Contents
eToro is an outstanding broker for those who want to purchase Bitcoin from Thailand
Why do we recommend it?
- There are uncountable products you can invest in
- Leverage is allowed
- It is really straightforward and user-friendly
- You are able to imitate investment moves
- Admits “shorting” or short-selling
Official main site: www.etoro.com/bitcoin
If you are interested in purchasing Bitcoin from Thailand, eToro may be the best option.
“Social trading”, an innovative way of investing by replicating techniques and strategies from other experienced investors, has become trendy thanks to eToro.
eToro has solutions for you, even if you don't have much experience in trading, since it puts your investment on automatic by replicating moves from other experienced people with a long profit history. Additionally, in case you are an investor, the platform pays for your knowledge.
Besides, the interface of this site is amazingly manageable, great for a user who wants to begin in the Bitcoin world, without ending up overwhelmed with tons of diagrams and numbers.
Can you trust eToro?
eToro is very meticulous with the data about past performances from users, and its integrity has been independently tested several times.
eToro complies with all the demanding regulations required by the European Union, legislation in which it is found. Its head office is in Cyprus, where it is certified by the CySEC or Cyprus Securities Market Commission, which can cover up to € 20,000 of the debts from its clients, including those from Thailand.
In Europe, it is backed by the European Financial Instruments Market (MiFID), and in the USA it responds to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). In addition to all these regulations, it should be mentioned that eToro has been active for fifteen years, with more than 20 million users around the world, so we can rest assured that our funds are safe.
It is also important to mention the great customer service. They have a phone number for assistance, a ticket system, and a live chat.
How to deposit funds into your eToro account
Within the payment options that you will find on eToro are: credit card, PayPal, bank transfer, Neteller, and Skrill. There is not much to say here: making a deposit with eToro is a very easy process. Just go to “Deposit funds”, choose an amount and the payment method you prefer.
Consider that for security reasons, you must be the holder of the account or the credit card.
The minimum you can deposit is $ 200 and there is a limited amount if you are not verified, so if you want to trade with higher amounts, you should verify your account previously.
The platform allows deposits or transfers in any currency, but charges a commission for making the conversion to USD. That is why we recommend, if possible, using USD directly.
What's the difference between CFDs and futures?
How are CFDs and Futures different?
- Counterparties
- Futures: operations are made with someone else, another trader.
- CFDs: you don't “play” with someone else, but the counterparty is the brokerage platform.
- Expiry:
- Futures: there is a date of expiry. Once the contract expires, it is closed even if you have losses.
- CFDs: on the contrary, there is no expiration date. You can wait for your position to rise before exiting.
- Options for trading:
- Futures: options are much more restricted
- CFDs: there is an enormous amount of possibilities
- Minimum deposit:
- Futures: very high minimum investment
- CFDs: you can start with a small initial deposit
- Trading costs and charges:
- Futures: as you have to invest more, rates are lower
- CFDs: rates are higher
- Leverage:
- Futures: you can't leverage
- CFDs: it is always possible to leverage
By the way, do you know what leverage is? We'll put it simply:
trading allows you to invest more money than you can have in a given time. Let's say that you enter with $ 100 and you put them with x2 leverage, the amount of your investment will be $ 200.
Everything you should know about leverage
Suppose now that you are sure that the price of Bitcoin is about to raise its price, thus you are thinking about “going long”.
You are absolutely certain that Bitcoin will go up, and you have $ 1,000 at that moment, but the fact is, you have the chance of investing more.
You could go to your bank, ask for a credit, put something as collateral, wait for it to be accepted and receiving the money, send the money to eToro, confirm that it arrived, and then acquire Bitcoin… But by then it is possible that your prediction was confirmed a long time ago, and Bitcoin would be already so high that it is not worth investing.
With leverage, you can obtain that amount of money just by clicking your mouse. It's like borrowing money, but much better: from eToro itself. You will be able to invest much more money than you actually have on the platform. As in the image below, you will see the different options you have:
Within other markets, the leverage you can choose is higher. Why? Because leverage is most common in short-term operations or day trading, and cryptocurrencies tend to be a medium or long-term investment. But let's explain how leverage works in the practice:
- If you decide to invest $ 1,000 and you use leverage x2, you will be starting with $ 2,000 (remember that$ 1,000 was “borrowed” from eToro).
- A few days later, Bitcoin does rises, as you assumed, and now the price of your investment is $ 2,400 (20% more), so you decide to sell back.
- The $ 1k of leverage will be deducted, and you will have $ 1,400 left; which means you've earned $ 400, since the other $1,000 was yours from the beginning.
By starting with $ 1000 and getting $ 400, you'll be earning 40% of your investment. That is pretty good.
But there's always a drawback. If everything goes ok and the asset increases, you will make money. Nevertheless, if the asset decreases, you will also lose more money in the blink of an eye.
Let's suppose that the asset didn't increase by 20%, but it went down also by 20%, you won't lose $ 20 but $ 40, because of the leverage. That is why to operate with leverage it is crucial to know other two terms: Take Profit and Stop Loss.
Take Profit is the automatic sell order that is above the entry price: you buy Bitcoin at $ 100 and you ask eToro to close your position as soon as the price reaches $ 120. It is very useful to avoid being blinded by enthusiasm: a 20% profit is usually very good, but once you see the price has risen, you might want to gain a bit more and decide to wait, but this could be a mistake. So, Take Profit helps you to trade more safely.
Also, if you use leverage you absolutely need to place a Stop Loss order (take into account that any small loss is greater with leverage). Take into account that eToro will recommend a limit for Stop Loss, but it is better to set it lower than that.
About ETFs
What do you know about Exchange-traded funds? They are passively managed funds, known for merging the benefits of stocks and mutual funds, because they can be traded at any moment in the market, but have much more investment possibilities and the fees are significantly lower.
About Index Funds
Are the best option for those planning to invest for the long term, especially for beginners. If you don't need an amount of money for the next five or ten years, index funds are the safest.
You may think differently, but benchmark returns are very difficult to beat and very few fund managers achieve that, apart from some famous cases, like Warren Buffett's.
If someone brags about having beaten the index, they probably did it for a short time or on particular occasions, or perhaps the rates are so high that indexing would be a better decision (with minimal commissions).
The great advantage of index funds is that they solve both issues: their commissions are insignificant and in the long term they almost always beat active managers.
How to use eToro
We mentioned before that one of the best things about eToro is that the platform is very intuitive and easy to use. You don't need to read a lot or have previous knowledge to start trading.
If you are familiar with any of the most popular social networks today, you can perfectly manage eToro's interface.
We will explain, roughly, the registration process and the different sections that you will find.
You will have to provide some personal information (like full name or address, for instance) when registering.
Additionally, you will have to answer some questions about your experience at investing.
But don't feel intimidated. The objective is to know more about you and be clear about which financial instruments they should recommend according to your knowledge and experience.
Next, we will talk about the different sections of the page.
With the “Set Price Alerts” tool, you'll be able to program an alarm when a security is at a certain price. Just click the tab and you will be able to set it. This is perfect if you want to buy a security and you are waiting for its price to fall.
The section “News Feed” allows users to interact and share their experiences and knowledge.
“Instruments”, “People” and “CopyPortfolios” are within “Discover”. And we discussed previously in this guide the different financial instruments on eToro:
- Cryptocurrencies
- ETFs
- Shares
- Raw materials
- Currencies
- Index funds
In the section “People” are all the profiles and historical performances of other users, and you can replicate their strategies with just one click. This is where the “social trading” term is best applied.
You can search for those investors that best suit your interests: by average earnings, types of instruments or risk level, for example. Just indicate the amount of your investment and eToro itself will be in charge of replicating the movements made by the selected investor, in proportion. This means that if you have $ 1000 and the trader puts 10% in an asset, eToro will invest also 10% of your money (in this case $ 100) in that same asset.
Also, here you will see CopyPortfolios classified into three categories, Top Trader, Market, and Partner.
The advantage of using CopyPortfolios instead of copying individual traders is that this way you will diversify the risk. There are all kinds of portfolios that you can recognize easily and are classified by sectors. Therefore, in case you suspect a specific industry, like biotechnology or pharmacy, will prosper in the future, you can find that specific portfolio and invest in it.
How does a demo account work?
In case you are beginning as an investor, you can start by practicing with a “demo” option. Setting a virtual account and operating with fictional money is very simple.
This can be a great way of practicing before starting to trade with real funds. The platform will give you an amount of $ 100.000 (“fake” or virtual, of course) to begin with, and you will be able to trade with all the different assets available on eToro, not just with Bitcoin.
If your first attempts don't go well and you lose your funds, you can always ask the platform to replenish $ 100k of virtual balance. You'll probably do better on the second attempt.
Take into account that investing is mostly about being cautious, however, using a virtual portfolio might have the opposite effect. It will never be the same as risking your own money.
Evidently, the virtual mode is kind of absurd if you intend to trade in the medium or long-term, since you would be wasting years to see the outcome. Demo accounts may be helpful for practicing before investing in the short or medium-term.