I’ve been looking at both AvaTrade and eToro for a while now, and there’s so much conflicting information out there that it’s hard to know what to trust. Everyone seems to have a different take on spreads, execution quality, and costs.
What I’m really trying to figure out is: how do you fairly compare two brokers when rebates come into play? Like, if one broker has lower spreads but worse rebate terms, and another has higher spreads but better cashback rates, how do you actually calculate which one ends up cheaper for your trading style?
I read some forum posts here about total cost accounting, but I’m not sure if people are factoring in everything or just looking at the headline numbers. The rebate piece especially seems to get overlooked in most comparisons I’ve seen.
Has anyone actually sat down and tracked their real costs on both platforms over a few months? Not just the advertised spreads, but the actual money that came out of your account versus what came back through rebates? I’d be curious to hear how that math worked out for different trading styles – like if you’re scalping versus swing trading versus longer-term positions.
How do you approach this comparison yourself?
Track your true cost across both for at least a month before deciding.
Calculate it this way: take your actual spreads paid plus commissions, then subtract the rebate you received. That final number is what actually matters. Don’t just compare their advertised spreads side by side, because that ignores the rebate impact entirely.
AvaTrade and eToro have different rebate structures through GlobeGain depending on your account type and volume. One key thing I’ve noticed: higher volume traders often come out ahead with eToro’s structure, but scalpers usually benefit more from AvaTrade’s tighter execution plus rebates.
The real test is running small trades on both platforms simultaneously for the same instrument and comparing slippage plus final rebate payout. That’s where execution quality differences show up too.
Most people miss this: rebates only matter if the base execution is solid. A broker with better rebates but poor order fills costs you more in reality through slippage.
For AvaTrade versus eToro specifically, I’d focus on three things. First, their spread behavior during your peak trading hours. Second, actual withdrawal speeds and fees, because slow withdrawals mean your rebates get trapped. Third, platform stability during news events, since both platforms behave differently under stress.
Once you verify execution quality is acceptable on both, then the rebate math becomes the tiebreaker. That’s when you calculate total cost and see which one actually wins for your volume.
I tracked this for about four months last year with both platforms.
What I found was that AvaTrade’s spreads looked tighter on paper, but eToro’s execution on major pairs felt smoother during volatile periods. The rebate difference wasn’t huge—maybe 0.1 to 0.2 pips per lot depending on instrument.
But here’s what actually swung it for me: eToro’s withdrawal process was way faster. With AvaTrade I’d wait 5-7 days to see my rebates credited, but eToro got them to me in 2-3 days. That meant I could reinvest the cashback faster.
I ended up staying with eToro for scalping, but I keep a smaller account on AvaTrade for swing trades because the rebate structure works better for holding periods longer than a few hours. The key is testing both with real money first.
I started by looking at the headline numbers too, but that didn’t tell me much. What actually helped was paper trading the same strategy on both platforms for a week, then comparing not just the results but the actual costs.
For me, what matters is: what does my account statement look like after everything? The spread, the commission, the slippage, the rebate—all of it combined. eToro’s interface made it easier for me to track those numbers in one place, which sounds like a small thing but it actually made a difference when I was trying to figure out what was working.
I’d say just open both demo accounts and run your normal trading strategy. See which platform feels like it’s actually helping your bottom line after a couple weeks.
AvaTrade seems cheaper for scalping but eToro’s better for most traders. Hard to say without testing both yourself.
Open both track costs for month decide.
AvaTrade for scalping eToro for everything else.