eToro Australia is a unique online trading platform that allows investors to trade and also earn an income. In this article, I’m going to provide some insight into eToro Australia.
NEWS FLASH 19 May 2020
Starting today eToro Australia has some exciting news.
eToro AUS Capital Pty Ltd (eToro AUS) is pleased to present their new service enabling you to invest in stocks traded on US stock exchanges as underlying assets. This ability is offered through eToro Service, (ARSN 637 489 466) and operated by Gleneagle Asset Management Limited (GAML) (ABN 29 103 162 278 AFSL 226199).
Their new trading service is commission-free – i.e. You pay no commission for trading underlying assets (stocks traded on US stock exchanges). Other fees, charges or costs may apply.
Rest assured that your eToro AUS account will continue without interruption and you will also be able to get seamless access to invest in the underlying asset of stocks traded on US stock exchanges. You receive all client protections under Australian law, regulated by ASIC. Your personal information will be held and shared by eToro AUS, and GAML and their related entities and service providers, only to service your account.
This is, quite simply, a game changer for traders using eToro Australia,
** If you don’t have an eToro account – you can set one up here! **
** Already have an eToro account? Check out my profile! **
67% 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.
Note that this does not apply to US Users and eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs.
What is eToro Australia?
The first one is simple – eToro is an online trading platform that primarily deals in both real assets and CFDs, depending on your country of origin. You can trade currencies, commodities, indices, cryptocurrencies, stocks and ETFs in a relatively simple way.
It focuses on the social aspect of trading – here you’re able to see other people’s trades, talk on the forums and let people know your thoughts. It’s like a combination of Facebook, Twitter and a brokerage account all in one.
So many traders and markets
There are several million accounts on eToro, from all over the world. They predominantly have US stocks but also have access to the English, Italian, French, Chinese, Swedish and more stock markets. They aim to continue increases the markets within each of these exchanges as time goes past. There are also significant forex, indices, ETFs, commodities and cryptocurrency markets available to traders.
Is there a commission fee?
The short version – no. eToro pride themselves on commission-free brokerage.
The longer version – eToro incorporate a spread into some of their trades and that, along with fees from leveraging CFDs. This appealed to me as an Australian when I wanted to buy and hold some American stocks. Normal brokerage in Australia is $10-20 per trade. I’ve opened about 60 trades in the last 12 months, so that would have cost me over $600+ if I was to do it through NAB or CommSec.
Now with their latest update, it is even more appealing.
Is it eToro Australia regulated?
It is regulated and very safe – In Australia, services and products are provided by eToro AUS Capital Pty Ltd. (“eToro Australia”), ABN 66 612 791 803 is the holder of an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) 491139 issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), and regulated under the Corporations Act (Commonwealth). eToro Australia arranges for its clients to be provided services by eToro Europe.
What is an eToro Popular Investor?
One of the best things about eToro is becoming a Popular Investor. This means, once you’ve met certain criteria for your portfolio and trading results, you can receive payment from eToro as an outcome of your great trading performance.
Whilst you can certainly grow your portfolio through traditional methods of trading on eToro, one of their incentives to attract good traders is the Popular Investor Program.
When someone chooses to copy you, you can apply to become a Popular Investor. There are 4 levels of Popular Investors:
- Cadet
- Rising Star
- Champion
- Elite
Each level has various criteria you must meet to progress to that level (and the next). Understandably, the higher up you go, the harder it is to meet the criteria, but the incentives are worth it.
For Rising Star Popular Investors, they receive $500 per month they meet the criteria. Champions, they receive $1,000 per month. Not a bad incentive for just doing your normal trading.
eToro Australia Copytrader Function
eToro Copytrader is a function that allows one trader to copy another trader’s investments automatically. It is mimicking another trader and the investments they make. You allocate a portion of your funds to copy what another trader is doing. If the trader buys $GOOG stock, then the relative portion of your copy funds will buy $GOOG stock. You are trusting the trader enough to copy their trades automatically.
It is important to note that none your money goes to the trader but their trades are replicated within your eToro copy trader funds. You can choose to copy someone and/or someone can choose you to copy
Your Popular Investor Journey
eToro has strict rules and regulations in place to ensure that traders don’t go from 0-100 in an instant – their priority is to ensure the safety of their customers and minimise the risk of trading.
Many of the best traders on this platform have a consistent pattern of success with decades of experience behind the decisions that they make. You don’t need to have a specific qualification to gain this status, but you do need to be good at what you do.
There are many prerequisites you need to meet for each Popular Investor level and there are also requirements for each Popular Investor – things around responsible trading, risk, allocation etc. All these are in place to ensure the copiers are going to flush their funds down the drain in some stupid highly leveraged trade.
You must spend a minimum of two months at each Popular Investor level before you progress to the next – you’ll also have to meet the requirements to progress to the next level.
eToro Popular Investor criteria
To become a Popular Investor, there are certain criteria at each tier you need to reach.
So if you have 1 copier and at least $500 of your money invested in eToro (your equity), you can apply to become a Cadet Popular Investor – simple!
There are some updates coming in the next few months to the PI program, check them out here.
eToro Payments
If you’re lucky enough to get to the Rising Star or above tier, eToro will pay you US$500, $1000 or above each month you meet the criteria for that tier.
There are also other benefits for those lucky enough to become a Popular Investor.
So, only one question remains – why haven’t you signed up yet?
