eToro vs IFC Markets 2024

Trust Score is a data-driven rating system that provides an at-a-glance rating of a broker’s overall trust by tracking 60+ brokers and over 100 regulatory jurisdictions across the globe. To make things clearer for everyday traders, we’ve created a five-tier system for regulators and Trust Score rating labels. Learn more about Trust Score, and check out our country guides to see the most trusted brokers in your country of residence.

eToro has a Trust Score of 93, giving it a "Highly Trusted" Trust Score Label.

IFC Markets has a Trust Score of 73, giving it a "Average Risk" Trust Score Label.

Best known for its versatile and easy-to-use social copy trading platform suite for web and mobile, eToro offers a large selection of cryptocurrency products, CFDs, shares, forex pairs, and a wide range of powerful trading tools. With licenses from multiple Tier-1 regulatory jurisdictions and a Trust Score rating of 90, we consider eToro to be a highly trusted broker. It's worth noting that eToro is not a discount broker (though it delivers more benefits than its competitors in the same price range). Trading forex and CFDs at eToro is slightly pricier than at many of its competitors, though the broker has recently lowered its spreads and introduced zero-dollar commissions for U.S. stock trading.

IFC Markets is a long-standing brand with 17 years of operation. Traders will appreciate that IFC Markets delivers a growing range of markets, numerous trading platforms, and a decent balance of research and educational resources.

Tier-1 is reserved for the strictest, most stringent regulatory jurisdictions in the world. Tier-1 regulators impose additional capital requirements and require a tougher initial screening process. eToro holds regulatory licenses in the following Tier-1 jurisdictions: Australia (ASIC Authorised) and United Kingdom (U.K.) (FCA Authorised). IFC Markets, on the other hand, is licensed in these Tier-1 regulatory jurisdictions: none. Neither have Canada (CIRO Authorised), Hong Kong (SFC Authorised), CBI Authorised (Ireland), Japan (SFC Authorised), Singapore (MAS Authorised), New Zealand (FMA Authorised), Switzerland (FINMA Authorised) and USA (CFTC Authorized)

Tier-2 and tier-3 licenses are still important in evaluating the overall trustworthiness of forex brokers. As far as tier-2 licenses go, eToro is Cyprus (CySEC Authorised), while IFC Markets is South Africa (FSCA Authorised).. Neither have China (CBRC Authorised), India (SEBI Authorised), Israel (ISA Authorised), Russia (CBR Authorised), Thailand (SEC Authorised) and UAE (DFSA/Central Bank Authorised). When comparing tier-3 licenses eToro is none, while IFC Markets is British Virgin Islands (FSC Authorised).. Neither have Bahamas (SCB Authorised), Belize (FSC Authorised), Bermuda (BMA Authorised), Cayman Islands (CIMA Authorised), Mauritius (FSC Authorised) and Vanuatu (VFSC Authorised).

Whether your broker develops its own proprietary platforms or provides access to popular third-party platforms, you should make sure you can use your preferred type of trading platform. In our testing, we found that eToro offers a Proprietary Platform, whereas IFC Markets supports a Proprietary Platform and Desktop Platform (Windows). Neither have cTrader, DupliTrade and ZuluTrade

For MetaTrader eToro provides neither of these, while IFC Markets provides MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). If MetaTrader is a must for you, read our guides on the best MT4 brokers or best MT5 brokers.

eToro requires a minimum deposit of $50-$10,000, while IFC Markets requires a minimum deposit of $1. It's also important to ensure your broker accepts the funding options and deposit methods that work best for you. In our research, we've found that eToro supports Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw), Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit), PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) and Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) for funding and deposit methods, whereas IFC Markets supports Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) and Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit)

When choosing a broker, it’s important to check the availability of your preferred investment products and asset classes. We’ve tested each broker’s individual offering of investments to help you pick the right broker for what you want to trade. We found that both eToro and IFC Markets offer Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs), Social Trading / Copy Trading, Metals, Energies, Agriculturals, ETF and U.S. Stocks (CFD). Neither have Spread Betting.

We also keep track of each broker’s total number of tradeable symbols; eToro offers 5461, and IFC Markets offers a total of 630 tradeable symbols.

Crypto trading has become popular among forex traders across a range of international jurisdictions. As a result, many forex brokers now offer crypto products to their clients; most crypto assets are offered either as an underlying physical asset (such as when you own actual bitcoin assets, for example) or as a derivative product like a CFD. If you are looking to trade physical cryptocurrencies, you’ll find that eToro offers clients access to trading physical cryptocurrencies while IFC Markets does not.

Market research plays a huge role in any forex trader’s ability to conduct analysis within the global forex market. We test each broker’s research offering to help you decide which broker is right for your technical or fundamental analysis needs. eToro delivers the following research tools: Daily Market Commentary, Stock Charts, Trading Central (Recognia) and Social Trading / Copy Trading. IFC Markets, on the other hand, provides the tools listed here: Daily Market Commentary, Stock Charts and Social Trading / Copy Trading. Neither have Autochartist and Forex News (Top-Tier Sources)

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