If you are an investor with a strategic move, it would be a rewarding opportunity to afford to become a popular investor on eToro, a financial services provider, in 2026. eToro’s popular investor program allows its users to stand out as a talented investor and lead within a global trading community.
Before diving into the article about eToro’s PI, have a detailed analysis of eTor0 2026 to get a better understanding of this broker.
Understanding the Investor Program
By leveraging social investing and eToro’s unique CopyTrader technology, you can build your business as a successful investor and take your earnings to the next level. You can also gain recognition and grow your reputation by sharing your expertise with other traders. The key features of this Popular Investor Program include:
- Only the program members can be copied by others on eToro
- Receive a payment of up to 1.5% of assets under copy (AUC)
- Gain accredited global investment qualifications
- Be a leader in one of the world’s largest investment communities (over 40M people)
Below are the copy trading requirements level-wise for the PI program.
| Criteria | Verified social traders | Cadet | Rising star | Champion | Elite |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum deposit | $1,000 | $5,000 | $5,000 | $20,000 | |
| Minimum average monthly equity | $500 | $1,000 | $5,000 | $10,000 | |
| Minimum copiers or AUM | 1 | 1 | 50 | 250 | $300K AUM |
| Maximum AUM | 20K | 50K | 100K | 300K | |
| Maximum risk score | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
Steps to Qualify as a Popular Investor in 2026
You will need certain eligibility requirements and follow a transparent trading approach to qualify for eToro’s popular investor program. Below are the steps and criteria to join the program.
Set up an eToro account
Have at least 2 months of trading history on eToro and invest a minimum of $2,000 in unrealised equity.
Maintain investment standards
The following are the investment criteria to join the popular investor program.
- Maximum daily risk score < 7
- Maximum weekly drawdown > -25%
- Maximum single position size < 50% of the portfolio
- Traded > 3 different instruments in the past 12 months
- Profitable months > 30%
- Not under any customer block reason
Apply to the popular investor program
Once all requirements are met, apply to the popular investor program.
Maximizing Earnings and Maintaining Your Status
While being a popular retail investor, you will be rewarded based on the overall equity copying you, known as assets under copy (AUC). If you want to maximize earnings, you need to manage your portfolio performance, copier satisfaction, and adhere to program compliance – all while promoting your profile.
Maintaining your status in the popular investor program includes several actions:
Maintain a low-risk score
Keep an ideal low-risk score and avoid concentration in a single asset or industry. Diversifying between stocks, ETFs, indices, and commodities helps in maintaining your risk at a low level.
Stay active
Be an active trader, yet avoid huge equity drawdowns to avoid the high risk of losing money rapidly. Try to target stable monthly returns to appeal to cautious copiers.
Keep your AUM high
You need to stay above the required AUM thresholds and keep the copier count high. It is very important to engage your audience to prevent copier drop-off.
Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them
Getting a large number of traders to copy you and growing your AUC might be quite challenging. In order to overcome the challenges, you may have to try to follow our guidance and increase the monthly payments you receive.
Volatility risk
If you deploy volatile strategies, it may cause sharp score spikes and copier loss. As a popular investor, trading CFDs increases your risk score because CFDs are complex instruments, and it is very important to understand how CFDs work. There is a high risk that you may lose money when trading CFDs.
When your risk score exceeds 7, you may be disqualified from the program. If you take high-margin positions, you may lose money rapidly due to leverage. In order to reduce this risk, we recommend using lower leverage, diversifying across asset classes, and regularly monitoring your risk score to adjust trades accordingly.
Inconsistency in performance
Sudden losses or volatility in returns can affect copier trust, and long drawdowns may also discourage new copiers. We suggest that investors backtest and follow a disciplined trading plan without emotionally driven trading decisions.
Retaining copiers
The biggest challenge in the popular investor program is to retain copiers who may leave due to underperformance or lack of updates. It is typically hard to grow a copier base without visibility. It is essential to share updates regularly via eToro News Feed and promote your portfolio through social media to engage copiers.
Meeting copier thresholds
It is quite natural to struggle to maintain a minimum copiers base or assets under management (AUM). This challenge can be overcome by collaborating with other traders or joining trading communities and running low-risk, long-term strategies that appeal well to passive investors.
Lack of visibility
Although you are a great trader, only a few people might notice your profile. It is important to build a personal brand and post trade and invest ideas, market insights, and personal investing philosophy. You can also use your eToro referral link to provide educational content.
Platform challenges
Copy trading execution issues are very common in any trading platform, as eToro. One should set moderate stop losses to avoid slippage and inform copiers when major market events may affect platform performance.
Rule violations
Breaching eToro’s terms can result in removal from the program. You cannot promise profits or guaranteed returns in public posts. Also, copying others and passing off as your own strategy is not accepted.
Conclusion
Although becoming a popular investor on eToro is rewarding, we cannot rule out the challenges related to risk, engagement, or performance. One should bear in mind the following points to sustain in the program:
- Building a professional profile
- Developing a copier-friendly trading strategy
- Maintaining low-risk returns
- Being active on the eToro feed
- Promoting your profile consistently
- Tracking and optimizing key metrics
Pro-tip
eToro’s popular investor program is a legitimate and valuable path for traders, but not a one-size-fits-all solution. An investor should weigh the benefits against their comfort with scrutiny and platform limitations. Use our broker finder tool to analyze the offerings of various brokers and choose a suitable one. Study the investment options such as stocks, forex, cryptocurrency market, banking, etc., to diversify your portfolio.
FAQs
1. How much do Popular Investors earn on eToro?
- Elites receive a fixed 1.5% payment up to $10M AUC, paid out monthly.
- Elite Pros will receive a fixed 1.5% up to $30M AUC and 0.5% > $30M paid out monthly if they have 5 years of trading on the platform.
2. What is the minimum deposit for eToro CopyTrader?
The minimum amount to invest in a trader is $200.
3. How long does it take to become Popular Investor?
It takes at least 2 months of trading history on eToro to become a popular investor.
4. What happens if you lose money on eToro as PI?
Losing money as a PI will never disqualify you from the program; however, it may impact your status, earnings, and copier retention based on how your accounts lose money when trading and how consistently.
5. What if your eToro ranking drops in 2026?
A drop in your eToro ranking in 2026 indicates a decline in your trading performance. This will affect your visibility, copier growth, and your PI status and income.
6. Can poor performance affect your PI status?
Yes, poor performance may affect your PI status in metrics like risk score, AUC, copiers count, drawdown percentage, and trade frequency as well.
