eToro vs Trading 212 (2026):
hidden costs on both sides
By Francesco Cipolli · Fees verified September 2026 against official pricing pages — see our methodology
Neither broker charges commission to buy ETFs. The costs sit elsewhere. eToro runs your account in US dollars and charges per side on stocks. Trading 212 charges 0.15% on every currency conversion, including inside Pies, where its multi-currency account doesn’t reach. This comparison covers fees, currency conversion, crypto, ETF access, automation and investor protection for EU clients, and who each broker suits.
Some of the links on this site are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you if you sign up through them. This does not affect our reviews or recommendations — we only feature products we genuinely believe are useful for investors. This site provides educational content only, not personalized investment advice. Investments can lose value and past performance does not guarantee future results. You are responsible for your own financial decisions and for confirming the tax and legal rules that apply in your country.
eToro vs Trading 212: quick comparison
| Category | eToro | Trading 212 |
|---|---|---|
| ETF commission | $0 | €0 |
| Stock commission | $1 per side; $2 per side on Australian, Hong Kong, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Tokyo listings | €0 |
| Account currency | USD; optional EUR account for EU residents | Your chosen primary currency; multi-currency account available |
| EUR deposits | 150 pips conversion into the USD account; none into a EUR account | No conversion into a EUR account |
| Conversion on non-EUR assets | 0.75% from a EUR account (Club discounts from Silver) | 0.15%, including inside Pies |
| Withdrawal fee | None from a EUR account; $5 from the USD account | None |
| Inactivity fee | None | None listed on its price list |
| Minimum first deposit | $50 in most EU countries | €1 |
| Crypto | Yes: 1% commission per position; coins transferable | Yes (EU): no commission, spread in the price; no transfers in or out |
| Recurring investing | Monthly plans from $25 | Pies or single-instrument AutoInvest, daily to every six months |
| Copy trading | CopyTrader, from $200 per trader | Copy Pie: copies a Pie’s starting allocation only |
| Interest on cash | USD cash only, opt-in | Ten currencies including EUR, opt-in, paid daily |
| Practice account | $100,000 virtual demo | Practice Mode, $50,000 virtual |
| CFDs | Yes | Yes, in a separate CFD account |
| Regulator (EU clients) | CySEC | BaFin or CySEC, depending on your country |
| Investor compensation | ICF, up to €20,000 | EdW, 90% up to €20,000 (BaFin entity); ICF, up to €20,000 (CySEC entity) |
Source: eToro — fees, conversion, currency-account, interest-on-balance, deposit and regulation pages; Trading 212 — Terms & Fees, legal documentation and help centre. Verified September 2026. Both brokers change their terms; check each site before opening an account.
TL;DR — who should use which
- You want to copy other investors’ trades automatically through CopyTrader.
- You want crypto you can move out to an external wallet.
- You hold cash in US dollars and want interest on it.
- You mainly buy EUR-listed ETFs and will set up the EUR account before your first deposit.
- The community feed and the Investing Academy have value to you.
- You want automated contributions on any schedule from daily to every six months, through Pies or a single-instrument plan.
- You buy USD-denominated ETFs and want the lower conversion rate: 0.15%, against 0.75% at eToro’s base tier.
- You want to start from €1 with no withdrawal fee.
- You want interest on uninvested EUR cash.
- You want crypto in the same app and don’t need to move coins out.
What “commission-free” actually costs
ETF commission is zero at both. The differences are stock commission, which only eToro charges, and currency conversion, withdrawals and minimums, where the two brokers are built very differently.
- ETFs: $0 commission, no custody fee
- Stocks: $1 per side on most exchanges, $2 per side on Australian, Hong Kong, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Tokyo listings, charged in USD. Not charged on opening copy, Smart Portfolio or recurring-plan positions; may apply on closing.
- EUR paid into the USD account: 150 pips per deposit, whatever the method
- EUR account ↔ USD: 0.75%, with Club discounts from Silver
- Withdrawal: none from a EUR account; $5 from the USD account ($30 minimum), waived from Platinum
- Inactivity: none
- Crypto: 1% commission per position, lower from Platinum depending on monthly volume
- Interest on cash, as at 22 September 2026: 3% a year on available USD cash where your total balance is up to $50,000, 3.80% above. Opt-in; no interest on EUR; eToro can renew the rate lower.
- Minimum first deposit: $50 in most EU countries ($2,000 in Bulgaria and Croatia); eToro reserves the right to change it
- Stocks & ETFs: €0 commission, no custody fee
- FX: 0.15% at the live interbank rate, never more, including at weekends
- Withdrawals: free from Trading 212; the receiving bank may charge
- Deposits: bank transfer free; cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and other methods free up to €2,000 cumulative, then 0.7% on the amount above
- Inactivity: none listed on its price list
- Crypto: no commission; a variable spread built into the price, plus 0.15% FX
- Interest on cash: opt-in, earned and paid daily, in ten currencies including EUR. Published rates apply to new clients and differ by entity; existing clients see theirs in the app.
- Minimum deposit: €1
Source: eToro — fees, conversion, interest-on-balance, Club and deposit pages; Trading 212 — Terms & Fees (Invest and Crypto). Verified September 2026.
Full breakdowns: eToro fees explained · Trading 212 fees explained. For eToro’s current pricing, check eToro’s pricing page.
Currency conversion: where the gap actually sits
A EUR investor buying EUR-listed UCITS ETFs pays no conversion fee at either broker, as long as eToro’s EUR account is set up before funding. The gap opens on USD-denominated assets and on eToro’s USD account.
| Scenario | eToro | Trading 212 |
|---|---|---|
| EUR deposit into a EUR account | No conversion | No conversion |
| EUR deposit into eToro’s USD account | 150 pips per deposit | No USD account step |
| Buy a EUR-denominated ETF with EUR | No conversion fee (EUR account) | No FX fee |
| Buy a USD-denominated ETF with EUR | 0.75% at the base tier (EUR account) | 0.15% |
| Non-EUR slice in a Trading 212 Pie | Not applicable | 0.15% on every AutoInvest run; multi-currency not supported in Pies |
| Withdrawal | Free from a EUR account; $5 from the USD account | Free |
Conversion cost on €60,000 of contributions. This is a modelled scenario, not a quote: it counts the conversion on each contribution only, and excludes selling, withdrawals and dividends.
| Scenario (modelled) | eToro | Trading 212 |
|---|---|---|
| EUR-denominated ETF (e.g. VWCE.DE), EUR account at both | €0 | €0 |
| USD-denominated ETF (e.g. CSPX.L), eToro Bronze via EUR account | €450 (0.75%) | €90 (0.15%) |
| Same, eToro Silver or Gold | €360 (0.60%, derived) | €90 (0.15%) |
| Same, eToro Platinum or Platinum+ | €270 (0.45%, derived) | €90 (0.15%) |
| Same, eToro Diamond | €90 (0.15%, derived) | €90 (0.15%) |
Modelled inputs: €500 contributed monthly for 10 years, every contribution converted once. eToro tier rates are derived from its 0.75% local-account rate and its published Club discounts for Europe (20% Silver and Gold, 40% Platinum and Platinum+, 80% Diamond). Club tiers follow your tier balance ($5,000 Silver, $10,000 Gold, $25,000 Platinum, $50,000 Platinum+, $250,000 Diamond); eToro also sells Platinum as a $4.99 monthly subscription, with benefits that vary by jurisdiction. The eToro USD-account route is not modelled, because its 150-pip charge has no fixed percentage.
eToro’s recurring plans are card-funded, and eToro’s own pages disagree on whether their conversion is still waived. Modelled at 0% and 0.75%, that range is €0 to €450. Source: eToro conversion and recurring-investment pages; Trading 212 Terms & Fees and Pies help centre. Verified September 2026.
The EUR account is provided by eToro Money Malta Ltd, for EU residents funding by SEPA. EUR deposits and withdrawals carry no conversion fee, and neither do EUR-listed assets bought from it: eToro converts to USD for execution and back again without a fee, though exchange-rate movement during that round trip can still affect the price. Assets in other currencies convert at 0.75% before Club discounts. EU clients pay a conversion fee at every Club tier.
Action step: if you use eToro, set up the EUR account before your first deposit and check which account each deposit lands in.
Crypto: both offer it in the EU, only one lets coins leave
Both brokers sell crypto to EU clients. The real differences are whether you can move coins out and how you pay for each trade.
eToro (Europe) Ltd holds a MiCA licence from CySEC for crypto trading and custody. You pay a commission on each position, charged separately rather than built into the spread, and you can move coins off the platform.
- 1% commission per position at Bronze, Silver and Gold; lower from Platinum, depending on your monthly manual crypto volume
- Moving coins to the eToro Money crypto wallet costs 2%; transfers from the wallet to an external address carry no eToro fee, only the blockchain fee
- No custody fee
- Some non-leveraged crypto buys may be executed as CFDs for regulatory reasons
- Crypto is not covered by the Cyprus ICF
Trading 212’s crypto is provided to EU clients by Trading 212 Markets Ltd (CySEC), including clients whose Invest account sits with the German BaFin entity. It runs in its own crypto account under the same login.
- No commission; a variable spread built into the price, paid on both buy and sell
- 0.15% FX fee when a conversion is involved
- Minimum order €2
- No crypto transfers in or out: you deposit and withdraw money only
- Not covered by any guarantee scheme
UCITS ETFs for EU investors
The EU PRIIPs Regulation requires a key information document for packaged investment products sold to retail investors, and US-domiciled ETFs such as SPY, VTI or QQQ are generally not available to EU retail clients. Both brokers offer UCITS ETFs that track the same major indices.
ETFs carry no commission, whether bought manually, through CopyTrader or in a Smart Portfolio. Listings include Vanguard FTSE All-World (VWCE.DE, in EUR on Xetra), iShares Core S&P 500 (CSPX.L, in USD) and iShares Core MSCI World, which eToro lists as SWDA.L rather than IWDA. One caveat: eToro states that some non-leveraged ETF and stock buys are executed as CFDs rather than as real holdings, and marks them “CFD” in the trade window. Check before you confirm.
The Invest account covers shares, fractional shares and ETFs under the EU entity’s terms, all with no commission. The minimum trade value is €1, and ETFs can sit inside Pies of up to 50 holdings.
Platform and tools compared
eToro is built around social discovery and learning. Trading 212 is built around automating your own allocation.
- Charts on instrument pages powered by TradingView
- Tori, eToro’s AI assistant
- Investing Academy, open to all Club tiers
- Community news feed, where Pro Investors must post monthly
- 24/5 trading on selected stocks; stop-loss and take-profit may be disabled and spreads wider outside regular hours
- $100,000 virtual demo for any registered user. Until you fund your account, you are a client of eToro Group Ltd, eToro’s unregulated BVI parent.
- Pies: visual portfolio baskets of up to 50 holdings, each slice with a target weight
- Pie types: Custom, Model and Social
- 24/5 trading, with pre-market, after-hours and overnight sessions on eligible instruments; not available for Pie orders
- Practice Mode: a toggle inside a registered account with $50,000 in virtual funds, not a separate demo signup
Copying people vs automating your own plan
Both brokers automate investing, in different ways. Which fits depends on whether you want to set the allocation yourself or follow someone else’s.
CopyTrader mirrors a Pro Investor’s trades in real time, in proportion to your equity: from $200 per trader, up to 100 traders, with no extra fee beyond normal trading costs. It needs a full suitability assessment, and only members of eToro’s Pro Investor program can be copied. eToro pays those investors from assets under copy; copiers pay nothing extra. A copy stop-loss defaults to 40% of the amount invested. Smart Portfolios start at $500 with no management fee, though the underlying assets carry their own costs.
Recurring plans run monthly only, on a date you choose, funded by card: from $25 for stocks, ETFs and crypto, $200 for copy and $500 for Smart Portfolios. Each run opens a new position. Watch out: you are copying other eToro users, not fund managers. A copy’s past performance does not predict its future results.
Pie AutoInvest runs daily, weekly, every two weeks, monthly, every two months or every six months. Each slice needs at least €1 per run and a 0.1% minimum weight. New money goes to underweight slices first by default (Self-Balancing), or is split exactly by target weight (By Targets). Neither sells anything: rebalancing an existing Pie is a separate manual action. Pie orders execute in regular market hours only.
You don’t need a Pie. AutoInvest also runs on a single instrument, shown as a Savings Plan (Sparplan) under Trading 212 EU, daily, weekly, every two weeks or monthly on the 1st to 28th. Copy Pie and Model Pies set only a Pie’s starting allocation; you are notified of later changes and choose whether to apply them.
Regulation and investor protection
Trading 212 serves EU clients through two entities, and which one you get depends on your country. Trading 212 does not serve Belgium.
| Protection layer | eToro | Trading 212 EU GmbH | Trading 212 Markets Ltd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regulator | CySEC (eToro (Europe) Ltd) | BaFin | CySEC |
| Countries served | EU clients | DE, AT, DK, FI, FR, IS, IE, LI, LU, NL, NO, ES, SE, CH | BG, HR, CZ, EE, GR, HU, IT, LV, LT, MT, PL, PT, RO, SK, SI, CY, plus crypto for all EU clients |
| Investor compensation | Cyprus ICF, up to €20,000 | EdW, 90% of the claim, capped at €20,000 | Cyprus ICF, up to €20,000 |
| Crypto | Not covered by the ICF | Not covered by any guarantee scheme | |
Source: eToro regulation, insurance and currency-account pages and EU client terms; Trading 212 EU Invest Terms, EdW information sheet, order execution policy, disclosure notice and money-protection page. Verified September 2026.
eToro advertises Lloyd’s of London cover of up to €1 million. eToro states the insurance is available only to Platinum, Platinum+ and Diamond Club members; its policy document applies a €20,000 retention and a €25m aggregate cap across all claimants, and eToro can withdraw it without notice.
Who Trading 212 fits, and who eToro fits
- €1 minimum deposit, against eToro’s $50 first deposit in most EU countries.
- No withdrawal fee on any account.
- Interest on uninvested EUR cash; eToro pays on USD cash only.
- More automation: Pies or single-instrument plans, daily to every six months, against eToro’s monthly plans.
- €0 stock commission; eToro charges $1 to $2 per side.
- Lower conversion on USD-denominated assets: 0.15%, against 0.75% at eToro’s base tier. On EUR-listed ETFs from a EUR account, the two tie.
- CopyTrader mirrors up to 100 Pro Investors in real time; Trading 212’s Copy Pie copies a starting allocation only.
- Crypto you can move to an external wallet, via eToro’s wallet at a 2% fee; Trading 212’s crypto is fiat-only.
- Interest on USD cash, if you hold dollars.
- The community feed, Investing Academy and Tori for learning.
- No commission or conversion fee on EUR-listed ETFs, as long as you use the EUR account from day one.
Neither broker’s EU documentation lists bonds or listed options among the investments it offers. Interactive Brokers prices EU stock and index options per contract, and Saxo Bank publishes bond and options commissions for its French, Dutch and Belgian entities; its Dutch clients pay 0.12% on EUR bonds, with a €5 minimum.
IBKR’s automatic currency conversion costs 0.03% of trade value. On the modelled €500-a-month plan above, that is €18 over ten years (modelled) on USD-denominated ETFs, against €90 at Trading 212 and €450 at eToro’s base tier. See: Best broker for beginners in Europe.
Check current terms before you open an account
Both brokers change fees and rates. Confirm the current figures on each broker’s own pricing page, and which entity serves your country, before you deposit. Investing involves risk of loss.
Go deeper
Frequently asked questions
Is eToro or Trading 212 better for ETF investing in Europe?
For EUR-listed UCITS ETFs bought with EUR, neither charges commission or a conversion fee, provided you use eToro’s EUR account. Trading 212 is the easier fit for monthly contributions: a €1 minimum, no withdrawal fee, and Pies or single-instrument AutoInvest on schedules from daily to every six months. On USD-denominated ETFs, Trading 212 converts at 0.15% against 0.75% at eToro’s base Club tier.
Does eToro charge a withdrawal fee for EU investors?
It depends on the account. Withdrawals from a EUR account carry no fee. Withdrawals from the USD account cost $5, with a $30 minimum, and eToro waives the fee for Platinum, Platinum+ and Diamond Club members. Trading 212 charges nothing for withdrawals, though the receiving bank may charge its own fee.
Can I do copy trading on Trading 212?
Not in the eToro sense. Trading 212’s Copy Pie and Model Pies copy only a Pie’s starting allocation: later changes are not applied automatically, and you are notified so you can apply or skip them. eToro’s CopyTrader mirrors a Pro Investor’s trades in real time, from $200 per trader and up to 100 traders.
Does eToro charge stock commissions for EU investors?
Yes. For clients in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, France and Portugal, eToro charges $1 per side on stocks on most exchanges and $2 per side on Australian, Hong Kong, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Tokyo listings, charged in USD. ETFs carry no commission. Trading 212 charges €0 on both stocks and ETFs.
Can EU investors buy US ETFs like SPY or VTI on eToro or Trading 212?
Generally not. The EU PRIIPs Regulation requires a key information document for packaged investment products sold to retail investors, and US-domiciled ETFs are generally not available to EU retail clients. Both brokers offer UCITS ETFs that track the same major indices.
Which broker pays interest on uninvested cash?
Both, on different terms. Trading 212 pays daily interest in ten currencies including EUR once you opt in; if you don’t, it keeps all the interest earned on your cash. eToro pays interest on available USD cash only, also opt-in, with the rate set by your total balance, and pays nothing on EUR. Neither rate is fixed: eToro can renew its rate lower, and Trading 212’s published rates apply to new clients.
Are eToro and Trading 212 safe for EU investors?
Both are regulated. eToro serves EU clients through eToro (Europe) Ltd under CySEC, with Cyprus ICF cover up to €20,000. Trading 212 serves countries including Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands through Trading 212 EU GmbH under BaFin, where the EdW pays 90% of a claim up to €20,000, and countries including Italy, Portugal, Greece and Poland through Trading 212 Markets Ltd under CySEC, with ICF cover up to €20,000. Crypto is not covered by any of these schemes.
Do eToro and Trading 212 both offer crypto in the EU?
Yes. eToro charges a 1% commission per position at its base Club tiers, and you can move coins to its eToro Money wallet for a 2% fee and from there to an external wallet. Trading 212’s crypto is provided to EU clients by Trading 212 Markets Ltd with no commission, a spread built into the price and a 0.15% FX fee, but it is fiat-only: coins cannot be transferred in or out.
Do both brokers offer demo or practice accounts?
Yes. eToro gives registered users a $100,000 virtual demo; until you fund your account, you are a client of eToro Group Ltd, its unregulated BVI parent. Trading 212’s Practice Mode is a toggle inside a registered account with $50,000 in virtual funds.
Can I avoid eToro’s conversion fee?
Partly. A EUR account removes the conversion on EUR deposits, withdrawals and EUR-listed assets. Assets in other currencies still convert at 0.75%, reduced by Club discounts of 20% at Silver and Gold, 40% at Platinum and Platinum+, and 80% at Diamond. EU clients pay a conversion fee at every tier, and CopyTrader and Smart Portfolios accept USD funds only.
Get the free toolkit sample
A working broker cost calculator — IBKR vs DEGIRO vs Trading 212, with verified September 2026 fees. You’ll also get 4 short emails on cutting your investing costs. Unsubscribe anytime.
Some of the links on this site are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you if you sign up through them. This does not affect our reviews or recommendations — we only feature products we genuinely believe are useful for investors. This site provides educational content only, not personalized investment advice. Investments can lose value and past performance does not guarantee future results. You are responsible for your own financial decisions and for confirming the tax and legal rules that apply in your country.