Imagine you are getting ready to pay for your weekly shopping and the supermarket cashier suddenly adds a 3% surcharge to your total bill.
You would certainly be surprised and tempted to take your custom elsewhere – but what if the next supermarket did the same, and this time is was even more?
This 3% every time you shop mounts up – and what does it get you? Nothing. You still only end up with the same bottles and tins you took from the shelves.
Yes, the supermarkets need a fee to keep the lights on and pay the people stacking the shelves, but asking for an additional commission payment for the privilege of filling your fridge? Not so much.
This is why – eToro will be doing away with charging commission when our customers buy stocks. It’s simple. If you wouldn’t accept an additional 3% when buying groceries, why would you accept it when buying stocks?
And why would you agree to pay sky-high fees at some supermarkets that are selling you exactly the same items that another shop offers you for much less?
Research carried out for eToro by gbi2 has shown how high the fees and commission other investment websites charge their clients for buying stocks can mount up. The range is remarkable.
For example, on an investment portfolio of UK stocks worth £3,000, eToro customers would pay less than £43 in fees. Those using other providers can pay more than double that amount (see table at the end of this article).
BUY STOCKS NOW
Your capital is at risk.
On a portfolio of US stocks worth £2,000, gbi2 found eToro’s fees were barely £39, whereas some providers charged more than £100 – and for what?
The stocks don’t go up in value any further or quicker – they are all the same.
The higher you go, the worse it gets. On a portfolio worth £600,000, made up of a range of UK, US and European stocks, eToro investors paid around £2,700 in fees. Another provider’s clients paid almost £9,500.
This massive difference comes from eToro’s decision to absorb stamp duty on UK stocks and, unlike some platforms, we do not charge a quarterly management or administration fee.
There is also no charge for following our Popular Investors, who have the insight into which stocks to buy in the first place.
At eToro, we want to make investment affordable for all and we don’t think these companies charging commission deserve your hard-earned cash as a bonus for doing what we do for free.
BUY STOCKS NOW
Your capital is at risk.
You can see our full UK fee comparison table for stocks below:
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Buying 3 UK-listed stocks
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Buying 2 US-listed stocks
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Buying 1 German-listed stock
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Total portfolio cost
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| Total investment | £3k | £30k | £300k | £2k | £20k | £200k | £1k | £10k | £100k | £6k | £60k | £600k |
| eToro – Fee charged |
£42.93 | £181.74 | £1,246.69 | £36.83 | £139.83 | £1,018.31 | £27.33 | £63.71 | £446.94 | £107.09 | £385.28 | £2,711.94 |
| Hargreaves Lansdown – Fee charged |
£87.49 | £231.35 | £1,669.94 | £89.39 | £419.27 | £1,645.22 | £44.09 | £203.50 | £760.58 | £220.97 | £854.12 | £4,075.74 |
| IG – Fee charged |
£63.86 | £207.72 | £1,646.30 | £68.08 | £269.62 | £2,356.21 | £27.86 | £123.15 | £1,257.80 | £159.80 | £600.67 | £5,260.31 |
| Halifax – Fee charged |
£90.78 | £234.64 | £1,673.23 | £101.21 | £567.94 | £5,235.21 | £50.00 | £277.89 | £2,556.70 | £241.99 | £1,080.47 | £9,465.14 |
| Interactive Investor – Fee charged |
£75.82 | £219.68 | £1,658.27 | £100.96 | £655.15 | £2,281.16 | £69.58 | £341.22 | £1,218.01 | £246.36 | £1,216.05 | £5,157.44 |
| The Share Centre – Fee charged |
£84.86 | £228.72 | £1,667.31 | £56.52 | £79.37 | £307.84 | £39.64 | £45.44 | £103.47 | £181.02 | £353.53 | £2,078.62 |
| Barclays – Fee charged |
£51.89 | £195.75 | £1,634.33 | UK stocks only | UK stocks only | UK stocks only | UK stocks only | UK stocks only | UK stocks only | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| AJ Bell – Fee charged |
£83.03 | £226.88 | £1,665.47 | £88.97 | £467.80 | £1,892.57 | £47.63 | £231.54 | £888.09 | £204.63 | £911.22 | £4,431.13 |
Independent research firm gbi2 carried out a study of stocks and shares platforms catering to UK investors in February and March 2019. A total of 8 share trading platforms were looked at including eToro, Hargreaves Lansdown, IG, Interactive Investor, The Share Centre, Halifax, Barclays and AJ Bell.
Each platform’s costs were tested based on buying three UK-listed shares (Lloyds, BP, Tesco), two US-listed shares (Amazon, Pfizer), and one German-listed share (Volkswagen). Equal amounts of these shares were bought at three price points: £1,000, £10,000 and £100,000, meaning a total theoretical spend of £6,000, £60,000 and £600,000.
All fees were researched and added to the calculation, including any fees on deposits, withdrawals, custody fees, fees on market spreads and stamp duty.
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eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFD assets.
Please note that CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 66% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.