5 Steps to Check an eToro Trader Before You Copy

Can I copy traders on eToro where I live?

Check this first, because the answer depends on your country.

• UK, EU and Australia: you can copy other investors. Some copied trades may be CFDs, which use leverage, so losses can grow fast. Only use money you can afford to lose.
• US: eToro started a phased rollout of copying in October 2025, for stocks, ETFs and crypto only. Its US CopyTrader guide, listed in the sources, explains the rules.
• Canada: eToro does not serve Canadian residents.

Read the terms for your own country before you look at anyone's profile. A global web page does not tell you what your account can do.

Then work through the five steps below. They turn a shiny profile into a set of plain questions. You can also start from the names eToro features in our best traders to copy on eToro.

Step 1: Is the track record long and complete?

Anyone can have a lucky few months. So look for a record of at least a year, and ideally several years that include a bad time for markets.

Then check that the record is complete:

• Are there missing months, or a sudden change of style?
• Do the results include trades that are still open and losing?
• Did the balance grow from profits, or just from new deposits?

Also remember the traders you can't see. Many people who took big risks and lost are no longer near the top of any list. The ones still there may simply be the lucky survivors.

Be extra careful with very new accounts. A short, perfect record says more about luck than about skill.

Step 2: How deep were the falls?

A drawdown is a fall from a high point to a later low point. If an account grows to $1,000 and then drops to $800, the drawdown is $200 ÷ $1,000 = 20%.

Falls are harder to win back than they look, because the gain starts from a smaller amount. After a 20% fall to $800, you need 25% just to get back to $1,000. After a 50% fall, you need 100%.

Find the maximum drawdown, the biggest fall in the record, and when it happened. Check whether it is measured daily or monthly, because monthly numbers can hide a sharp fall inside a month.

A small past drawdown does not cap the next one. Try the activity below to see how a big return can hide a deep fall.

Step 3: Do the big gains come from big bets?

A huge percentage gain can come from one lucky, oversized trade.

Look at the size of each trade, not just the result. Warning signs include:

• one position that is a big share of the whole portfolio
• a lot of leverage, which makes small moves big
• adding more to losing trades, which can keep the win rate high until one very big loss

Copying several people does not always spread this risk. If you copy two traders with $500 each, and each has 60% in the same stock, $600 of your $1,000 follows that one stock.

Step 4: What does the risk score say?

eToro gives each portfolio a risk score from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest). It is based on how much the portfolio's value has been moving.

The score is a useful first filter, but it is a model, not a promise:

• A low score does not mean your money is safe.
• The score can jump quickly if the trader changes style.
• Two traders with the same score can hold very different things.

So don't just read today's number. Look at how the score has changed over the past months, and read the trader's posts when it went up. Many beginners start their research with lower scores, but the other steps still matter.

Step 5: Who gets paid, and what is your exit plan?

eToro pays its Popular Investors up to 1.5% a year of the money copying them. That is not wrong, but it means popularity and pay go together. A friendly, confident writer is not always a careful investor.

Copying has no extra fee on eToro, but each copied trade has the normal costs: spreads, overnight fees on CFDs and any currency conversion.

Before you copy, write down three rules for yourself:

1. How much of your money you will use, and how much you can afford to lose.
2. When you will review the trader, such as once a month.
3. What will make you stop, such as a big change in style or risk score.

Start in eToro's free virtual portfolio before you use real money. Past performance does not predict future results, and you stay responsible for any losses.

Read social trading for beginners for what copying can and can't teach you.