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Reviews By Richard Berry
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In this guide, we rank and review the best investing accounts in the US for buying ETFs. Exchange-traded funds or ETFs are an increasingly popular investment vehicle that allows investors to buy ‘shares’ in a basket of commodities or stocks, which can then be bought and sold through a US stockbroker. ETFs are a relative newcomer to the investment stage, having only existed since the early 1990s, but now make up as much as 30% of all US trades by value. Their meteoric rise can be attributed to their popularity among individual investors, who value the ETF for its fund-like and stock-like features.Β
Our comparison table of US ETF brokers covers the key account features. These include, tight pricing, financial security, regulation, range of markets, added value and reviews.Β
βHere’s how we selected the US’s best ETF brokers:
- Hands-on analysis: Our review team tests each ETF trading platform using real money for a genuine trading experience
- Stand-out features: We compare what sets each ETF trading platform apart to highlight their unique strengths
- Customer feedback: Over 30,000 votes from the Good Money Guide annual awards help shape our ratings
- Exclusive interviews: We speak directly with ETF broker CEOs and senior management to get their insights
- Our process: Find out more about how we choose and rank providers on our How We Rate page
Interactive Brokers: Best overall US ETF investing account

- ETFs available: 1,000
- Margin rates: 5.33% – 6.33%
Interactive Brokers Expert Review: Best Professional/DMA Broker 2025

Provider: Interactive Brokers
Verdict: Interactive Brokers is a major US online automated electronic broker company. The financial broker is listed on theΒ Nasdaq Exchange with ticker IBKR.Β The firm operates in 150 electronic exchanges in 34 countries, and offers trading in 28 currencies. Interactive Brokers has more than 3.19 million institutional and retail customers.
Is Interactive Brokers any good?
Yes, Interactive Brokers is simply unmatched in terms of market access, account types and execution options for retail traders. It always has been and remains one of the cheapest trading and investing platforms globally.
Interactive Brokers is an exceptional trading platform that offers institutional-grade trading capabilities to private clients around the world. IBKR has some of the lowest trading and investing fees and the widest market range in the industry.
2025 Awards: Best Professional/DMA Broker 2025
Pricing: Top marks as IBKR don’t charge a custody (account) fee and commission are the cheapest around
Market Access: Top marks again for the widest selection of markets available
App & Platform: Hard to beat – excellent range of institutional grade execution tools and simple apps for beginners
Customer Service: IBKR let themselves down a bit here. If you are a big customer you get an account manager, otherwise online support is slow
Research & Analysis: Some of the best education, screeners and market data for free on their website and integrated into IBKR platforms.
I’ve used Interactive Brokers for about 20 years now. I’ve interviewed their founder (Thomas Peterffy), their UK MD (Gerry Perez), they’ve been a competitor (when I was a broker myself), a customer and a partner over the years. I’ve traded live with real money when thoroughly testing their platforms.
This included an in-depth conversations with their Head Of Product (Steven Sanders) to get inside insights on the best parts of the platform and services that some clients may not know about. In this review, I lay out my verdict on Interactive Brokers as an industry expert so you can decide if they are the right investing and trading platform for you.
There is one thing that Interactive Brokers gives you above all other brokers, and that is control. You can invest and trade in pretty much anything you want, in pretty much any account type, pretty much how you want.
If you are not familiar with Interactive Brokers (IBKR) they are American, but global, as most American things are, with the notable exception of their news, which always seems to be local. But I digress, IBKR was one of the first brokers to offer electronic trading to the masses. They were founded in 1978 and if you want to know more about the man who founded them and is still running the show, read my interview with Thomas Peterffy, the founder and chairman.
Highlights:Β The key things to focus on if you are considering opening an account with Interactive Brokers is that:
They are cheap:Β No other investment or trading platform can match their discount commissions, FX rates and zero account charges
Huge market range:Β IBKR offer by far the best access to global stock exchanges around the world
They innovate and create :You can invest in so many different ways through IBKR, from their beginner IBKR LITE apps, to their institutional-grade desktop workstation trading platform. They have some of the most advanced and easy-to-use features available to private investors.
Interactive Brokers Account Types: IBKR offer by far the most types of accounts globally including regular investing account, active trader accounts, direct market access, futures, options and fractional stock trading
You can also earn money on your cash, you can buy bonds (high and low yielding), buy warrants, partake in placings, vote on company corporate actions. You can convert currency at 0.2%, which is cheaper than most specialist currency brokers or money transfer apps.
Foreign Exchange:Β Which actually segues me nicely to prove my control point. With most brokers you have to choose an account base currency (if you are in the UK that is probably going to be GBP) and when you trade, no matter what currency an asset is traded in your P&L will be converted to that base currency. But with Interactive Brokers you can run your account in multiple currencies.
So, if you put in GBP and trade the S&P for example, your P&L will be in USD. If you buy USD stock you get the option to attach a currency conversion to the transaction so you can convert exactly the right amount to cover the purchase, or you can choose to run a deficit in USD.
Itβs not such an issue for small traders, as currency exposure, whilst important to be aware of, isn’t the most pressing matter. But if you are running a net flat long/short global macro portfolio, then keeping on top of your currency exposure could be the difference between making money or not.
Desktop Trader:Β Through ScaleTrader, (one of the founder’s favourite features) IBKR also gives you some very advanced order functionality, the sort you usually only get with professional trading systems like Fidessa (for stocks) or TT (for futures).
If youβre building a big position and donβt want the market to know youβve got a big order to work, IBKRβs order ticket will let you gradually feed that into the market (but only charge you for the single order).
You can automatically drop bids and offers into the market based on time and price to take advantage of volatile markets. You can also set it to scalp for quick profits in choppy markets.
Pairs Trading:Β You can trade one stock against another automatically by spread, percentage or price.
Why is that important? Because it can help you build a market-neutral portfolio and when we asked the boss of IBKR the habits he saw in his most profitable customers, (referring back to our interview with him for the third time) he said the ones that traded one stock against another, often did well.
Interactive Brokers Universal Account:Β You can of course do these things with other brokers, but what you canβt do is do them all in one place.
For this review, I spent a while talking to Steven Sanders, IBKRβs head of Marketing & Product Development, and he said in the twenty years, heβs worked for Interactive Brokers the thing heβs most proud of (other than it being founder lead and therefore very little red tape when you want to get things done) is the implementation of the Universal Account, where everything is done from one account.
Whatβs amazing to me is that nobody else really offers it. Ten years ago when I was a derivatives broker at Man Financial, we offered everything that IBKR did, but all on separate platforms. We have a couple of big accounts, Β£20m upwards, that we were always trying to lure back from IBKR with our personalised voice brokerage where you could phone us up weβd take care of your complicated orders for you.
But times change, there is still demand for bespoke voice brokerage, but not as far as Interactive Brokers are concerned. They do offer it from specialists desks if needed, but most trading and investing is done online.
Demo Account:Β Interactive Brokers does have a demo account, but they call it a free trial instead. This is odd, because you don’t actually have to pay to have an account with IBKR. In fact, Interactive Brokers is one of the only trading platforms that does not have a custody fee for investing in a GIA, SIPP and ISA.
If you want to know more about that, you can listen to my podcast with Gerry Perez, the UK MD, who explains, how they offer such amazing market access for such little cost.
You get a cool $1m to paper trade with on the Interactive Brokers demo account or ‘Paper Trading version’ as they call it. You get access to the easy-to-use investors portal and the more complex IBKR TWS provides delayed market data, simulated trading and access to all of our unique tools and offerings, including the IBKR Risk Navigator, the Volatility and Probability Labs, Portfolio Builder, Research and News.
But, to be honest, I didn’t find the demo account very good. Lots of information was missing and I couldn’t place a trade. I’m not sure why, and actually, that’s going to be a bit of an issue for Interactive Brokers because demo accounts are a great way to get client’s interest. In a world where so many brokerages a vying for the same business, even small hiccups like that can cause a massive drop off rate in opening an account.
Usually, IBKR’s technology is first-rate, but the demo account isn’t up to scratch. I didn’t use the paper trading account, just the live trading platform with real market orders.
Customer Service At Interactive Brokers:Β Itβs not all great, it takes a while to get through on the phone to customer service, and it has a slightly outsourced feel about it (if you know what I mean).
The desktop trading platform, despite its exceptional functionality, is also a bit ‘Windows 95’. But if you donβt need all the bells and whistles, the web based platform, or app has a more modern feel to them.
Options Strategy Builder:Β Options trading is gaining in popularity in the UK, mainly because of the press attention they derived from meme stocks (where US traders punt via options). But they are still a very complicated product. So what Interactive Brokers has down is create a Strategy Builder product, that essentially reverse the process of putting on options strategy trades.
You tell Strategy Builder what you think the market is going to do. For example, either, go up, stay still, not move for a while, or volatility will increase and it will create an options strategy around that. Instead of you having to know what strategy to put in place or working out the individual options legs.
IMPACT Ethical Investing:Β In tune with moving with the times, Interactive Brokers has also released the IMPACT app to help people investing in ESG and impact sectors, so they can put their money to good.
You can see the IMPACT dashboard on desktop, but it also operates as a standalone app that connects directly to your IBKR account and scores your portfolio based on how ethical the stocks you hold in it are. Ratings come from FactSet and Refinitiv, and there is this excellent feature that allows you to swap into more ethical stocks.
If one of your holdings is flagged as not that ethical, the app will suggest another one and at the click of a button, it will sell your shares and calculate how many new shares of a more ethical but similar company to buy and do it all for you. If youβre in the US, you can also make charitable donations directly on the app.
Interactive Brokers For Beginners:Β There is no doubt that Interactive Brokers is a proper trading platform, for those who know what they are doing and cater mainly to the more sophisticated investor. But they are making an effort to open their services up to the newer breed of investor and trader.
Itβs standard now among many fintechs, but IBKR were actually the first to offer no commission trading. They also offer fractional shares through IBKR LITE and IBKR Pro accounts and have removed the monthly minimum account charge.
The hope of course is that by onboarding investors when they just start, they can look after their investments for the next 40 years, just as they have been doing for their existing clients for the last 40.
Interactive Brokers runs a Student Trading Lab where students from 600 schools and universities take part in a $1m paper trading account for the purposes of getting a better understanding of the markets. No broker these days can tell you what to buy or sell, but IBKR GlobalAnalyst helps you hunt out undervalued opportunities, across the world, not just in the US.
IBKR offer a Trading Academy, podcasts, webinars and blogs for beginners and experienced traders so that new customers survive the markets to become long-term clients.
Plus, they are cheap.
24-Hour ETFs At Interactive Brokers:Interactive Brokers has a list of 24 selected ETFs available to trade around the clock from Sunday evening, east coast time, through to the close on Friday, by adding these funds to its US overnight trading facility.
Clients who are permissioned to deal in US stocks, are able to trade these ETFs 23.50 hours a day, five days per week, allowing them to react to news stories, macroeconomic and geo-political events as they happen, rather than waiting for US markets to open.
The trading hours and ETFs are available to both retail and institutional clients alike and are traded via the firmβs IBEOS system. Trades can be submitted using multiple order types.
The range of ETFs is pretty broad and includes firm favourites such as SPY, QQQ, DIA and IWM, which track theΒ S&P 500,Β Nasdaq 100,Β Dow 30 and Russell 2000 indices respectively. You can also short those indices by trading the SH, PSQ, DOG, and RWM inverse ETFs.
Pros
- Very low dealing fees
- Wide market range
- Direct market access
- Complex order types
Cons
- Customer services can be slow
- No financial spread betting
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Overall
4.8eToro: Good For Beginner US Stocks Traders

- ETFs available: 100
- Margin rates: n/a
eToro Has Become One Of The Biggest & Most Innovative Brokers Around The World

Provider: eToro
Verdict: eToro is a social trading platform that lets their users share new and existing CFD positions and their investment portfolios. eToro was founded in 2007 in Tel Aviv, Isreal and has grown to offer investing and trading on 3,000 global assets (including real cryptocurrencies) to 30 millions users worldwide.
61% 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
Is eToro a good broker?
Yes, eToro does have its flaws for experienced investors, but if you are just getting started eToro is a great introduction to financial markets. eToro is actually a very innovative trading platform offering copy trading, social networking and unleveraged CFDs.
eToro is one of the most innovative trading platforms with a huge range of popular investors to follow and good access to global stocks and cryptocurrency.
- Pricing: Even though eToro is commission free there are high FX conversion fees between 1.5% and 3%. Overnight financing is also expensive for CFD positions compared to competitors.
- Market Access: For the majority of investors you can trade the most popular markets, but lacks access to small-cap stocks and exotic derivatives.
- Platform & Apps: Very good, nearly gets top marks for intuitiveness, but misses out because of no sophisticated order types
- Customer Service: No phone number available to non-premium clients, but generally quick responses to chat and email queries.
- Research & Analysis: A mixed bag here – some good social investing fees on the platform and digestible guides, but no direct actionable research.
Is eToro better for trading or investing?
Ever since I sat in The Angle pub, next to the Silicon Roundabout opposite where I was a stockbroker (at Walker Cripps Weddle Beck) 15 years ago discussing the merits of eToro as a forex broker, I’ve been fascinated with their journey. I’ve interviewed the founder, the UK MD and watched (despite the industry’s loathing) as they have shrugged off the masquerade of day trading, into becoming a global investment platform sensation. In this review, I’ve tested them year after year and pontificated on what sort of customer should be using them.
In the past, Iβve been very rude about eToro, I didn’t like the way theyβd gamified trading and along with Plus 500, they almost made it too easy for inexperienced traders to play the markets.
But are times changing?
Social & Copy Trading
A while ago, we published an interview with the founder of eToro Yoni Assai, about whether or not copy trading could be a challenger to traditional fund management. Copy trading is not new, itβs been around for years, whereby investors will copy the positions of an amateur trader in the hope of making money.
I first came across the concept about 15 years ago, when traders would follow futures traders on Strategy Runner. This of course was for professional regulated advisors to make it easier to have a wider client base and helped with execution allocations. The Strategy Runner technology was later bought by MF Global before its demise. Then came MT4, again, focussing on high-risk markets, like forex and index trading.
But one thing these platforms lacked was a community.
Trading Communities
This is odd because the trading and investing community is one of the most focal out there. There are some hilarious bad pontificators and some very good ones across the entire investment landscape. Seeking Alpha, has some excellent lay contributors looking at stock fundamentals. LSE.co.uk (“London South East” and absolutely no relation to the London Stock Exchange) still have a vibrant community of share chat for UK small-cap stocks. Reddit, has itβs memeβs for pump and dump schemes, and even Saxo Markets, the professional trading platform, tried to introduce a social network for traders called tradingfloor.com where you could link your trading account and see and copy other traders. Covestor tried the concept for stocks in the US, but couldnβt make it work.
One very interesting aspect of eToro’s social trading offering is that they now have a huge amount of data from a broad range of successful investors and traders. They have packed this all together into something they call the GainersQTR smart portfolio which aggregates the investments of the best popular investors on the platform.
But eToro keeps on going from strength to strength. So what is the appeal and why do they have over 20 million users and growing?
Investing for growth
The first thing eToro is keen to point out, when I spoke to the newly appointed UK MD, Dan Moczulski, is that eToro is not a trading platform anymore, they want to be an investing platform. Iβve known Dan for years, he knows the markets and the technology inside out and is well respected within the industry. So I spent an hour with Dan on Zoom, whilst he explained what eToro was all about and where they want to go.
When you execute a trade, unlike other trading platforms where max leverage is automatically given, the default leverage setting on stocks is zero, you can opt for more if you want. However, even though eToro buys the stock in the underlying market, you donβt get voting rights, canβt transfer the stock out, but you do receive your entire dividend entitlement (after itβs been taxed at source). For index and forex trading, though it reverts to form and leverage is set at 20x for indices like the FTSE and 30x for Forex pairs like EURUSD.
Day trading
eToro is not very good for day trading. For a few reaons, the main one being they don’t want to be. My mate Dan, the UK eToro MD told me that they want to be an investing platform rather than a trading platform. He was actually quite put out that we’d included eToro in the trading section, rather than the investing category.
But, whilst I still think there are better options for longer-term investors (although their copy trading track record is doing very well), I don’t think eToro is any good for day trading. There isn’t enough order functionality like, algos, DMA, OCOs, or even limit entry orders. Prices, even though they mimic the bid/offer cannot be tightened up with DMA access. Yes, there is an opportunity to take intra-day positions on indices and forex pairs, but it just doesn’t “feel” like a day trading platform to me.
Brokers like IG, CMC Markets, and City Index are much better for short-term trading. You can compare what we think are the best day trading platforms here, and see how eToro fits in.
Diversfication
But they say, that what they are actually trying to promote is diversification in portfolios by giving new investors the tools to explore the markets. One way they try and do this is through fractional shares and the way people buy stocks. They say they want to give people the opporuntiy to buy lots of little amounts of lots of different stocks (encouraging diversification), If you have Β£1,000 to invest, you can buy Β£100 of 10 shares instead of having to figure out how many shares of company A, B & C equates to Β£100, if at all.
Recurring orders
eToro have just introduced these and it’s been a long time coming. Being able to set up regular buy orders is a really power tool for beginner investors as it forces you to create good investing habits. One of the best ways to invest is little and often when you can afford it. So you can set up regular orders just after you get paid, which means that you are always allocating money to the market. You also benefit from reduced FX conversion fees (0.75%), which means itis actually cheaper for you to invest automatically than to do it yourself.
USD account balances
One thing though, that has always irked me about eToro and one of the reasons Iβve classified it as a trading platform rather than investing account is that all trades are settled in USD. In my mind, they fall at the first hurdle as an investment platform, because, how can you have an investing account where you donβt actually own stocks, you canβt invest in an ISA, there are no SIPPs and you are hit with dreaded foreign exchange fees on every trade you make. All those things are key to an investment account.
But, Dan was quite keen to explain why this was the case. Itβs a one size fits all solution. If they want to offer free trading, they have to keep things as simple as possible and using USD as a default currency solves two issues.
One, USD is a global currency and most of the trades on the platforms would be settled in USD anyway, even in the UK.
Does zero commission equal zero costs?
The second issue is how they make money when they have zero commission. eToro makes money on foreign exchange (roughly 0.5% per trade) and they make money from withdrawal fees. There are also some stocks that are not zero commission and CFDs are exempt where eToro makes money on the bid/offer spread. Zero commission may be a loss leader of sorts in the UK, as whilst they earn 0.5% in conversion fees, they lose
As an eToro trader you used to be able to offset that FX charge, because if you ought UK shares, you were not charged stamp duty. But eToro has recently announced that they will no longer be absorbing the stamp duty tax. eToro said they absorbed this as part of their simplicity and low-cost model. But unfortunately, that is no longer the case.
Essentially, you get what you pay for and if you want all this for free you have to compromise on something, which is everything being dealt in USD.
38 Million Users
Perhaps, eToroβs most valuable asset is its client base. 38 million users, all with differing opinions and sentiment. Afterall, thatβs what makes market. Opinion, it drives buy and it drives sellers. When more people buy the market goes up, and viceversa.
eToro has built a community of almost 20 million accounts, traders or investors. And when you open up the platform it definitely has more of a social media platform instead of a trading platform.
There are two types of community.
The first is the opinion-based, where the feed is populated with the latest views from eToro clients.
The second is copy trading. You can copy anyone you want (as long as their account settings permit it). Or you can copy what eToro call βPopular Investorsβ, these are investors who have applied to join eToroβs copytrader platform and aim to earn money from it.
Popular investors
Popular investors can earn up to 1.5% of AUC (assets under copy), or however much money other investors on the platform have chosen to allocate to copy their portfolios. However, eToro is keen to point out that once you have $15,000 copying your trades, you are vetted (not endorsed) by eToro and have to stick within risk parameters. Otherwise it would become a scammers paradise.
The thing about investing is that itβs actually quite easy, any fund manager will tell you that the key is to do your research, buy some good stocks, and then do nothing for a very long time. So as long as you do your research and pick some good investors to follow, who are following the same principle then you βshould be okβ. BUT, fund managers have oversight, they have compliance officers and risk committees, so they canβt just change their mind about how and what they invest in. Of course, with some notable exceptions, cough, cough Woodford.
When you look at a potential trader to copy, you can see their trading history, their risk parameters and also what they are invested in. Which if nothing else is a good place to start building a portfolio, because you can see where the best performing investors are putting their money. Which is actually a good strategy in the fund management world as well. Morningstar for instance shows the top ten holdings a fund holds. Take a look at Blue Whale for example, you can see what they are invested in and either copy them by buying the fund, or just buy the top ten stocks they hold in your own investment account. If you want to know how fund managers actually invest we have a couple of good interviews with Stephen Yui from Blue Whale and Jamie Ross from Henderson.
If you donβt know which unregulated amateur traders to follow, you have the option to buy a portfolio of aggregated βPopular Investorsβ diversifying your risk further, or can opt for a smart portfolio that has been put together by a professional investment firm.
Or if you want exposure to sectors there are Thematic funds, like, for instance, if you want to invest in the Metaverse, which is a hot topic right now. eToro have a selection of what they call Smart Portfolios, where they have selected stocks relevant to sectors, a bit like buying ETFs. So if you want to invest in the Metaverse, but donβt know where to start the MetaverseLife Smart Portfolio contains a basket of stocks and crypto that has exposure to the Metaverse.
Cryptocurrency
This brings me quite nicely onto Cryptocurrencies. In the UK Crypto derivatives are banned by the FCA for retail traders. If you want to invest in cryptocurrency in the UK you either have to be classified as a professional trader, or by them on a crypto-exchange or platform like eToro on a fully paid-up basis.
One thing eToro has always been really good at is being first to market with new assets, they offer quite a wide variety of cryptos compared to other regulated fintechs, but also vet which cryptos they add by demand, liquidity, the tech behind them and also overall due diligence. Cryptocurrencies are too big to ignore and accounted for roughly 73% of eToroβs commission during the second half of 2021. So you canβt trade crypto derivatives, but you can invest in them with eToro, you can buy them, sell them and transfer them out to an external wallet with eToro money.
Customer Service
If you are one of the masses, customer service can be a bit of a pain, there is no telephone helpline and the support enquiries that we have made have generally taken a day or so to be responded to.
But with 20 million customers, a great proportion, who are no doubt beginners that is no surprise. If you have enough money on account ($25k upwards), you do get access to a dedicated desk of dealers in Europe and Canary Wharf.
So, who is eToro for?
So if you are a small trader, eToro does offer a very innovative way to access the financial markets. Itβs quite jolly on the social media feed on the platform, and it is what it is. This is what people want, obviously, as they have 20 million customers. The largest incumbents still have only hundreds of thousands in the UK and in the US a few million.
The key difference between investing in trading, is that investing is a long-term thing, trading is speculation for short-term profits.
However, even though eToro may be positioning itself as an investment platform rather than a trading platform, Iβd still consider the investments on offer to be high risk, for your fun money.
I genuinely enjoyed playing with the platform and testing what was on offer. It’s game-changing, but I still think they have a long way to go before youβd allocate more than a small percentage of your overall investment portfolio with them. Your longer-term investments are in my view better off with a boring investment platform like Hargreaves Lansdown or Interactive Investors. But, it will be interesting to see how eToro matures over the years, along with their customer base.
Is eToro a good trading platform?
Yes, eToro is a trading platform where you can trade CFDs (Contracts for Difference). It is also an investing platform where you can buy shares and ETFs as an investment.
What are financial instruments on eToro?
Financial instruments refer to the markets or stocks you can trade. With eToro you can trade around 3,00 stocks, 75 cryptocurrencies, 27 commodities 39 currencies, 19 indices and 264 ETFs. Data correct Oct 22
What is copy trading on eToro?
Copy trading means that you automatically copy the trades of other investors on eToro. It is a type of passive investment strategy, but is risky because you are putting your investing decisions in the hands-on an unregulated amateur trader.
How much does it cost to open an eToro trading account?
It is free to open a trading account with eToro but if you want to start trading, you need to deposit funds. In the UK the minimum deposit starts from $50 USD and varies across the countries.
Does eToro have a mobile app?
Yes, a huge amount of trading and investing is done through eToroβs mobile apps. The app is available in both the Apple and Android app stores. You can compare eToroβs app to some of the best trading apps here.
Does eToro offer CFD trading?
Yes, you can trade CFDs with eToro, but you must understand how CFDs work because they are leveraged trading products which means that you can lose money quickly when trading CFDs.
Is eToro the best CFD broker?
No, only around 5% of eToroβs trading volumes in 2021 were from CFD trading, the rest was from cryptocurrency and investing. Whilst eToro does offer CFD trading their offering is very light compared to brokers like Saxo Markets and Interactive Brokers which both offer direct market access (DMA) CFDs.
Can you upgrade to a professional client with eToro?
Yes, you can upgrade to professional client status with eToro. You will get less protection from the FCA, but you will get better margin rates if you want to increase your trading leverage. However, the majority of customers on eToro are private clients in the UK are classified as retail clients. It means they are non-professional traders and investors and as such get more protection from the FCA and reduced leverage rates. You can compare the difference between retail and professional traders here.
Is there a risk of losing money with eToro?
Yes. As with all investing and trading accounts, you can lose money. There is a high risk of losing money when trading with eToro as only around 20% of retail traders make money when trading CFDs. The risk of losing money is less when investing, as you are not trading on margin. But as with all investing if you pick poorly performing investments or copy traders who perform badly, you will lose money.
If you cannot afford to risk losing money and you are thinking of trading on eToro you should not do it. eToro is a trading and investing platform and it is a well-known fact that around 80% of traders lose money on CFDs. Even with investing, your money is at risk, and if you invest in stocks and markets that go down you will get less back than you put into your eToro account. However, eToro does have a growing copy trading platform where you can see the portfolios of profitable traders and investors.
Are eToro fees high?
eToro fees are not high for trading as they offer commission-free trading. However, if you are trading CFDs with eToro, the overnight CFD financing charges are much higher than other brokers.Β FX fees are also relaively high when buying US stocks and converting GBP to USD.
Is your money safe with eToro?
In the UK eToro is regulated by the FCA so if they go bust your money (up to Β£85k) is protected by the FSCS. However, your money is not safe from you making bad investment decisions or picking a bad trader to copy trade.
Does it cost money to withdraw funds from eToro?
Yes. eToro charges $5 when you withdraw money. This is one way that eToro makes money.
Do I have to pay tax on profits made with eToro?
Yes. If you make money with eToro you have to pay tax on the profits. The only way to avoid paying tax on trading profits is to trade financial spread bets in the UK. If you want to know more about spread betting, I explain why it is tax-free investing here.
Does eToro have a monthly fee
Yes. eToro will charge you $10 a month if you do not use your account after 12 months. This is called an inactivity fee and will not take you below a zero account balance.
Does eToro offer SIPPs and ISAs?
No. eToro does not offer tax-efficient stocks and shares ISA accounts of SIPPs for you to invest for your retirement. However, eToro does have a partnership with MoneyFarm where you can have a stocks and shares ISA account.
How does eToro make money?
eToro makes money on the difference between the bid and offer spread when you buy and sell shares, indices, commodities, forex pairs and cryptocurrency. eToro also makes money in fees for depositing and withdrawing money and on FX conversions.
Pros
- Really simple to use
- Social and copy-trading
- Set your own leverage
- Pre-built sector portfolios
Cons
- Can only trade and invest in USD
- No SIPPs or ISA
- No direct market access
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Pricing
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Market Access
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Online Platform
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Customer Service
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Research & Analysis
Overall
4.6Best US ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) Brokers 2025
US ETF Trading Platform | ETFs Available | ETF Stock Trading Costs | Customer Reviews | GMG Rating | More Info |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | 1,000+ | 0.003% | 4.4
| See Platform | |
![]() | 100+ | 0% | 3.7
| See Platform |
Trading and investing carries a high level or risk and losses can exceed your deposits. Featured brokers appear first.
ETF Brokers USA – FAQs:
Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions by people searching for the best ETF brokers in America.
One of the reasons behind the popularity of the ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) market is that they are set up to track a specific market like a mutual fund. The product consists of a basket of stocks that are representative of that market, with the aim of replicating that market’s movement, for example: The best US ETF brokers track indexes like the S&P 500, and will consist of a small quantity of stocks in every company on that market, which should roughly mirror the results of that market overall during the day’s trading (though a 1% margin of error is common). However, unlike a mutual fund, ETFs can be traded instantly at any time of day while the market is open, rather than at the end of the day. This gives investors far more options with regards to their investment tactics, with short selling, long selling and hedging all options.
Previously, the world of investment portfolios had only been open to high-wealth individuals who had the time and resources to employ a fund manager. It also relied on beating the market, rather than just matching it, to actually make any money – something which even good fund managers had struggled to do. Plus, the investment landscape was limited mainly to domestic markets, with only real insiders having the wherewithal to take advantage of more exotic markets such as Brazil, South Africa or Mexico.
With ETFs, investors can buy and sell in any market around the world that offers the package without having a fund manager to help them. They can buy and sell at any time with full knowledge of the buy and sell costs in advance, and so they can reap the benefits of short-term gains and losses that would be beyond the reach of a mutual fund. ETFs are also very investor friendly in terms of charges levied, with some funds charging an annual fee of as little as 0.1% – though additional dealer fees will apply every time a trade is made. For small-scale traders, these charges can be a fraction of a similar deal with a mutual fund, and so can be very attractive.
Whether or not you choose to buy ETFs will depend on your investment strategy. The product is very popular among small investors, as it allows even investors with relatively limited resources to take on the markets in ways previously limited to high-wealth individuals. The low annual charges and the ability to buy and sell like stocks add to this appeal. However, the dealer fees required to trade can add up for large-scale investors, and can actually become less cost-effective than a mutual fund if you make several trades a day, so they are not as attractive to more professional traders and those who trade quickly and often.
You need a ETF broker to buy and sell ETFs. One of the best selling points of an EFT is its flexibility and accessibility in comparison to equivalent Mutual funds. If you don’t have the $2,000 minimum you need to invest in a Mutual, you can simply register with an online broker and declare your interest in buying an EFT. They act like stocks, and so you can buy and sell them at any time of day, as quickly or as slowly as you’d like.
