Is Interactive Brokers or eToro cheaper for buying US stocks?
Interactive Brokers, and it is not close for anyone funding in a non-USD currency. IBKR converts at roughly 0.03%; eToro's conversion charge is a multiple of that and applies on the way in and the way out. eToro's real advantages — simple onboarding, a low minimum, copy trading — are convenience features, not cost advantages.
Zero commission is not zero cost
eToro's commission on unleveraged equity buys is genuinely zero. The revenue arrives elsewhere: the currency conversion charge, the bid-offer spread, a flat withdrawal fee, and financing on CFD positions. For a euro- or pound-funded account, conversion alone typically exceeds everything IBKR charges in total on the same trade.
IBKR's pricing looks less friendly on the surface — a per-share or tiered commission, and account types that can carry inactivity or data-feed costs — but the line that dominates a retail investor's bill is FX, and IBKR is the cheapest retail FX in the market.
- Currency conversion: IBKR ~0.03% vs a materially higher eToro schedule
- Withdrawals: typically one free per month at IBKR, flat fee at eToro
- Leveraged or short positions on eToro are CFDs, not shares
What you hold is not identical
On both platforms an unleveraged long is a real share. Go leveraged or short on eToro and you hold a contract for difference: a derivative with different counterparty risk, different tax treatment in most jurisdictions, and an overnight financing cost. That is a structural difference, not a fee difference, and it is worth knowing before you use the leverage slider.
When eToro is the right answer anyway
If you are making occasional small purchases, already funded in USD, and the interface complexity of IBKR would stop you from investing at all, a few tenths of a percent is a fair price for actually getting started. Copy trading is also a genuine product that IBKR does not offer. Just do not choose it believing it is cheaper.
Frequently asked
- Which is safer, IBKR or eToro?
- Both operate regulated entities with investor compensation schemes in their main jurisdictions. The safety gap is modest; the cost gap for non-USD investors is not.
- How much does the conversion difference cost in practice?
- On a €10,000 purchase, roughly 0.03% is a few euros at IBKR. A conversion schedule several times higher, applied both entering and exiting, turns that into a recurring drag that no commission saving offsets.