eToro Brokerage Fees - is it High?

Maybank is good, but...
For the past few years, I have tried to explore the different brokers out there.
I have been using Maybank broker all this while, and the brokerage fees that they are charing is quite high.
It's USD25 per transaction for a small volume trade.

It's hard to find the brokerage fee details in the Maybank website actually, so you need to get in touch with the bankers to find out the details.

I've been using Maybank for many years, simply because of convenient sake.
Since I've been buying the local Malaysia stocks using Maybank, so I also buy US stock through Maybank as well.

Then comes the big news: Zero Commission Fees!
But recently some of the big US brokers have started to offers zero commission fees already.
In fact, some US brokerge stocks have plummetted for a while because of this, due to the expected lower in revenue from the brokerage fees.

This is good news for those small investor/trader like me.

So I give eToro a try...
So I tried to open an account in eToro on 16 Nov, on Sat morning.
Maybe because of the huge marketing they also do on Youtube.

The application process is not that bad. Quite straight forward.
Fill in the required info, upload your passport photo, upload a utility bill that consist your house address.
After that just wait for a few days for your account to be verified.

To my surprise, I received a call from eToro on Saturday evening at about 5pm.
< They are really working hard man. :p >

They called to request me to upload my driving license as well.
Then I ask what is their exact brokerage fees because I can't really find it immediately on the website.
I was just browsing quickly at the website in the morning.

So the staff (with a Chinese accent) said it is onl 0.09% spread. They do not charge brokerage fees.
And they emailed me the link to check it out:

https://www.etoro.com/trading/market-hours-fees/?category=stocks

But the Withdrawal Fees??? Why
Then I also realize that there is a withdrawal fee as well of USD25.
That is quite high!

Now I'm hesitating whether to continue the eToro process.
In my opinion, USD25 does not really sound good to me.
To optimize the fees you need to withdraw the money in a large sum.
Not something that is very flexible to do.

Plus Other Complicated Fees Too!
It is so complicated that I really appreciate a video I found in Youtube.
<Youtube is amazing, which is why I bought Google stock earlier hehe).

Conclusion
I guess I will put on-hold first for eToro.
Maybe next time when you remove the withdrawal fees.
And also many complicated fees.

The staff was great, but the fees can kill me if I trade actively.

So I will continue to use Maybank for now, until I find another good one.

And in the process of researching, I come across Interactive Broker Lite.
Maybe I will share this in the next blog post.

In fact here is the video from Interactive Broker, just to fulfill your curiosity.

Tell me what you think of eToro?
Do you think it is good?
Do you have an eToro account?
What is your experience so far?