eToro’s foreign currency exchange platform was designed to be user-friendly and helpful to beginning traders, and assumes that new users have no experience in forex trading. However, the tools are robust enough to be used by professional traders and has been built to trade in all major currencies in the international market. Based in Cyprus, the eToro company is led by a group of finance professionals, software developers, and marketing experts. eToro’s platform is a software download program that offers both a practice area and an actual, live trading arena.

The people behind eToro didn’t look to create another drab platform with absolutely no user interaction or a sense of community amongst users. They’ve instead produced a very lively alternative. eToro mixes the traditional FOREX platform with elements of a video game. The graphics are enough to make even a small child curious about “playing” FOREX. You keep score with other traders in the community – sometimes with a cash prize on the line to be rewarded to the champion.

The eToro lobby has four trading areas. The first one is the FOREX Marathon. Graphic characters, ranging from a farmer (US), sumo wrestler (Japanese Yen) and a European businessman (Euros) represent each currency in the FOREX Marathon. Simply choose the currency that you’d like to buy, pick the currencies to compete against, select the amount and click the “Open Trade” button at the lower bottom right of the screen. Within these four simple clicks you have a visualization of the marathon, showing you exactly how your money is moving as you watch your character race for the finish line.

If you’d like to run more than one trade, simply click back to the lobby to open additional trades simultaneously. You can click back and forth between whatever simultaneous trades are active with the My Open Trades section in the lobby or the Trading Log screen. My Open Trades does a really nice job of allowing you to view all running trades, regardless of the trading arena, detailing the currencies you are buying/selling, the amount, profit and gain.

The Dollar Trend is the next trading area in the lobby. You choose whether the US dollar will rise or fall and the currencies to pit the dollar against. Similar to the FOREX Marathon, you watch the currencies race against one another, this time the graphics are in the shape of a coin or button, representing each currency.

The Globe Trader is the third trading area in the lobby. Make your selection and you will see a wire signal, representing your trade, between the competing countries on the trade arena’s map. A tiny info box above the wire will give you access to exactly how your trade is performing profit-wise with a more detailed breakdown at the lower left of the map.

Forex Match simulates a tug of war between currencies, representing your trading. I tend to spend a lot of time in this arena.

All trades from each trading arena will remain open until you manually close them. The trades continue running even if you close out of the program entirely. The trades will automatically close out when the market closes at the end of the week. eToro runs on historical data on the weekends so you can still practice and test your trading skills although the market is closed.

eToro provides the following online trading services:

- Minimum deposit: $50
- No commissions
- Spreads on major currencies: 2-4 pips
- Payment options: accepts bank wire, credit card and Pay Pal
- Demo account available
- Customer support from 6am - 10pm GMT
- Visual trading software: Trades are depicted through various creative representations, trade activity can be followed with ease.
- Chat function: real-time discussions of signals with other traders
- No Metatrader support
- 10 languages are supported (including English, Spanish, French)

The Trading Log presents you with a breakdown of the performance of your Active Trades and your trade History.

Please note the Championship & Chat section of eToro. eToro tracks score of every individual user FOREX performance, just like video arcade games list user high scores. eToro periodically holds championship challenges with the top traders winning prizes, namely cash. Traders are also able to communicate with each other in real time in the chat room. Message board forums are coming soon.

Much of this review has focused on using eToro as an introduction to the world of FOREX. eToro has recently entered the world of real live trading. Users select whether they want to “Trade For Real” or “Trade For Fun” when logging into the system. Some personal information is required to create a Real Account. You are then set up with a username and password to enter real trading. A deposit can be made to fund your account using either a Credit Card or Wire Transfer.

For a Credit Card deposit – the minimum single deposit limit is $50, the maximum single deposit is $1,000 with a monthly deposit cap of $5,000. The Wire Transfer deposits are with a minimum single deposit of $500, a maximum single deposit limit of $5,000 with a monthly cap also at $5,000.

Funds can be withdrawn from your account by submitting a withdrawal request from the “Account Balance” section. A signed withdrawal request is required and a user’s first withdraw will require a copy of a photo ID or passport, a copy of the front and back of the credit card used to fund the trading account and a copy of some recent utility bill. There is no bank withdrawal fee but a $25 fee accompanies Wire Transfer withdrawals. Withdrawals are processed within five business days of the request.

eToro is an exciting new force in the FOREX community. It’s proof that FOREX trading can be fun and entertaining. It wouldn’t be surprising to see more people catch onto FOREX, thanks to eToro’s innovative and inviting presentation. The program is in its infancy right now and it will be very interesting to see where the developers and programmers take it from here!

Once a trader registers for eToro and downloads the software, the trading area is displayed as a simple, visual set of tools that allows the user to concentrate on strategy rather than the mechanics of forex trading. A user can spend unlimited time in practice before performing an actual trade. There are a variety of ways to fund a live trading account – an immediate deposit by credit card, PayPal, or Neteller, or payment methods such as wire transfer, Western Union, or MoneyGram that take a few days to fund. A new account can be funded with a minimum of $50, and there are many special promotions and bonuses for new accounts. There are no account levels; all traders have access to the same tading levels. Traders receive access to electronic content, real time information about the exchange rate of currencies, and the platform’s tools for executing transactions in the internet foreign exchange market. eToro also offers weekly practice trading chamionships among members, with cash prizes for the winners.

Support tools for traders include online chat, guided tutorials, a glossary, trading e-guide, live training over the phone. Accountholders also have access to economic info, market analysis, charts, live trader forums, and technical analysis. The customer service line is a 24-hour operation and support is offered in English, German, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, French, and Italian. eToro offers Islamic account terms.

eToro is excellent for global trades, just not USA traders. Keep it fun and profit!

All traders from around the world are welcome to trade at eToro. These flags represent what traders are eligible to trade:

* No USA