eToro vs ActivTrades 2024

eToro is not publicly traded and does not operate a bank. eToro is authorised by three Tier-1 regulators (Highly Trusted), zero Tier-2 regulators (Trusted), zero Tier-3 regulators (Average Risk), and one Tier-4 regulator (High Risk). eToro is authorised by the following Tier-1 regulators: Australian Securities & Exchange Commission (ASIC), Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and regulated in the European Union via the MiFID passporting system.

eToro is a winner for its easy-to-use copy-trading platform, where traders can copy the trades of experienced investors – or receive exclusive perks for sharing their own trading strategies.

ActivTrades is a long-standing brand that offers a proprietary trading platform, ActivTrader, and support for the award-winning TradingView and MetaTrader (MT4 and MT5) platforms. ActivTrades also delivers a selection of custom add-ons, indicators, and trading tools for traders who prefer to use MetaTrader. Drawbacks for trading with ActivTrades include a smaller selection of tradeable symbols and fewer educational resources than what’s available from the best forex brokers.

To open a trading account with eToro, you'll need to make an initial minimum deposit of $50-$10,000.

ActivTrades requires a minimum deposit of 0 before you can open an account and start trading.

It's important to make sure that your forex broker accepts the funding options and deposit methods that work best for you. eToro offers Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit), Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw), PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw), Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) and Neteller (Deposit/Withdraw) for banking, whereas ActivTrades provides Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit), Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw), Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) and Neteller (Deposit/Withdraw).

Comparing the trading costs of forex and CFDs is not easy. Not every broker publishes average spread data, and pricing structures vary. Based on our thorough, data-driven testing of each broker's commissions and fees, we found that eToro offers better pricing overall for traders.

Methodology: When testing each broker's commissions, fees, and pricing, we analyze multiple trade scenarios and award points based on the expansiveness (or inexpensiveness) of the broker's spreads. We then run multiple scenarios for different investor types, incorporating any miscellaneous fees, to determine an "all-in" cost per trade. Learn more about how we test.

At ForexBrokers.com, we track over 110 international regulatory agencies and sort them by tiers (Tier-1, Tier-2, Tier-3, Tier-4, and Tier-5) to help you choose well-regulated, highly trusted forex brokers. Learn more about our proprietary Trust Score rating system. Based on our research on the regulatory status of over 60 brokers, we've found that eToro holds 3 global Tier-1 licenses, while ActivTrades holds 2. Both eToro and ActivTrades hold 1 global Tier-2 licenses.

After evaluating each broker based on their number of held licenses, years in business, and a range of other data-driven variables, we've determined that eToro (93) earned a higher Trust Score than ActivTrades (81).

To compare the trading platforms of both eToro and ActivTrades, we tested each broker's trading tools, research capabilities, and mobile apps. For trading tools, eToro offers a better experience. With research, eToro offers superior market research. Finally, we found eToro to provide better mobile trading apps.

Here’s what trading platforms are available at eToro:

• Proprietary Platform - Yes
• Web Platform - Yes
• cTrader - No
• DupliTrade - No
• MT4 - No
• MT5 - No
• ZuluTrade - No
• TradingView - No

Here’s what trading platforms are available at ActivTrades:

• Proprietary Platform - Yes
• Web Platform - Yes
• cTrader - No
• DupliTrade - No
• MT4 - Yes
• MT5 - Yes
• ZuluTrade - No
• TradingView - Yes

The MetaTrader trading platform suite is wildly popular among forex and CFD traders across the globe. ActivTrades offers MetaTrader 4 (MT4), while eToro does not. Forex traders also appreciate the ability to engage in social copy trading. eToro and ActivTrades both offer copy trading.

eToro provides traders 55 currency pairs (e.g., EUR/USD) compared to ActivTrades's 49 available pairs. If you are interested in trading a full range of securities, eToro offers traders access to 5461 tradeable symbols, while ActivTrades offers access to 1267 tradeable symbols; so eToro offers 4194 more tradeable symbols than ActivTrades.

We found in our testing that eToro offers a more diverse selection of investment options than ActivTrades, allowing you to trade Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs), U.S. Stocks (CFD), Int'l Stock Trading (Non CFD), Cryptocurrency (Physical), Cryptocurrency (Derivative) and Social Trading / Copy Trading.