CoinSpot is one of Australia’s best crypto exchanges and eToro Australia is a well-established broker offering cryptocurrency as one of their investment options. Which is the better choice for an Aussie who wants to start investing in crypto? I looked at various aspects of these two platforms to determine which one is my pick. I recommend CoinSpot – Australia’s most trusted and secure exchange – as it has over 350+ coins, lower fees and Live Chat support.
Coinspot Pros and Cons
Pros
1. Most trusted and secure crypto exchange in Australia
2. Instantly buy & sell crypto or trade on the market
3. ISO 27001 certified
4. 24/7 support via Help desk and Live Chat
5. Over 350+ cryptocurrencies supported
Cons
1. AUD is the only fiat currency supported
2. Credit and debit cards not accepted
eToro Pros and Cons
Pros
1. Can invest in cryptocurrencies by buying directly or using a CFD
2. CFDs allow you to bet on the price of crypto to fall
3. Margin trade cryptocurrencies with x2 leverage
4. Crypto staking available
5. Demo account available
Cons
1. Currency conversion fee when depositing and withdrawing
2. Higher trading fees
3. Only 30 cryptocurrencies supported
4. currencies supported
CoinSpot vs eToro Fees
Deposit Fees
CoinSpot charges zero fees on AUD deposits using POLi, PayID, or Direct Deposit (via OSKO). If you want to deposit using BPAY the fee is 0.9%, and for cash deposits it is a 2.5% fee.
eToro charges zero fees for depositing, but as an Australian resident, you will have to pay a currency conversion fee. The fee to convert AUD to USD is 50 pips for bank transfer (~0.7%) and 100 pips for Credit/Debit cards, PayPal and POLi (~1.38%).
Trading Fees
eToro’s fee is built into the spread – the difference between the buy and sell price – which is different for each coin. Their lowest spread is 0.75% for Bitcoin. The spreads for some other popular coins are 1.90% for Ethereum (ETH), 2.45% for Ripple (XRP), 2.90% for Cardano (ADA) and 5% for Tezos (XTZ). For a full list of the spreads for all 30 coins supported by eToro, click here.
The spreads for eToro CFD crypto trading are the same as the spreads for trading the actual coin, plus a small fee if the position stays overnight. The fees are charged in USD, per night, per unit, and the full list of overnight fees is here.
On CoinSpot, if you trade on the market, you only pay a low fee of 0.1% per trade, whether buying or selling. However, there are only 14 different cryptocurrencies available here. To access the entire range of over 350+ coins, you need to buy/sell instantly from the exchange.
CoinSpot charges 1.0% fees when buying or selling cryptocurrency instantly. CoinSpot does not list their spreads like eToro does, but you can see all their cryptocurrencies with their live buy and sell prices. To compare CoinSpot’s spreads to eToro, I noted the buy and sell prices for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano and Tezos, and calculated the spread.
Withdrawal Fees
CoinSpot charges ZERO fees for AUD withdrawals to Australian bank accounts.
eToro charges a flat fee of $5 for each withdrawal (minimum $30 withdrawal). On top of that, users are charged a currency conversion fee of 50 pips (~0.7% fee).
Cryptocurrency Transfer Fees
On CoinSpot, when you send your crypto to an external wallet you will be charged a standard transaction (mining) fee. The fee varies depending on the coin and how busy the network is.
eToro charges a fee of 0.5% to transfer the crypto from the eToro trading platform to the eToro wallet, with a minimum fee of $1 and maximum fee of $50.
CoinSpot vs eToro Deposit Methods
CoinSpot offers a variety of deposit methods including direct deposit, PayID, POLi, BPAY, cash deposit and cryptocurrency.
eToro offers bank transfer, debit cards, credit cards, POLi and PayPal for Australian users.
CoinSpot vs eToro Features
CoinSpot is a dedicated crypto exchange while eToro is a trading platform with cryptocurrency as one of the trading instruments. I will discuss some of the features that set them apart from the other, but if you wanted to learn the full range of services offered, have a read of my CoinSpot review and eToro Australia review.
CoinSpot is popular for its extensive range of over 350+ cryptocurrencies, which is continuously growing. If you want to diversify your digital assets beyond the usual Bitcoin and Ethereum, CoinSpot is the perfect crypto exchange to find the altcoin you’re after.
CoinSpot has industry-leading customer service, with Live Chat support open 9am – 8pm AEDT on weekdays and 9am – 5pm AEDT on weekends. When you use Live Chat, you won’t have to deal with any bots, instead you will be chatting to a live agent straight away. If you need assistance from CoinSpot outside of the Live Chat business hours, you can contact their Help Desk 24/7 who will usually respond within 24 hours. CoinSpot also offers a comprehensive information centre providing tutorials for newcomers, and has a FAQ section to assist new investors to buy their first crypto.
CoinSpot has a great feature called CoinSpot Bundles, where you can invest in a range of coins in a single transaction. Not only does it help you to diversify your portfolio and minimise risk, you also save time, fees, and average out the cost over a split of coins.
‘Top Ten Market Cap’ is a popular bundle which is the top ten largest cryptocurrencies based on market capitalisation. Here are all the Bundles you can purchase on CoinSpot.
eToro has a Demo account available to all users with the click of a button. This mode enables users to practise trading with the virtual $100,000 provided, completely risk-free. It is an excellent way for newbies to learn the ropes without having to worry about making a mistake.
eToro has cryptocurrency CFDs which is not available on the average crypto exchange. If you don’t know what a CFD is, it stands for ‘contract for difference’. To put it in simple terms, if you buy a crypto CFD on eToro and the price of the chosen coin rises, they will pay you the difference. Conversely, if it falls you owe them the difference. You never own the cryptocurrency, you only have a contract with eToro to pay the difference in value from the time of buying to the time of selling. You can even use this to ‘short’ crypto – so if you believe Bitcoin is going to decrease in value, you can make money on the price falling, which is not possible on a normal exchange where you buy and sell the actual coin. eToro also allows margin trading with x2 leverage, which is not supported on most crypto exchanges.
eToro is unique because of its focus on social trading. They have included a News Feed within the platform, where users can connect and interact with other traders in the eToro community, seeking advice and learning from others. This is a great feature that makes eToro different from other cryptocurrency exchanges.
eToro has crypto staking, which you may have heard of. Staking is where you earn rewards on your crypto holdings, like how you would earn interest on money left in a bank account. On eToro, Cardano (ADA), Tron (TRX) and Ethereum (ETH) staking is supported, with plans to support more coins in the future. Staking rewards are automatically paid every month to eligible investors (anyone whose coins are held on eToro’s trading platform).
CoinSpot vs eToro Security
CoinSpot’s early establishment in the Australian crypto market has helped it become the most secure and trusted of all Aussie exchanges. CoinSpot uses multilayered security to ensure their users’ assets are safe, including storage of the majority of digital assets offline in cold storage, to protect from cybersecurity attacks. It is registered with AUSTRAC, and fulfils all the strict AML/KYC verification obligations to fight money laundering and financing of terrorism. CoinSpot is the most audited Australian crypto exchange and the only one to be awarded the ISO 27001 certification.
eToro is also a safe broker, securing their customers’ funds in tier 1 banks, and all personal information protected with SSL encryption. Most of eToro’s crypto assets are stored offline in cold storage to prevent loss in case of a cybersecurity breach.
Conclusion
CoinSpot is the better choice when compared with eToro, which is no surprise, since CoinSpot is a long-established cryptocurrency-exclusive platform. CoinSpot has an easy-to-use interface, over 350+ coins, lower fees, and Live Chat support.
eToro is an excellent trading platform for other assets such as forex, stocks and commodities, but when we are comparing cryptocurrency trading, it is hard to compete with exchanges that are built specifically for crypto. The currency conversion fee on deposits and withdrawals, and the limited range of coins make it hard to beat the best Aussie crypto exchanges.