eToro Copy Trading: How CopyTrader Works, Minimums, Fees and Risks

Updated 15 October 2026 · Written and reviewed by the Ecoinomy editorial team · Facts checked against eToro’s CopyTrader, fee and regulation pages, eToro’s help centre and ESMA’s MiCA register, linked below.

We may earn a commission if you sign up through some links on this page. It does not change our ratings. How we review: our sources, MiCA checks and corrections policy.

eToro copy trading (CopyTrader) mirrors a Popular Investor’s portfolio in your account in proportion to what you allocate: at least $200 (about €180 from a euro account) per trader, up to 100 traders, no copy fee. Copied trades still pay eToro’s normal fees, such as 1% per crypto position, and you share the trader’s losses as well as gains.

For EU residents the service is run by eToro (Europe) Ltd, which CySEC regulates and which is authorised under MiCA. If you want copy trading explained without a specific platform, read our crypto copy trading guide; to compare eToro with other apps, see the best copy trading platforms. This page is about how CopyTrader works on eToro.

eToro CopyTrader in six facts

• The minimum is $200 per copied trader and the maximum is $2,000,000; you can copy up to 100 traders at once (eToro CopyTrader pages, checked 15 October 2026).
• Any copied position worth less than $1 is not opened, so a $200 copy skips every position the trader holds at under 0.5% of their equity.
• Only members of eToro’s Popular Investor Program (now also called the Pro Investor Program) can be copied; eToro pays them up to 1.5% a year of the money copying them, and you pay them nothing.
• Copy Stop-Loss is on by default at 40% of the amount you invest and can be set between 5% and 95%.
• eToro’s reduced crypto fees for Platinum, Platinum+ and Diamond Club members apply to manual trades only, not to crypto opened through CopyTrader.
• Adding or removing funds triggers an automatic reallocation that can lock the copy for up to 7 business days.

This guide is part of our eToro reviews. We read eToro’s CopyTrader pages, fee pages and help centre on 15 October 2026 and checked the ESMA register; we did not open a copy with real money.

How does copy trading work on eToro?

You pick a Popular Investor, enter an amount and press Copy. eToro opens the same positions in your account at the same percentages of your copy as in their portfolio, and copies every later trade in real time.

eToro’s CopyTrader page says copied trades are usually executed in under a second. The steps:

1. Find a trader on the Discover People page, using filters such as asset class, gain, time period and risk score.
2. Read the profile: monthly returns, holdings, risk score, number of copiers and posts.
3. Press Copy and choose the amount (at least $200).
4. Set or accept the Copy Stop-Loss.
5. Manage the copy from your portfolio: add or remove funds, close single trades, pause or stop.

Three rules decide what you actually hold, all from eToro’s how-it-works page. New trades are sized on realised equity: if the trader uses 10% of their realised equity for a trade, your copy uses 10% of yours. If the trader opens a trade while the market is closed, you get a market order filled at the first available price. And you can close a single copied trade without closing the whole copy.

Can you copy open trades on eToro?

Yes. A new copy on eToro matches the trader’s current portfolio, open positions included, at today’s prices rather than the prices they paid. All positions open at once, so the copy usually starts slightly negative by the spread.

Older guides mention a “Copy Open Trades” tick box; eToro’s current international how-it-works page describes copying the full current allocation instead.

How much money do you need to copy a trader on eToro?

You need at least $200 per trader, which is about €180 if you fund it from an eToro euro account (€1 = $1.1195, ECB reference rate of 14 October 2026, plus eToro’s 0.75% conversion). Small copies do not mirror the trader fully, because positions under $1 are skipped.

eToro CopyTrader limit	Figure	In euros (approx.)
Minimum per copied trader	$200	€180 incl. conversion
Minimum per copied position	$1 (smaller positions are not opened)	€0.89
Maximum per copied trader	$2,000,000	€1.79 million
Traders you can copy at once	100	–
Copy Stop-Loss	Default 40% of the invested amount, adjustable 5% to 95%	–
Smart Portfolio minimum	$500, default stop loss 10%	€450 incl. conversion
Demo account	$100,000 virtual portfolio, free	–

Checked on 15 October 2026 on eToro’s how-it-works and CopyTrader pages (linked above); euro amounts are our conversion at the ECB rate of 14 October 2026.

What the $1 floor means for a small copy

The $1 floor turns into a cut-off as a share of the trader’s portfolio. Our worked example for a copy funded from a euro account, after the 0.75% conversion:

• €180 (the $200 minimum): positions the trader holds at under 0.5% of equity are not opened for you.
• €500 (about $556): the cut-off falls to about 0.18%.
• €1,000 (about $1,111): the cut-off falls to about 0.09%.

A trader who holds many positions under 0.5% of equity will be copied unevenly at €180. If the trader you like spreads money thinly, budget €500 or more for that one copy, or copy fewer people. Once your balance grows, our guide to eToro Club membership levels explains the tiers, but read the next section first: the Club crypto discount does not reach copied trades.

What does eToro charge on copied trades?

eToro charges nothing for the copy itself. The positions inside it pay the same fees as manual trades, with two differences in your favour and one against, according to eToro’s fee page, checked 15 October 2026.

What the copied trader buys	eToro fee on your copied position	Copy-specific rule
Stocks (real, no leverage)	$0 commission	The $1-$2 stock commission does not apply to copy trading
ETFs	$0 commission	Same as manual trades
Crypto (real, no leverage)	1% when the position opens, 1% when it closes	Club reduced crypto rates (0.95% down to 0.10% by tier and volume) do not apply to CopyTrader
Crypto CFDs (leveraged or short)	1% per trade plus overnight fees	Same as manual trades
Stock and ETF CFDs	0.15% per trade plus overnight fees	Same as manual trades
Euros converted to dollars	0.75% each way (conversion fees)	Club discount of 20% to 80% applies
Withdrawal	Free from a EUR account, $5 from the USD account	–

Turnover matters more than the headline. A crypto trader who turns the whole portfolio over every month costs a €500 copy about €10 a month in crypto fees alone (1% out, 1% back in), before any gain or loss. Our copy trading guide works through a full €1,000 example, and the eToro fees guide covers every other charge.

Who are eToro’s Popular Investors, and who pays them?

Popular Investors are eToro users accepted into its programme, and only they can be copied. eToro pays them, not you: from the Champion tier upward they receive up to 1.5% a year of the average money copying them, paid monthly. Copiers pay no performance fee or profit share.

The entry bar, from eToro’s Pro Investor Program page (checked 15 October 2026), is lower than many readers expect:

Requirement to be copied	eToro’s threshold	What we would want before copying
Trading history on eToro	At least 2 months	2 years or more, including a falling market
Account size	$2,000 unrealised equity	Their own money clearly at stake
Risk score	Maximum daily score 7 or lower	An average that matches your own risk level
Worst week	Weekly drawdown no worse than -25%	Check the worst month, not only the average
Concentration	No single position above 50%	No position you could not stomach losing
Profitable months	At least 30%	A steady record, not one lucky year

Paid tiers start at Champion ($50,000 copied, 5 copiers), then Elite ($400,000, 10 copiers) and Elite Pro ($10 million, 10 copiers). The pay follows the money they attract, not your result, so read their record rather than their follower count. Separately, a help-centre rule blocks Popular Investors from new copiers once their daily risk score reaches 8.

How do you find good traders to copy on eToro?

Start on the Discover People page and filter by asset class, gain and period, then judge each trader on at least two years of monthly returns, the risk score and the worst drawdown. We do not publish a “best traders” list.

Rankings change with the period you pick, and past returns do not predict future ones.

eToro’s own top lists rank traders by total gain or winning ratio, after filters such as a minimum number of positions, active weeks and a cap on highly leveraged trades, according to its ranking explainer. A high gain over 12 months often comes with a high risk score, so sort by risk first.

eToro’s risk score, explained

The risk score runs from 1 (very low) to 10 (extreme) and reflects a portfolio’s historical volatility. eToro recalculates it monthly; a score of 0 means the portfolio is all cash (eToro help centre, updated July 2026).

Risk score	Annual volatility	eToro’s label
1-2	0% to 13%	Very low to low
3-4	13% to 32%	Low-moderate to moderate
5	32% to 51%	Moderate-high
6-7	51% to 94%	High
8-9	94% to 187%	Very high
10	Over 187%	Extreme

For scale: a portfolio whose value typically moves about 20% in a year scores 4, and one that moves about 60% scores 6. Copying several traders with different asset classes spreads risk only if their holdings do not overlap, so open each portfolio tab and compare.

Copy Stop-Loss, pause and stop: controlling a copy

Every copy on eToro has a Copy Stop-Loss (CSL) that closes all its positions if the copy’s value falls to a level you set, by default 40% of what you invested. You can also pause a copy, close single trades, or stop with “Sell All” or “Keep All”.

eToro’s own example: copy $1,000 with the CSL at 60% and the copy closes when it is worth $600. Applied to a €1,000 copy (about $1,111) with the default 40%, the copy closes at about $444, roughly €397, a loss of about 60% before the safety net acts. Set it tighter if that is more than you would accept. Inside the copy, a single trade can run 200% or 300% into loss without its own stop, because the CSL covers the whole copy.

• Pause Copy: no new trades open, but open ones still follow the trader’s stop loss, take profit and closes.
• Stop copying: “Sell All” closes everything; “Keep All” moves the positions into your own portfolio to manage yourself.
• Reallocation: adding or removing funds, resuming a paused copy, or a deposit or withdrawal by the trader re-weights your copy. It can open or close positions and realise gains or losses, and while it runs (up to 7 business days) you cannot add, withdraw, pause or close trades.
• Crypto moved by the trader: if the trader transfers crypto to their eToro wallet, your matching copied crypto positions are closed and the cash returns to your balance (eToro help centre). To hold coins in an on-chain wallet instead, see our eToro wallet review.

Is copy trading on eToro passive income?

No. Copying a trader on eToro is an investment decision you remain responsible for: their losses become your losses in the same proportion, and eToro states that copy trading is not investment advice and your capital is at risk. Treat it as delegating trade selection, not as income.

The risks specific to eToro’s setup:

• Leverage you did not choose: if the trader opens leveraged or short positions, your copy holds CFDs too. 51% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with eToro.
• Losses before the stop: with the default Copy Stop-Loss, a copy can lose about 60% before it closes.
• Currency: copies run in US dollars. A euro investor gains or loses on EUR/USD on top of the trader’s result.
• Strategy drift: a trader with a calm record can change style, raise risk or stop trading; the risk score updates only monthly.
• Forced trades: reallocation and the trader’s own crypto transfers can close your positions at times you did not pick.

Before copying anyone with real money, run the same trader on eToro’s free $100,000 demo account for a few weeks to see how the swings feel.

Is eToro CopyTrader regulated in the EU?

Yes. EU residents use eToro (Europe) Ltd, which the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) authorises under licence 109/10, and which holds a MiCA authorisation for crypto services. Eligible claims are covered by the Cyprus Investor Compensation Fund up to €20,000, per eToro’s regulation page.

Checked on 15 October 2026. EU availability: eToro (Europe) Ltd is passported for crypto services to 30 EEA countries (all 27 EU states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). MiCA authorisation is confirmed for LEI 213800GIFQMSV7HROS23, authorised 16 January 2025, services including portfolio management on crypto-assets, per the ESMA interim MiCA register (file of 7 October 2026). Every authorised firm is in our MiCA licence tracker.

One country rule we found: since 2 August 2024, new users in Spain cannot trade CFDs on eToro, following guidance from Spain’s CNMV (eToro fee page). eToro does not say how leveraged positions inside a copy are handled for them, so Spanish readers should ask support before copying a trader who uses leverage.

Smart Portfolios: copying a strategy instead of a person

Smart Portfolios, formerly called CopyPortfolios, run on the same CopyTrader technology but follow a theme or a group of traders chosen by eToro’s investment committee instead of one person.

They start at $500 (about €450 from a euro account) with a 10% default stop loss and no management fee (eToro help centre).

Top Trader Smart Portfolios bundle several Popular Investors into one investment, which removes the one-person risk but also the choice of who you follow. If you want exposure to many traders and dislike picking them, a Smart Portfolio is the simpler route; if you want to read one trader’s posts and decide yourself, copy the person.

Who should use eToro CopyTrader, and who should not?

eToro CopyTrader suits investors who will read a trader’s record before copying, can leave €180 to €500 per trader for a year or more, and check it monthly. It is not for anyone who needs the money soon, wants guaranteed or steady income, or would panic at a 30% drop.

• Good fit: you want exposure to stocks or crypto with someone else choosing the trades, and you accept that you carry the result.
• Good fit: you already use eToro; copied stocks and ETFs pay no commission there.
• Not a good fit: you want the Club crypto discount on everything; copied crypto pays the full 1%.
• Not a good fit: you want to decide each trade yourself; a copy follows the trader’s timing, including closes you would not have made.
• Not a good fit: you prefer a profit-share model on a crypto exchange; our copy trading platform comparison sets eToro against those.

How do you start copy trading on eToro?

Open and verify an eToro account, fund it, pick a trader on Discover People and copy them with at least $200. The whole setup takes minutes once your identity check is done; choosing the trader is the part worth spending time on.

1. Open an account and complete the identity check eToro (Europe) Ltd requires.
2. Practise on the demo account if you have never copied before.
3. Fund the account by SEPA transfer to the eToro euro account (free withdrawals from a EUR account).
4. Filter Discover People by asset class and a risk score you are comfortable with (eToro’s filter guide).
5. Read at least two years of monthly returns, the worst drawdown and the current holdings.
6. Press Copy, enter the amount and set the Copy Stop-Loss you can live with.
7. Review the copy once a month: risk score, new holdings, posts.

Before you invest, our eToro review covers the platform and app as a whole, and our eToro crypto guide covers buying and holding crypto yourself. The broader crypto trading strategies hub explains the approaches you will see in traders’ bios, and the eToro review page also covers buying Bitcoin without copying anyone.

eToro copy trading: questions readers ask

How does eToro copy trading work?

You choose a Popular Investor, allocate at least $200 and press Copy. eToro opens the same positions in your account at the same portfolio percentages and copies each new trade in real time. You can add or remove funds, pause, close single trades or stop at any time, and a Copy Stop-Loss closes the copy if it falls to the level you set.

What is the minimum to copy a trader on eToro?

The minimum is $200 per trader, about €180 from a euro account including the 0.75% conversion, and the maximum is $2,000,000. Each copied position must be worth at least $1, so at the minimum any position under 0.5% of the trader’s portfolio is skipped. A Smart Portfolio needs $500.

Does eToro charge for copy trading?

There is no fee for copying. The copied positions pay eToro’s normal fees: 1% to open and 1% to close each crypto position, no commission on stocks and ETFs, 0.15% per stock CFD trade plus overnight fees, and 0.75% to convert euros to dollars. Club crypto discounts do not apply to copied trades.

Can I copy open trades on eToro?

Yes. When you start a new copy, eToro mirrors the trader’s current portfolio, including positions they already hold, at current market prices rather than their original entry prices. All positions open together, so the copy usually starts slightly in the red by the spread. Later trades are copied as the trader makes them.

How do I find the best copy traders on eToro?

Use the Discover People filters for asset class, gain and period, then compare at least two years of monthly returns, the risk score and the worst drawdown. eToro’s top lists rank by total gain or winning ratio, which favours risk-takers, so filter by risk score first. Past returns do not predict future returns.

How do Popular Investors on eToro get paid?

eToro pays them, not the copiers. From the Champion tier, which needs $50,000 of copied money and 5 copiers, Popular Investors receive up to 1.5% a year of the average amount copying them, paid monthly. Copiers pay no profit share, so the trader’s income depends on the money they attract rather than on your return.

Is copy trading on eToro passive income?

No. Copy trading mirrors another person’s trades, so you share their losses as well as their gains, and eToro states it is not investment advice and your capital is at risk. With the default Copy Stop-Loss a copy can lose about 60% before it closes. Check each copy at least monthly.

Is eToro copy trading safe and regulated in the EU?

eToro (Europe) Ltd is regulated by CySEC under licence 109/10 and authorised under MiCA since 16 January 2025, per ESMA’s register checked 15 October 2026. Regulation covers how eToro handles your money, not the traders’ results; the Cyprus Investor Compensation Fund covers eligible claims up to €20,000 if the firm fails.

How we researched this: on 15 October 2026 we read eToro’s CopyTrader page, its how-it-works page, the Pro Investor Program page, the fee and currency conversion pages, the regulation page and six articles in eToro’s help centre, and checked eToro (Europe) Ltd in ESMA’s interim MiCA register file of 7 October 2026. Euro amounts use the ECB reference rate of 14 October 2026. We did not copy a trader with real money; every limit and fee above is eToro’s published figure, and where eToro’s pages disagree (the Copy Open Trades option, the Copy Stop-Loss default) we follow its current international page.

*Copy Trading does not amount to investment advice. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.