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs and spread bets with this provider.
Plus500 Demo Account£40,000No Limit2,000
(4.4)
See Demo80% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
CMC Markets Forex Trading£10,000No limit12,000
(4.6)
See Demo68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Saxo Markets Forex Trading$100,00020 days1,000+
(3.4)
See Demo65% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
Interactive Brokers Forex Trading$1mNo limit7,000
(4.4)
See Demo60% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
eToro Forex Trading$100,000No limit2,976
(3.2)
See Demo51% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money
XTB Forex Trading£100,00030 days2,100
(4)
See Demo75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider
ThinkMarkets£200,00014 days3,981
(3.5)
See Demo66.95% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider

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