@porcupine73 I'm relatively new myself and I think it's fine once you understand the basics such as reading a chart and how limit orders work. It can get a more lot more complicated if you delve into leverages and shorting. I'm sticking strictly to long positions. A $10 monthly fee applies if your portfolio is worth less than $100k. If you're investing €50 a month, then it's a substantial cost.
@porcupine73 I'm currently using eToro and have had no issues, however I have realised that a large amount of people on this subreddit are using Degiro, so I'm sure there's a reason for that. I don't think you could go wrong with either, but I think it's worthwhile to setup an account with both, since you could trial invest using eToro's virtual portfolio feature.
@raemp I would steer well clear of etoro. It is an awful broker and I'm not 100% but I'm pretty sure as an Irish resident you never own the underlying security as it's only CFDs they offer us. They're customer service and platform is terrible in my opinion
@lazy_pink_nights Very clearly states that "you are buying the underlying asset" unless you are using leverage, opening a "Sell" position, or trading (most) ETFs. Is there a reason you think it's a CFD?
@daniel001 I haven't used etoro in over a year. They are known for CFD trading I understand not all their products are CFDs. I'm just giving my opinion on etoro and that is that they are an awful broker
@lazy_pink_nights I've been using eToro without issue and none of my positions are CFDs. All unleveraged stock buys are the underlying asset as far as I can see. My portfolio is relatively small so the lack of fees is favourable to me for now. If they're not trading CFDs, why are they still an awful broker? I see a lot of hate on eToro and I'm relatively new to this, but most of it seems unfounded.
Edit: actually their servers did go down for a full 24 hours (apparently to do with Microsoft Azure) a few weeks ago - but that was the first big red day after the GME fiasco caused a massive influx of newbies so i think that was a big wake up call for the management there. I'm long on stocks and am not worried about short-term volatility in the market so it wasnt an issue for me, but definitely worrisome.
@daniel001 My reasons for hating etoro:
1. Incredibly high spreads on bid/ask
2. Doesn't list a large number of small-mid cap stocks on Nasdaq
3. It blocks trading when the market gets busy. Microsoft stock is going up fast? Oh no sorry you can't buy it right now.
4. Several bugs with orders (may be fixed in the last year I don't know since I left etoro) where cancelled orders would trigger and other orders not trigger
5. Terrible customer service
6. Recently their CEO went on to say that retail traders deserve more restrictions on their trading...
Haven't seen a massive negative there myself. Degiro fees range from €0.50 - €4 (plus a bit per share) which is far higher than any spread I've been caught by - though my buys are relatively small. Can using limit orders reduce this?
Fair. I have noticed some stocks I've researched not listed on eToro.
Haven't noticed this myself though I wouldn't purchase a stock on the day it's booming personally.
The couple days after their servers went down they wouldn't allow out of market close and buy orders to go through the following day, which was quite annoying. I was luckily at my screen when it opened and wasn't caught out.
I've heard that but never experienced it. Definitely something to worry about though. Supposedly I should have a dedicated customer service agent for reaching a certain equity threshold but it says I haven't reached that "club tier" yet despite (barely and only just) seemingly reaching the requirement. There's a lot of idiots on eToro so they're definitely swamped with mindless tickets.
Would that not hurt his business?
Definitely stuff to watch out for, thanks.
All in all, I still think eToro is probably the best place I have found for trading small amounts. When (if.... ) I reach a certain amount I will be transferring my money to a more established a less "gimmicky" broker. Does Degiro or IB allow fractional share trading?
@lazy_pink_nights Is there any necessary benefit to owning the underlying security instead of a CFD, as the price and movement wouldn't differ, and no fees are charged (for the CFDs I've been using).
If anything I would believe a CFD to be better for an irish resident, as it provides easier taxation, or am I wrong?
@raemp I'm not too sure about the benefits but I personally would prefer to own the underlying security especially for a long term investment as if the broker was ever to go under you could possibly lose your investment. I honestly dont know whether all this is true but it's something I'd look into if you like the idea of a CFD.
@lazy_pink_nights Thats fair, I can completely understand the idea behind owning the underlying security, as I know thats a huge thing for crypto investing, however I wouldn't be too sure about the necessity for shares, as I believe it seems to be safer. However, it is definitely worthwhile to do further research on it, thanks!
@raemp Do what feels best for yourself. But I just would really like to emphasize how awful I think etoro is. I used to use it but left after cancelled orders would get filled hours after cancelling them and the spreads being incredibly high and not being able to purchase securities because etoro deemed them too volatile
@porcupine73 I personally use Trading 212, I've set up several 'Pies' which allow you to pick a number of stocks and set up an auto fund which will automatically invests ~€50 per pie, split across the stocks every 2 week (amount of money and how often can be set to what ever you want ) this means I can kind of forget about constantly checking my stocks as the investments get lodged on payday automatically.
@porcupine73 Investing:
Started with DeGiro custody account and ETF's, then transfered the positions to Interactive Brokers pro + tiered fees joint cash account and continue to invest there now.
Trading/fun money:
Separate Interactive Brokers individual margin pro + tiered fees account for equities etc. Binance for crypto.
The maths on lump sum vs. over time works out in favour of lump sum. In practice what that meant for us was we put in what we had from cash at the start and then add more as we get paid over time now. I run a spreadsheet to work out the % allocation of the ETF's and the trades to make each month to keep everything balanced.
I tried out eToro also to see what was interesting, I really liked the copy trading idea but they seriously limit the tickers available, exchanges etc. so closed that account and will be with Interactive Brokers now for the foreseeable.
@porcupine73 Many reasons really vs. any one particular thing e.g Trade fees are about half what I was paying at DeGiro, better fills on trades, much wider range of tradable products and direct market access, better trading platform software, better live price feed pricing and options, multiple account types under single user account e.g. cash, margin, individual, joint etc.. IBKR is an around proper mainstream brokerage vs. DeGiro being a discount one.
@pearlsamuel I'm in the process of transferring everything from Degiro to IB. Can I ask is it expensive to transfer out and did it take long on the Degiro side?
