eToro in Ireland – All you need to know!

Is eToro legal in Ireland?

Yes, it is! eToro keeps a list of blocked countries on its website, and Ireland is not one of them, so using eToro as an investment platform is perfectly legal in Ireland.

Irish clients are served by eToro (Europe) Ltd, which is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and operates in Ireland under EU passporting rules (registered with the Central Bank of Ireland).

eToro Ireland highlights

How safe is eToro?

Most of the time, this is the first question that comes to mind, and we entirely get that – as investors ourselves, it was our first concern too!

eToro provides three layers of safety:

• Your securities are held in a segregated account: eToro is an intermediary in the financial system. Each time you buy a non-leveraged position in a stock or ETF, you acquire a financial asset that belongs to you, held with a custodian. In other words, if something went wrong with eToro, your assets would be ring-fenced from the company’s own.
• Investor protection (regulatory obligation): as an Irish investor, you open an account through eToro (Europe) Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). It must therefore be a member of the Cyprus Investor Compensation Fund (ICF), which provides cover of up to €20,000 per client.
• Private insurance: eToro has partnered with Lloyd’s of London to provide eligible clients with insurance of up to €1 million, covering cash, securities, and CFD positions in the unlikely event of insolvency.

If you need more details on security, check out our analysis of the safety of eToro.

What financial instruments and features will I find?

You can trade a wide variety of financial products:

• Stocks: you can trade stocks from 17 different exchanges, including Zurich, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan, New York, and the Nasdaq. Note: eToro does not offer stocks listed on Euronext Dublin.
• ETFs: eToro offers ETFs from providers such as iShares, Vanguard, PIMCO, Invesco, and VanEck, among others.
• Commodities: you can invest in gold, silver, copper, platinum, palladium, and more.
• Forex: you can gain exposure to the currency market through many pairs. The most common are EUR/USD, AUD/USD, and GBP/JPY, with around 40 other pairs available.
• CFDs: eToro lets you trade all the asset classes above with leverage through CFDs. Be aware that this increases the likelihood of significant losses.

You can also use the CopyTrader feature to copy other investors automatically, effectively delegating your investing to someone you believe will deliver strong returns. You can copy the portfolios of up to 100 investors at the same time.

eToro’s fees

As with any business, eToro needs to make money. A primary source of revenue is the spread – the difference between the ask and bid prices.

For Irish residents, real stock trading is commission-free. (In some other countries, eToro charges a flat commission of $1 or $2 per stock trade, depending on the country and exchange.) ETF trading is also commission-free, though some ETFs may be excluded.

When trading crypto or CFDs, you pay a spread (and a 1% fee on crypto) each time you buy and sell. Spreads can be high on some products, so it is worth checking eToro’s fees page to know exactly what you are paying.

There are also financing rates (charged on leveraged positions held overnight) and currency conversion fees. As for non-trading fees, eToro charges an inactivity fee ($10 per month if you do not log in for 12 months) and a withdrawal fee ($5 per withdrawal).

How to open an account?

To open an account, you need to go to eToro’s website, click on “Join now”, and provide the required information, as shown in the following image:

In the first check box (underlined in red), confirm in which subsidiary you are registering.

After this step, you need to verify your identity and address. Your proof of identity could be your ID or your passport. Meanwhile, your proof of residency could be your driving licence, a copy of a bank statement or a utility bill.

We suggest you submit all the remaining documents as soon as you open an account to prevent delays when withdrawing your money! We have witnessed no issues in taking money out of the platform, but it may take a more extended period if your account is not fully updated or verified.

Once everything is correctly set up, you’ll be able to deposit money to start trading with your real account on the eToro platform:

It is effortless to navigate through all the sidebars and the search function on the top. We are confident that you will find what you came looking for in less than a minute.

How to deposit and withdraw?

Before answering this, remember that you can use a demo account before deciding whether to deposit real funds.

Deposits: on your eToro dashboard, you will find “Deposit Funds”. Clicking it opens a pop-up with several deposit options, such as credit/debit card, PayPal, Skrill, Rapid Transfer, Neteller, and bank transfer. The eToro minimum deposit in Ireland is $100.

Withdrawals: you will also find a “Withdraw Funds” tab. The method you used to deposit should be the same one used to withdraw. Keep in mind that the minimum withdrawal amount is $30, with a fixed withdrawal fee of $5 per withdrawal.

How to trade stocks or any other security?

The process for buying or selling stocks is straightforward, and is similar to other asset classes (ETFs, cryptocurrencies or any security).

First, use the search bar to find the company you are looking for and then click on “Trade”, as shown in the image below:

Second, a pop-up will appear where you can buy (or short) the stock. In this case, you are buying the underlying asset, and not a CFD. If you want to leverage your investment, you will need to change the “X1” to “X2” or to any other level of exposure that eToro allows.

Customer support

Our judgement of any customer support comes from our own experience. On that basis, we have noticed an improvement in response times since the covid-19 pandemic.

We have contacted customer support more than once, and the response time varies. The longest we waited for a reply was about seven days, but in normal circumstances it takes less than three days.

Final thoughts

All in all, eToro is a solid option for any Irish investor, whether you are a beginner, an intermediate, or even a professional.

The company is currently going through a period of growth to further boost its reputation and credibility, and to gain even more customers.

For a complete overview of how eToro operates globally, please read our eToro review!