How does stock lending work on etoro?

Stock lending on etoro is a way to earn additional income from your stock holdings. When you opt into the stock lending programme, you permit etoro to lend shares from your entire portfolio based on market demand. This means that only some of your shares - or potentially none - may be lent at any given time.

Earn monthly income: Participants will receive monthly payments, equivalent to 50% of the net revenue etoro earns and receives from our partners for these lending transactions. You will receive your earnings in USD to your available cash balance around the middle of each month.

Eligible assets: Stocks and ETFs are eligible for stock lending. Some positions are not included in the programme:

• CFDs (this includes any leveraged, short, and extended-hours positions)
• Fractional positions (less than one share). If you have more than one unit, the number of shares available to lend will always be rounded down to the nearest whole number)
• Pending orders (including limit orders and out-of-hours orders)
• CopyTrader and Smart Portfolio positions

Collateral and Security: Borrowers (via etoro's lending agent) provide collateral, often in the form of US treasury bonds. The value of this collateral is maintained between 100% and 105% of the lent inventory's end-of-day value, helping to protect against the risk of borrower default.

Shareholder voting rights: If your shares are out on loan, you are transferring the right to vote on any voluntary corporate actions to the borrower. So, if all of your shares on a particular asset are out on loan, you won’t receive any emails from our proxy voting partner, Broadridge, during the loan period.

Dividends: When your shares are on loan, dividends are paid to you by the borrower as payments known as ‘manufactured dividends’. In some jurisdictions, these are taxed differently from normal dividends, and you should consult with a tax advisor about what to report to your local tax authority.

Can I sell my shares when they are on loan?

Yes, you can close your positions at any time, whether they are on loan or not.

How much do I earn?

Participants will receive monthly payments, equivalent to 50% of the net revenue etoro earns and receives from our partners for these lending transactions. The actual income from stock lending will likely vary from month to month depending on the market demand for the stock, which determines:

• Which assets are lent
• The number of shares lent
• The variable lending fee, which fluctuates due to market supply and demand

Click here for more information on how we calculate the revenue.