This is what user Sompio wrote in 2021:
“The problem is that the copies are CFD trading, which means losses cannot be deducted.”
Are all eToro copy trades CFD trading? Can someone definitively say whether these are CFD holdings (losses are not deductible) or actual holdings (losses could be deducted)?
Gemini to the rescue
Yes, stock trading on eToro can be CFD trading, especially for customers residing in Finland and in certain situations.
Here are the most important things you need to know:
- For Finnish stocks: Stocks traded on the Helsinki Stock Exchange are always executed as CFDs due to Finnish regulatory restrictions. This means that you do not own the shares themselves, but rather enter into an agreement with eToro regarding their price changes.
- Other stocks (non-leveraged buys): When you open a non-leveraged buy position (long position) in foreign stocks, eToro buys and holds the shares on your behalf. In this case, you actually own the shares (or fractions thereof).
- Leverage and short selling: If you use leverage or open a short position (i.e., sell a stock you don’t own, with the intention of buying it back cheaper), the trade is always executed as a CFD.
- Identifying a CFD: eToro clearly indicates in the trade execution window whether it is a CFD trade. Your portfolio and account statements also show which of your positions are CFDs.
What is the difference between a real stock and a CFD?
- Ownership: When you buy a real stock, you own a share of the company. In CFD trading, you do not own the underlying asset itself (e.g., a stock), but rather enter into a contract for difference with the broker.
- Leverage: CFD trading often allows the use of leverage, which can amplify both profits and losses. Real stocks can usually be bought without leverage.
- Short selling: With CFDs, you can easily short sell and profit from a stock’s price decline. Short selling real stocks is often more complex.
- Costs: CFD trading may involve various costs, such as spreads and overnight fees, unlike traditional stock trading.
- Taxation: In Finland, losses incurred from CFD trading cannot be deducted from capital income for tax purposes, unlike losses from genuine stocks.
In summary, on eToro, you can trade both real stocks (under certain conditions, especially non-leveraged buy positions in foreign stocks) and CFDs. It is important to understand the differences between them, especially as an investor residing in Finland, and to consider the associated risks and tax implications.
eToro’s CopyTrader service is not a paid service in itself for you, the copier of other traders.
eToro advertises CopyTrader as a free feature and does not charge separate management fees or other additional fees solely for copying.
However, it is important to note the following regarding costs:
- Trading costs (spreads and overnight fees): Although you do not pay a separate CopyTrader fee, the trades made by the copied trader are subject to the same spread costs and overnight fees as if you had made the trades manually yourself. These are typical trading costs on all trading platforms, and they are how eToro makes a profit.
- Cryptocurrency fees: In cryptocurrency trades, eToro typically charges a 1% fee on the buy and sell price. This fee also applies to copied cryptocurrency trades.
- Withdrawal fees: eToro usually charges a small fixed fee for withdrawals (e.g., $5 from a USD account), unless you have an eToro Club membership, for example, which may reduce or waive fees.
- Currency exchange fees: If you deposit money in a currency other than USD (e.g., euros), eToro performs a currency exchange to USD, and this may incur currency exchange fees.
- Inactivity fee: If you do not log in to your eToro account for 12 months, a monthly inactivity fee of $10 may be charged to your account.
How do copied traders earn money?
Copied, successful traders (referred to as “Popular Investors”) receive compensation from eToro through the Popular Investor program. This compensation is often based on the amount of assets they manage (Assets Under Copy, AUC) and their achieved Popular Investor level. This is therefore paid by eToro, not directly from your capital as a separate fee.
In summary: Using eToro’s CopyTrader service does not incur additional management fees, but you should be aware of the usual trading costs (spreads, overnight fees) and other potential costs, such as withdrawal fees and currency exchange fees, which apply to all eToro trades, including copied ones.
Yes, you can receive real-time notifications (push notifications) to the eToro Android app and some email notifications even when using CopyTrader with virtual money.
eToro’s virtual portfolio (demo account) is designed to fully mimic a real account, allowing you to practice and familiarize yourself with the platform’s features risk-free. This means that notification features also work the same way as with real money.
Here’s how it works and how to manage notifications:
- Android app push notifications:
- When you have copied a Popular Investor in your virtual portfolio, you will automatically receive push notifications to your Android app when the copied investor makes new trades or closes positions. These notifications are usually real-time or near real-time.
- Ensure notifications are enabled:
- First, check your Android device settings to ensure you have allowed push notifications for the eToro app. This is usually found under Settings > Notifications > Apps > eToro.
- Also check within the eToro app settings:
- Open the eToro app.
- Go to Settings from the left menu.
- Select Notifications.
- Here you can customize what types of notifications you want to receive (e.g., trading-related notifications, social media activities, etc.). Make sure CopyTrader notifications are allowed.
- Email notifications:
- Although Android app push notifications are usually the fastest and most comprehensive for CopyTrader’s trading-related events, you can also receive some email notifications.
- Manage email notifications from eToro settings:
- Log in to the eToro website (or via the app, but the website often offers more comprehensive settings).
- Go to Settings > Notifications.
- Select the “Email” tab and you can adjust what types of notifications you want to receive by email. These may not be as real-time or detailed as push notifications for individual trades, but you may receive a summary or more important notifications.
Important notes:
- When using virtual money, the notifications received are identical in content and speed to those you would receive with real money, as both use the same platform technology and market data.
- eToro cannot guarantee notification delivery: While notifications are generally reliable, service providers cannot fully guarantee 100% delivery or real-time nature of notifications due to, for example, network disruptions. Therefore, do not rely solely on notifications in critical situations.
Feel free to try CopyTrader with virtual money and adjust your notification settings to find the best way for you to follow copied trades.
I think I’ll start following Laurila myself using the virtual copy trader.
Based on this, Pietari Laurila’s portfolio could be copy traded on eToro with normal tax implications, meaning losses would be deductible at least according to this.
Good evening everyone
There’s interest regarding copy trading portfolios, but practical information on how to report profits and losses to the tax authorities is quite scarce.
Based on my own research, the process is as follows, but I can’t say for sure, so don’t take it as gospel:
As an example, the following simple case (with Gemini):
Practical Example: Multi-Year FIFO Calculation (Tesla Stock)
For simplicity, we use ECB rates for assumed dates here. You must use the actual exchange rate on the transaction date.
Situation at the beginning of 2023
Your copy trading portfolio makes two purchases:
Purchase A (1.2.2023): 10 units of Tesla at 200/unit.
Exchange rate on purchase date: 1 EUR = 1.10 USD
FIFO acquisition cost (EUR): $200 / 1.10 = €181.82/unit
Purchase B (1.9.2023): 10 units of Tesla at 250/unit.
Exchange rate on purchase date: 1 EUR = 1.05 USD
FIFO acquisition cost (EUR): $250 / 1.05 = €238.10/unit
Tax Year 2023 Report:
No sales, no capital gains. Nothing is reported.
Your FIFO Ledger (Tesla) 31.12.2023:
Lot A: 10 units (acquisition cost €181.82/unit)
Lot B: 10 units (acquisition cost €238.10/unit)
YEAR 2024: Events
Your copy trading portfolio sells some and later buys more:
Sale 1 (1.3.2024): 15 units of Tesla are sold at 300/unit.
Exchange rate on sale date: 1 EUR = 1.08 USD
Sale price (EUR): $300 / 1.08 = €277.78/unit
Purchase C (1.10.2024): 5 units of Tesla at 280/unit.
Exchange rate on purchase date: 1 EUR = 1.12 USD
FIFO acquisition cost (EUR): $280 / 1.12 = €250.00/unit
Tax Year 2024 Report (Calculation):
The sale (15 units) is allocated to the oldest purchases according to the FIFO principle:
First, Lot A is sold entirely (10 units).
Then, the remaining 5 units from Lot B are sold.
Calculation:
Profit from Lot A: 10 units * (Sale price €277.78 - Acquisition cost €181.82) = +€959.60
Profit from Lot B: 5 units * (Sale price €277.78 - Acquisition cost €238.10) = +€198.40
Report in OmaVero (year 2024):
You report total capital gains of €1,158.00. This is your taxable capital income for 2024, even if you haven’t withdrawn a single cent to your bank account.
The report is made under “Capital gains from securities” (Form 9A).\u003csup\u003e7 \u003c/sup\u003e
Your FIFO Ledger (Tesla) 31.12.2024:
Lot A: 0 units (used)
Lot B: 5 units remaining (acquisition cost €238.10/unit)
Lot C: 5 units (acquisition cost €250.00/unit)
YEAR 2025: Events
Stopping copying: you decide to stop copying Laurila on 1.5.2025. The system automatically sells all remaining Tesla shares (10 units).
Sale 2 (1.5.2025): 10 units of Tesla are sold at 350/unit.
Exchange rate on sale date: 1 EUR = 1.15 USD
Sale price (EUR): $350 / 1.15 = €304.35/unit
Tax Year 2025 Report (Calculation):
The sale (10 units) is allocated to the oldest remaining ones according to the FIFO principle:
First, Lot B is sold entirely (5 units).
Then, Lot C is sold (5 units).
Calculation:
Profit from Lot B: 5 units * (Sale price €304.35 - Acquisition cost €238.10) = +€331.25
Profit from Lot C: 5 units * (Sale price €304.35 - Acquisition cost €250.00) = +€271.75
Report in OmaVero (year 2025):
Your FIFO Ledger (Tesla) 31.12.2025:
Has anyone else struggled with these matters with the tax authorities? There doesn’t seem to be an easier method approved by the tax authorities, does there?
vilpukkaulpukka
I have been using the service for a few years and utilized an Excel template published by sijoittaja.fi for tax return preparation, which includes ready-made currency conversions, etc. One year, the template had errors in the formulas, which I had to figure out myself because the corrected version was published only after my earlier tax return deadline.
I handle my own trades according to the FIFO principle, but with copy portfolios, it’s a bit different whether the copied person does it that way. I vaguely recall that Pietari has mentioned somewhere that he considers Finns in some way (was it that he doesn’t buy CFDs?), but I can’t say if he makes sales according to FIFO.
Edit: As an addition, dividends are printed on their own tab in the report, which also shows withholdings. If there aren’t a huge number of dividend items, they probably aren’t a significant additional burden for the tax return. The Excel template I mentioned has also handled these with their conversions, etc.
I also asked Laurila directly and I assume I can share his answer here too. So, no CFD trading in principle, and the FIFO principle is not necessarily followed:
”Hi @vilpukkaulpukka, thanks for your questions. There are no plans to trade CFD products. The FIFO principle is not necessarily followed in trades. Most often (I don’t guarantee always), however, the entire stock position is closed within the same day (or at least the same calendar year), in which case it doesn’t matter.”
Hi! Where could I get that Sijoitaja.fi (eToro) Excel template? Or how could I buy it?
Not yet for anything this year. They will presumably publish it on their website sometime early in the year. February-March has often been its release window.
Here, for example, is an old template:
I’m really tempted to start copying Pietari Laurila’s portfolio on eToro.
Does anyone have practical experience with Copy Trading (with stocks, not CFD products) on eToro and filing a tax return to the Finnish tax authorities? Does it work with that ready-made Excel template without major problems?
My experience filling out the tax return based solely on the Excel downloaded from eToro is frustrating. I copy-traded Pietari for about half a year (a little bit of my own trading on the side, but my own trades were around 10-20), eToro’s Excel had over a thousand rows, in dollars, company names as stock abbreviations. For a skilled Excel user, it might not be a big deal to organize those, I myself started organizing the data far too late. And I don’t know, for example, at what USD/EUR exchange rate changes should really be made or if one could automatically fetch the rate for a specific day, etc. Or if AI can modify the data into the desired format for the tax authority. But it was a big confusion as I was used to Nordnet’s etc. ready-made information. I still don’t know what kind of Excel one could send to the tax authority, I entered the data one by one and there’s some workaround for that too. If I ever do copy trading again, I will carefully familiarize myself with the sijoittaja.fi help or allocate more time or regularly do my own monitoring + find out in what format the tax authority accepts the information. So the homework was not done when I started doing the tax return on a Sunday evening in spring and the tax return had to be submitted on Monday.
Yeah, if there’s even a bit more trading, you can easily lose your sanity trying to manage with just eToro’s report. One of the most important benefits of the sijoittajafin platform for me has been the automatic currency conversions. Of course, you could handle those yourself if you only had the energy and time to set up the functions properly. To my understanding, the tax authority requires that currency conversions are made using the exchange rate on the trade date, and for example, the annual average rate is not acceptable, so with larger trading volumes, there’s plenty of work. For dividends, perhaps the annual average rate might have been acceptable… though I wouldn’t swear to it from memory.
So, in summary; using sijoittaja.fi as a base, preparing a tax return should be possible without major problems or swearing, if one were to, for example, copy-trade Laurila?
And formulas can easily be created in Excel with, for example, ChatGPT. All sorts of other nice things, such as pre-processed data analysis from “raw data”, can be done well with AI, though in free versions, limits are quickly met.
Thanks to those who have already replied!
So, do I have to pay some Sijoittaja.fi membership fee to get that Excel form?
Does anyone have that new eToro Excel they could send? I’d like to test it out. I’m testing eToro, so I only have a modest 3 euros of income from 2025, but I’d like to test the Excel in question.
New eToro customers receive $500 worth of shares if they deposit $5,000 and the funds remain in the portfolio for 3 months.
A good benefit, if true. Could you provide a source for this, as I can’t find any mention of it on eToro’s website?
Here’s one at least eToro
It’s worth reading the fine print or having an AI read it "
The document outlines the official terms and conditions for eToro’s “Welcome Bonus Enrollment Promotion.” The promotion offers new eToro customers the opportunity to receive a welcome bonus consisting of stocks or cryptocurrencies (depending on the participant’s country of residence and local regulations).
Campaign Overview:
The promotion begins on November 13, 2025, and will continue indefinitely at eToro’s discretion. The goal is to reward new users who open and verify their eToro accounts and make their first deposit.
Terms of Participation:
Participants must be residents of an eligible country, open a new eToro account during the promotion period, select stocks or cryptocurrencies as their interest, and complete account verification in accordance with eToro’s policies. In addition, the initial deposit must be of a certain amount (varies by country and is detailed in Appendix A) and must remain in the account for at least 90 days. The promotion does not apply to existing or recently closed accounts, eToro employees, or their family members.
Welcome Bonus:
Participants can choose a stock or cryptocurrency from a list, which eToro will purchase on their behalf as a bonus. The value of the bonus depends on the deposit amount and the country of residence. The bonus is added to the account within approximately seven days of meeting the requirements, though delays may occur. eToro reserves the right to replace the bonus with an alternative of equivalent value, such as cash.
Other Terms and Restrictions:
By participating in the promotion, the user accepts all terms as well as eToro’s general terms of use and privacy policy. The user is responsible for any applicable taxes. eToro may modify, suspend, or cancel the promotion at any time.
If a participant attempts to abuse the promotion, provides incorrect information, or acts fraudulently, eToro may cancel the bonus, close the account, and block future promotion participation. Each individual and household is entitled to only one bonus.
Appendix A:
The appendix lists participating countries and bonus amounts at different deposit levels.
– For example, in European countries, a deposit of $500–$999 earns a $40 bonus, and a deposit over $10,000 earns a $500 bonus.
– In GCC countries and Singapore, bonus values and thresholds vary, but the principle remains the same: a larger deposit yields a larger bonus.
– In some countries (such as the United Kingdom and Singapore), the bonus applies only to stocks, not cryptocurrencies.
Summary:
The promotion is aimed at new eToro users as an incentive to start investing. Receiving the bonus requires opening a new account, verifying it, and making a minimum deposit. eToro manages the promotion entirely under its own terms and can modify or cancel it at any time.
The key principles are fair participation, the one-account rule, and transparency in bonus values and terms.
I’ve been testing out copy trading Pietari Laurila a bit. How and where have you reported dividend income in MyTax (OmaVero)? In the section for “Information on capital income from abroad”? What should I put in the “country from which the dividend was received” field? I already had tax (withholding tax) deducted before the Finnish tax authorities.
That’s where I’ve put them at least, marking the foreign withholding tax in its own dedicated section.
Previously, I always entered the country that was shown in the stock’s ISIN code on the eToro report, but one year when the tax office requested further clarification, they ended up bundling all the dividends from eToro together themselves and set the country as Israel… so who knows which country you’re actually supposed to list.
