Over the past few years, cryptocurrencies have become the new hot commodity to buy and sell. Everyone likes to talk about what Bitcoin is doing.
With the increased popularity, investing in crypto has become easy and user-friendly. Platforms like eToro and Coinbase have established themselves as some of the top crypto exchanges, providing access to a large variety of cryptocurrencies.
Below, we will compare eToro and Coinbase to help you decide which is the better platform for you. We will look at the pros and cons of each, what makes them special, and the costs. By the end hopefully one fits your investing strategy.
What are they?
eToro is a company based in Tel-Aviv, Israel, and was founded in 2007. Their current CEO is Yoni Assia.
eToro is a social trading platform that enables you to buy cryptocurrency, stocks, and ETFs. It also allows you to keep up with the investing strategies of other eToro users.
The company started off as a crypto exchange only, however, has evolved into a multi-asset broker. eToro was actually one of the early adopters of cryptocurrency exchange.
Social investing allows investors to share ideas and on eToro, you can copy other portfolios and strategies.
eToro is supported in more than 150 countries and 45 states. Investors in Tennessee, Hawaii, Minnesota, Nevada, or New York, unfortunately, do not have access to eToro. It currently has over 25 million registered users.
eToro offers many features, but it mainly includes trading different equities, following top traders’ portfolios, and trading virtual currency for practice.
Coinbase is a crypto-only exchange based in the United States founded in 2012. It went public on the NASDAQ stock exchange in 2021.
Coinbase is a very user-friendly platform to buy and sell cryptos. Their focus is to make trading simple. Besides buying and selling crypto, reading-related news, or checking charts there is not that much more offered by Coinbase.
Coinbase is the largest crypto exchange by trading volume in the United States. It is accessible in over 100 countries and 49 U.S. states – Coinbase is not supported in Hawaii.
eToro vs Coinbase: Features
One of the prominent differences between eToro and Coinbase is how many cryptos are available to trade.
Coinbase offers over 120 tradable currencies which includes the majority of the top 30 largest by market cap.
Unique to Coinbase is the ability to borrow cash using crypto and earn interest by loaning out your cryptos.
eToro only offers over 60 cryptocurrencies. For international users, stocks, ETFs, and other securities are available to trade as well.
Both exchanges update their cryptocurrency list with new currencies.
One feature they both share is they offer a digital wallet. A wallet is so investors have a secure place to store their assets. Both wallets are the same concept but are different in a few ways.
You do not have to be a Coinbase user to open a Coinbase Wallet. eToro is the opposite, you have to be a user to access the wallet.
Coinbase allows the transfer of money between the wallet and crypto exchange. On eToro, it is a one-way road, once cryptos are transferred to the wallet, they cannot be moved back.
eToro charges a .5% to transfer to the wallet and Coinbase does not.
Only a handful of currencies are supported on eToro’s wallet whereas Coinbase supports more.
The features that distinguish eToro over Coinbase are their social community, copy trading, and demo accounts.
There is a forum that allows users to follow each other and start posts. This is a great opportunity to share investment strategies and maybe learn something new.
eToro also shares what percentage of its users are buying or selling a specific crypto.
Their CopyTrading encourages users to duplicate what experience and successful traders have done. Real-time trades are made public so others can follow.
Copying one’s entire portfolio is an option also on eToro.
Demo Accounts are a great way to learn and gain experience trading crypto with zero consequences. eToro starts you with $100,000 to gain practice and have some fund-making trades. Coinbase does not offer any of these features.
Coinbase’s main features are an active watchlist, real-time news of the industry, and the ability to earn crypto by watching videos.
Fees
In this world, to make money, you have to spend money. Fees can easily add up and can be hard to keep track of. Fortunately, eToro is one of the more affordable crypto exchanges in the United States.
There is no commission fee, investors pay a 1% fee to buy or sell crypto. The 1% is calculated for both the open and close of the position. This fee is calculated at the time you open the position and is added to the market price.
eToro does not charge based on what payment method is used to fund your account.
eToro has a minimum deposit of $10. For wire transfers, the minimum is $500.
If you’re using the eToro Money Wallet for your crypto, you’ll also pay a 0.1% conversion fee to convert one coin to another.
There’s also a 0.5% transfer fee (minimum of $1, maximum of $50) when you transfer funds from your eToro brokerage account to the Money wallet.
eToro also charges miscellaneous fees for certain optional services.
You’ll also pay different fees for paper services, wire transfers, and other services.
If you are an inactive eToro user for more than 12 months, they will charge you a $10 monthly fee. International users pay $5 to withdraw funds.
Coinbase fees are more expensive and more complicated. When you make a trade-in
Coinbase, there are 2 fees.
The first fee you are charged with depends on the value of the transaction and it ranges from $0.99 to $2.99.
The next fee is a percentage based that ranges from 1.49% to 3.99% depending on the payment method used.
On Coinbase, the fees shrink as trade size increases. Coinbase does not charge a withdrawal fee. It also does not cost anything to add funds to the wallet, but most deposits do have fees.
To buy and sell crypto on Coinbase, all you need is $2 in your account. This makes Coinbase pretty attractive for investors.
User Experience
The reason both eToro and Coinbase are so popular is how easy it is to operate these platforms.
Coinbase is known for being a crypto exchange for beginners. It offers educational tools for novice investors and an online support portal. Users can watch short videos to earn a stake in crypto.
Coinbase’s interface makes it straightforward to buy or sell crypto. The only downside is it offers limited transaction types.
When opening up Coin base online or with the app, the dashboard will show gainers, losers, and the most volatile crypto that day. There are color-coded charts that show the performance of that crypto in real-time or in the past.
Any cryptocurrencies added to your watch list will be tracked too. Coinbase also provides news in the crypto world to keep you up to date.
eToro is more for investors who have some knowledge of trading crypto. They offer more transaction types than Coinbase.
eToro is limited in terms of educational opportunities offered, but they do have a basic help center.
One key difference is that eToro has a community chat where questions can be asked, and ideas can be shared.
On eToro, it has a customized dashboard. It shows the biggest movers of the day and what are the most popular cryptos among other investors.
It also has a watchlist that shows a color-coded chart to easily keep track of your cryptos.
For most cryptocurrencies, eToro gives a rating of buy, sell, or hold based on technical indicators.
Both options make the process of trading crypto very manageable. Just select the crypto you want to trade, enter how much you want to purchase, select the trade type, and submit.
Both apps are clean and work smoothly. They receive pretty decent reviews from users.
Security and Reputation
eToro and Coinbase are reputable and secure services. Both have years in the world of investing and have millions of users who trust both platforms with their hard-earned money. But everyone wonders if they are legit, and can be trusted?
eToro is regulated by the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). It is also a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
This means that eToro is regulated by the government, like many other trusted financial services.
All user funds are kept in tier 1 banks and cash deposits are insured by the FDIC for up to $250,000.
eToro also complies with the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and the
Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).
Coinbase is regulated in the United States as well by the United Kingdom’s FCA. All client funds are kept in United States banks and cash deposits are FDIC insured for up to $250,000.
Cryptocurrencies that are stored online on Coinbase’s exchange are insured. Coinbase stores over 98% of deposits offline in cold storage facilities that are monitored 24/7.
Both eToro and Coinbase have multi-factor authentication to secure your account. They also conduct bug bounty programs so ethical hackers can find any holes in the system.
Millions of people have safely traded trillions of dollars worth of crypto on both of these services. So, the answer to the question is yes! eToro and Coinbase can be trusted with your money.
Final Verdict
Coinbase and eToro are both quality options to trade cryptocurrencies. They have their advantages; it just depends on your preference.
Coinbase
StraightforwardEverything you need in one place, Offers a wide variety of currenciesHigh fees
eToro
More advancedLower fees, social tradingDemo accountsLimited currencies to trade
Explore both options and do your research. To take a deeper dive into eToro click here.
If you are just getting started with crypto and want to learn more, check out our in-depth article on Cryptocurrency.
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