eToro vs Trading 212

Is eToro better than Trading 212? Who offers lower spread, better trading conditions and is safer broker to trade?

We provide answers to all questions in this eToro vs Trading 212 Comparison Review. For this Review we opened real accounts and deposit over US$ 12,000 in total to compare both offerings,account opening process at eToro and Trading 212 also the fees, trading conditions, platform selection and withdrawal process.   

What is eToro and Trading 212

eToro gained popularity as one of the largest Best Social trading Brokers and platforms with a good range of portfolios and Top number of investors.

Trading 212 is a large and popular CFD broker with large number of instruments suitable for retail and professional traders.

Some of the highlights of eToro vs Trading 212 are:

	eToro	Trading 212
💻 Website	www.etoro.com	www.trading212.com
🛡️Founded year	2006	2006
🏦 Headquarter	Israel	UK
🗺️ Authorized & Regulated in	USA, UK, Australia, Cyprus	UK, Bulgaria
🔒 Is Broker safe	Yes	Yes
💰 EUR/USD Spread	0.97	1.37
💳 Minimum deposit	US$50 or US$500	US$1
💰 Withdrawal fee	US$5	US$0
🖥️ Trading Platform	eToro’s own trading platform	Trading 212’s proprietary trading platform
📈 Markets offered	Indices, Forex, Commodities, Stocks, Cryptocurrencies, ETFs	Indices, Forex, Commodities, Stocks, Cryptocurrencies
📉 Number of Products	986	2,029
🔎 Our Detailed Review	eToro Review	Trading 212 Review

Licenses and Regulation

Both Brokers are safe to trade and are reliable, they provide low risk trading environment due to regulations and are not a scam.

eToro is licensed by some of the top global regulators, including the UK’s FCA, CySEC, ASIC, and FinCEN.

Trading 212 has 2 licenses globally including a top-tier license from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

For this review, we opened an account under eToro (Europe) Limited regulated by CySEC and CFD account with Trading 212 UK Ltd in which we deposited money so as to run our tests.

We recommend you register your account with the eToro UK or CySEC entity and with the Trading 212 UK entity if it’s available to you since we consider regulation by the FCA as being the best given.

	eToro	Trading 212
🔒 Licenses	ASIC, CySEC, IE Singapore, FCA, NFA	FCA, Bulgaria FSC
Top Tier License	✔️	✔️
Publically Traded	❌	❌
Compensation Scheme	✔️ (depending on entity)	✔️ (depending on entity)

eToro vs Trading 212 Fees

eToro and Trading 212 fees are similar and mainly built into a spread basis, there is no commission based accounts or commission charge for trades.

For additional fees, Trading 212 maintained a better offering and does not charge other non-trading fees, while eToro charges a few non-trading fees.

	eToro Fees	Trading 212 Fees
Fees based on spread	✔️	✔️
Floating Spread	✔️	✔️
Fixed Spread	❌	❌
Commission based fees	❌	❌
Inactivity Fee	$10	0$
Deposit fee	0$	0$
Withdrawal fee	5$	0$
Active trader/ VIP Programs	✔️	❌

Spreads Charged in Our Trades

For our test trades on eToro vs Trading 212 accounts, we chose popular instruments in each market. We placed 3 trades for each instrument and listed average actual spread charged on the live trades we made through our funded account, we found both negative and positive sides for each Broker spreads.

eToro spreads for Indices and Forex are below the industry average. For commodities and stock CFDs spreads are above the industry average. Cryptocurrencies in our trades are more than double the industry average.

Comparing Trading 212 spreads charged in our trades to the industry benchmark, we found FTSE 100 and Gold spreads to be quite high, FX and Stock trades were in-line with industry trends and Stock trades are much lower than the industry average.

Markets	Instruments	eToro Avg. spread  in our trades	Trading 212 Avg. spread  in our trades	Industry avg. spread
Indices	FTSE 100	1.4	2.47	1.65
Forex	EUR/USD	0.97	1.37	1.16
Commodities	Gold	4.5	7.47	3.53
Stocks	AAPL	2.23	1.70	1.75

Account Types Compared

Trading 212 offers 2 account types – Invest and CFD accounts, making offering more flexible for specific need, while eToro offers a single account.

Opening a new account on eToro was very simple and easy, the registration process took merely 11 minutes.

In our Trading 212 test, it took 2 working days to open and verify our account. The registration took only 16 mins to complete.

	eToro Accounts	Trading 212 Accounts
Standard Account	✔️	✔️
ECN / Commission Based Account	❌	❌
Islamic Account	✔️	❌
PAMM Account	❌	❌

Markets and Products

Trading 212 offers a wider range of instrument selection compared to eToro, however some popular asset classes, such as ETFs, mutual funds, bonds and options are missing. While eToro is primarily a Forex and CFD broker, but also offers trading services with real Stocks, ETFs, and Cryptocurrencies.

Markets	eToro Instruments	Trading 212 Instruments
Indices	13	57
Forex	49	184
Commodities	31	118
Stocks	726	1661
Cryptocurrency	16	9
ETFs	151	–
Options	–	–

Trading Conditions

Trading conditions on eToro and Trading 212 are fair and suitable for beginning traders, both brokers do not allow scalping, using EAs are not available since there is no MetaTrader platform. However, hedging strategies at Trading 212 are allowed.

Trading Method	eToro	Trading 212
Hedging	✔️ (eToro will retain the profits)	✔️
Scalping	❌	❌
Change Leverage	✔️	❌
Copy trading/ Social trading	✔️	❌
Beginners Trading	✔️	✔️
Professional Trading	✔️	✔️

Deposit and Withdrawal

Both deposit and withdrawal processes on eToro and Trading 212 are simple enough, supporting various funding methods. However, eToro charges a flat fee of $5 for every withdrawal. 

We tested the deposit process on eToro using multiple payment modes and the deposits were received instantly.

Trading 212 test deposit by Debit card, Skrill and Paypal reflect instantly in your trading account with zero fees, which is why we recommend them.

	eToro	Trading 212
💰 Deposit Fee	❌	❌
💰 Withdrawal fee	5$	❌
💳 Minimum deposit	US$50 or US$500	US$1
Bank Transfer	✔️	✔️
Debit/ Credit Cards	✔️	✔️
PayPal	✔️	✔️
Skrill	✔️	✔️

Trading Platform

Both Brokers eToro vs Trading 212 offers only own trading platform and does not offer any other alternative or popular MetaTrader 4 & 5 (MT4 platform & MT5 platform) platform. Both platforms looks modern and are easy to use or navigate, however both lack professional research tools, comprehensive fundamental data while analysis is rather basic.

eToro is known for social trading feature. In fact, it gained popularity because of this feature. It basically has two features: CopyTrader and CopyPortfolio.

Trading 212 platform is user-friendly we placed test trades via the broker’s mobile platform, which was quite intuitive.

	eToro Platform	Trading 212 Platform
🖥️ Proprietary Platform	✔️	✔️
Web Platform	✔️	✔️
Desktop Platform	❌	❌
Mobile App	✔️	✔️
Alternative Platforms	❌	❌
MetaTrader4	❌	❌
Simple to use platform	✔️	✔️
Demo Account Trading	✔️	✔️
Execution Agency Model	❌	❌
Research	✔️	✔️
Advanced Research tools	❌	✔️

Education and Support

Trading 212 education and research sections are great, while eToro does not offer high-quality education resources and is losing in that point. eToro and Trading 212 both offers decent customer support with Live Chat and support inquiries.

We found eToro developing its learning materials and established eToro Trading School.

Trading 212 we found to be some of the best in the industry given with easy-to-understand presented format.

	eToro Support	Trading 212 Support
Trading School for Beginners	✔️	✔️
Tutorials	✔️	✔️
Trading Videos	❌	✔️
Webinars	✔️	✔️
Daily News and Analysis	✔️	✔️
Economic Calendar	✔️	✔️
Live Chat	✔️	✔️
Email Support	✔️	✔️
24/7 availability	❌	❌

Conclusion on eToro vs Trading 212

Comparing eToro to Trading 212 side by side we found both brokers reliable and are trusted brokers. The proposals are different compared eToro focus on Social Trading and Trading 212 as CFD Trading or Investment Broker with large number of instruments.

Trading costs are for both brokers based on spread with no commission with more competitive trading spreads on eToro, but much lower overall fees and spreads for Stocks in Trading 212.

Our trading experience on eToro platform was smooth. eToro is good for beginners and experienced/popular traders. It has some attractive features like social trading and is Best for the number of Top Traders. However, education is not the best feature at eToro.

Overall experience with Trading 212 was smooth, we liked the broker’s educational materials, which are some of the best we have seen, also liked the huge selection of actual stocks and low spreads. Trading 212 has some drawbacks, though, the spreads on the FTSE index and Gold to be quite high

	eToro	Trading 212
Recommended for	✔️ Best for Social Trading ✔️ Beginning Traders ✔️ Trading Currency Pairs ✔️ Cryptocurrency Trading ✔️ Stocks Trading	✔️Trading currency pairs or CFD stocks ✔️ Beginning Traders ✔️ Experienced traders ✔️ Investment
Might not be fit for	❌ Scalping trader ❌ Hedging trader ❌ EA trader ❌ Trading through MT4/MT5 platform only ❌ Commission based trading	❌ Scalping trader ❌ Hedging trader ❌ EA trader ❌ Trading through MT4/MT5 platform ❌ Commission based trading ❌ Trading Gold or Indice