eToro vs CMC Invest: Which Broker Is Better For Aussies?

CMC Markets has long held a strong reputation among Aussie mom-and-pop investors. It also has sleek marketing – and I’m sure you’ve seen its ads plastered in Martin Place and on freeway overhead passes.

But I don’t buy it. I studied CMC’s fee structure, opened an account, and decided that it’s a pretty mediocre platform.

The problem is that CMC has remained stagnant for the past few years – while its closest rival, eToro, has continued to add features and reduce its fees.

But I don’t expect you to believe me. Let me present the facts, and let you decide for yourself.

eToro vs CMC Invest: My Quick & Dirty Verdict.

Let me clarify one misconception upfront.

CMC offers two platforms – CMC Invest and CMC Markets.

Now that we’ve cleared this up, let’s get stuck into the comparison.

CMC Invest’s only excellent feature is its $0 brokerage on ASX shares – but only on one trade per day, and only if this trade is under $1,000.

It’s a guy (yes, it’s almost always a guy) who obsessively reads Morningstar – because he thinks he can beat the market.

He prides himself on being a “great little saver”, and saves about 10-20% of his wage at the end of each week.

CMC’s promotion gives him a way to build out an ASX portfolio without ever paying brokerage fees.

He also wants to dabble in US stocks, but because he isn’t tech-savvy, he doesn’t want to complicate his life with US currency accounts.

eToro, meanwhile, is superior to CMC Invest in every single way:

Selection Of Assets.

Both platforms offer a comparably vast range of tradable assets.

Both claim to offer more than 5,000 assets. Both allow short and long positions. Both offer access to CFDs, if you’re game.

eToro also offers access to crypto. But CMC also offers access to options.

Trading Tools And Features.

CMC and eToro are neck-and-neck here.

Both platforms spoil you with features, but take different approaches to presenting them:

CMC’s Pro interface is mostly “Pro” in name only. It’s almost identical to the standard interface, but lets you customise the layout – and lets you pay $49/month to get access to Level 2 (what CMC calls ‘Dynamic’ data).

eToro, meanwhile, gives access to ProCharts at US$5,000 and Trading Central at US$25,000.

You get exactly what you’d expect – a better economic calendar, about 100 charting tools, ability to compare assets side-by-side, and so on.

But eToro blows CMC away with its copy trading features. CopyTrader is a best-in-class product that allows beginners to copy the investing strategies of advanced investors.

This is a huge time-saver for people like me, who have zero interest in reading Morningstar and deluding myself into believing that I can beat the market.

Even professional traders with access to $25,000/year Bloomberg terminals rarely beat the market in a meaningful way.

(Read “Intelligent Investor” by Benjamin Graham if you don’t believe me).

This is why I spend all my time on increasing my earning capacity – not micromanaging my portfolio.

(Related: 15 Best Stock Trading Apps In Australia Compared).

User Experience.

eToro is the clear winner here. It is so easy to use that it almost looks unserious. When you first log in, you may forget that you’re working with a financial product. It looks like half social network and half video game.

CMC has a more sober user experience. It’s also pretty friendly, but has that “stuck in 2020” vibe.

Fees And Commissions (How They Make Their Money.)

CMC Markets has slightly friendlier brokerage fees, particularly for domestic equities, with one free trade (up to $1,000) per day for equity investors.

eToro, meanwhile, charges US$2 per side on shares and $0 on ETFs.

(Related: 19 Best ETFs In Australia).

CMC’s offer works well for people who like dolllar-cost-averaging strategies, but it gets clunky once larger sums are involved.

Above $1,000, CMC will charge $11 per side, so depositing a $5,000 amount means paying that – or wasting time by making 5 X 1,000 daily investments.

The catch – and there is always a catch – is that CMC Invest doesn’t offer a separate US currency account, so selling a US equity will immediately trigger a conversion into AUD.

This creates two problems:

Security Measures.

Both platforms are registered with the major financial regulators, so you’re covered on the compliance front.

CMC Markets takes it a step further, being publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange – a nice touch for transparency.

It also offers CHESS sponsorship, meaning any shares you buy are held in your name rather than by a custodian. By comparison, eToro doesn’t offer this.

To be honest, I stopped viewing CHESS as a must-have long time ago. It was probably a valuable security layer in 2005, when online investing resembled the Wild West.

Today, all main brokerages are regulated by ASIC. Yes, there’s a small risk of you losing your money in the case of insolvency, but I couldn’t find any instance of this happening in modern history.

Customer Support.

When it comes to customer support, neither company scores particularly highly, although this is pretty standard across the industry, with unhappy customers tending to shout louder.

For example, there is no live chat option for basic users and, for more complicated issues, you’re stuck raising an email ticket and waiting for a response, which can be slow.

(Related: eToro vs Stake: Which Is Best For Aussies?)

Neither of these should be viewed as a dealbreaker.

Most investors will likely not encounter these issues, but they are worth being aware of.

Exploring The Negative Reviews.

Three main themes appear when looking into the reviews:

Let’s tackle the first issue: complaints from users who’ve had positions closed out and lost money, often blaming a failed stop-loss.

Yes, seeing your position closed at a bigger loss than expected can feel gut-wrenching, only to watch the security bounce back into the green afterwards.

The frustration is real, but the broker isn’t being unfair here — it’s simply trying to execute your order, which isn’t always possible at your requested price.

Next up, KYC (Know Your Client) regulations.

If you’ve been asked for an overwhelming amount of personal information, don’t take it personally — it’s just the platform ticking regulatory boxes.

These rules, designed to combat money laundering, are getting stricter, so expect more requests for data over time. Refusing to comply could cause your account to be frozen, so it’s best to stay on top of these requirements.

Finally, for long-term, buy-and-hold investors, the third concern — delays in deposits or withdrawals — is unlikely to matter.

If you’re holding Tesla for years, whether it’s trading at $800 today or $803 two days from now isn’t going to make a dent. But for intra-day traders or those needing quick cash flow, it’s a good idea to build some contingency into your strategy.

These platforms aren’t banks, so don’t expect them to behave like one. Keeping a bit of liquidity on hand— both inside and outside your trading account — can save you some stress.

Steven