Trading & Options · Profile from Trading and Options Research Companion
eToro
The Israeli multi-asset retail platform, founded in Tel Aviv in 2007 as RetailFX by the brothers Yoni and Ronen Assia and David Ring, that turned retail FX and CFD trading into a social network and made copy trading its signature product: from 2010 its OpenBook platform let users mirror other users' trades automatically, and its patented CopyTrader and Popular Investor programme (leaders paid "a percentage of the assets copying them") remain the core of the brand (eToro prospectus, May 2025). eToro is two businesses in one wrapper. For US customers it is a commission-free stock, ETF, options and crypto app competing with Robinhood; for most of its 4.39m funded accounts (Q3 2026) in Europe, the UK and Australia it is also a CFD dealer that trades "predominantly as a principal" (prospectus) and must print the regulators' warning — 55% of retail investor accounts lose money trading CFDs with it (company releases, Feb–Nov 2026; the S12 catalogue file also records a 50% figure in one Feb 2026 disclaimer). It tried to list in New York through a SPAC at a $10.4bn headline valuation (Mar 2021), abandoned the deal in Jul 2022 after a $215m net loss year, and finally listed on Nasdaq (ETOR) at $52 a share on 14 May 2025, raising ~$310m for the company at a valuation of roughly $4.2–4.3bn (press). For this knowledge base eToro is the reference case for copy trading as a system (graded D/F in Copy Trading and Signal Services) and as a business whose revenue rises and falls with retail crypto speculation. All figures are in US dollars, eToro's reporting currency, unless stated.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2007, Tel Aviv, as RetailFX, by Yoni Assia, Ronen Assia and David Ring (Wikipedia; prospectus says "founded in 2007"); one secondary source gives 2006 (conflict noted)
- Headquarters
- Bnei Brak, Israel (424B4 cover data); parent eToro Group Ltd. incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (Wikipedia)
- Ownership / structure
- Public on Nasdaq (ETOR) since 14 May 2025; IPO priced 13 May 2025 at $52 (above a $46–50 range); 11.92m Class A shares, half new (5,961,509, ~$310m to the company) and half sold by existing holders (press; 424B4 filed 15 May 2025). Regulated subsidiaries include eToro (Europe) (CySEC), eToro (UK) (FCA), eToro AUS Capital (ASIC), eToro USA Securities Inc. (SEC/FINRA broker-dealer, FINRA member since Jun 2020) and eToro USA LLC (crypto) (press; SEC release 2024-125)
- Leadership (2026)
- Yoni Assia, co-founder, chairman and CEO; Ronen Assia, executive director; Meron Shani, CFO (Wikipedia; company releases)
- Trading products
- Real stocks and ETFs (commission-free in many markets), CFDs on stocks, indices, FX and commodities (not offered to US retail), crypto (spot and crypto CFDs; US crypto limited to bitcoin, bitcoin cash and ether since the Sep 2024 SEC order), US options (from Nov 2022), CopyTrader, Smart Portfolios (thematic baskets, formerly CopyPortfolios — from memory, verify the rename), eToro Money (e-money, UK and Malta), interest on cash
- Scale (dated, company)
- Funded accounts 3.5m (Dec 2024, 75 countries — prospectus); 3.81m (Dec 2025); 4.28m (Jun 2026); 4.39m (Sep 2026). Assets under administration $18.5bn (Dec 2025), $20.8bn (Sep 2026). Popular Investors >3,300 (Dec 2024, ~0.1% of funded accounts; 12 with >$10m copied — prospectus); copy trading $2.4bn AUM (Q3 2026 release)
- Results (dated, company)
- 2022: net loss $215.0m; adjusted EBITDA −$42.8m (prospectus, audited). 2023: net contribution $557m; net income $15.3m. 2024: total commission $931m; net contribution $787m; net income $192.4m; adjusted EBITDA $304m. 2025: net contribution $868m (+10%); net income $216m (+12%); adjusted EBITDA $317m (release, 17 Feb 2026). Q3 2026: net contribution $186m (−13% y/y); net income $15m (−74%); adjusted EBITDA $34m (release, 10 Nov 2026)
- Regulators
- CySEC (Cyprus; EU passport), FCA (UK), ASIC (Australia), SEC, FINRA and state regulators (US), MFSA (Malta), FSRA (Abu Dhabi) and others (from memory, verify the full list); ESMA product-intervention rules for CFDs via national regulators
- Moves in this profile
- Eight — a mid-sized firm with a short public record; the profile covers the founding, the copy-trading bet, crypto, ESMA's CFD rules, the failed SPAC, the US build-out and SEC settlement, the ASIC case and the IPO
- Signature moves (incl. failures and enforcement)
- Founding as RetailFX (2007); OpenBook and copy trading (2010); crypto from 2014 and the 2021 boom and 2022 bust; ESMA's CFD caps and the loss disclosure (2018–); the FinTech Acquisition Corp. V SPAC (2021) and its termination (Jul 2022); US stocks (Jan 2022), options (Nov 2022) and the SEC crypto settlement (Sep 2024); the ASIC design-and-distribution case (2023–); the Nasdaq IPO (May 2025)
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2007
Founding as RetailFX
Founding or fund launch
2010
OpenBook and Copy Trading
New strategy, product or market / market-structure bet
2014
Crypto Cycles and the 2022 Loss
New strategy, product or market / loss, drawdown or blow-up response
2018
ESMA CFD Caps and Loss Disclosure
Regulatory, enforcement or legal action (industry-wide product intervention) and the firm's adaptation
2021
FinTech V SPAC and Its Termination
Acquisition, merger or IPO (a SPAC listing attempt that failed)
2022
US Stocks and the 2024 SEC Crypto Settlement
New strategy, product or market / regulatory, enforcement or legal action
2023
ASIC Design and Distribution Case
Regulatory, enforcement or legal action
2025
Nasdaq IPO
Acquisition, merger or IPO