Discover how to make your investment portfolio work harder and maximise your earnings potential.
As 2025 gets underway, investors continue to face various challenges, ranging from geopolitical tensions to uncertainty around interest rate cuts and inflation. For those focused on sustainable growth, incorporating additional income streams with their portfolios can help mitigate some of these risks. By generating additional returns, investors can create an investment strategy to steadily build wealth, creating a portfolio that’s more resilient to market fluctuations over the long term.
eToro already provides access to two sources of extra income: interest on balance and dividends. By adding stock lending to the mix, you now have three excellent tools to help make your portfolio work harder.
1. Stock Lending
Stock lending, also known as securities lending, is a common practice where market participants and institutions borrow stocks, commodities, and derivatives, paying the asset owners a lending fee in return. Stock lending plays a crucial role in maintaining market liquidity by facilitating trade settlements and enabling short selling. When investors borrow shares, it helps to ensure that trades can be executed smoothly and efficiently. This process is particularly important for volatile stocks with low liquidity and high demand, as these are often the shares that borrowers are most interested in.
Learn More About Stock Lending
Once you opt in, we’ll facilitate lending shares from your portfolio to borrowers in exchange for a lending fee, which will be split equally 50-50 between you and eToro.
All stocks owned outright on eToro will be eligible for securities lending; fractional positions, copy positions, and derivatives such as CFDs won’t qualify. Since demand for borrowing stocks depends on market conditions, the income generated from securities lending can and will fluctuate and isn’t guaranteed.
Stock lending on eToro will allow you to generate more income from the shares you hold in your portfolio; you still receive dividend payments and can sell stocks while they’re on loan. The process is fully automated, with eToro and our partners BNY Mellon and EquiLend handling everything, from sourcing borrowers to managing the loans. If you would like to opt out of the programme at any point, you can do so quickly and easily via the Help Center.
While securities lending provides an opportunity to generate extra income, it is not without risk. Shares are commonly borrowed for short selling, which can impact their market value. The settlement times for shares that are loaned may also be delayed, exposing investors to possible market movements and preventing them from redeploying or withdrawing funds from a sale straight away. Securities lending is a complex product, and investors should understand what is involved before opting in. You can view our Stocks Lending programme’s risk warning and terms and conditions here.
Ready to start lending your stocks? Start here. Once you’ve joined stocks lending, the earnings from any lending transactions will be automatically credited to your eToro account every month. You can easily view all of the information about your stock lending in Activities> Settings > Documents.
2. Interest on Balance
eToro’s interest on balance feature allows our Club Members to earn interest annually on available cash balances. Interest rates vary depending on your eToro Club tier; interest is paid to your balance monthly, and you can withdraw your balance or invest it at any time.
Learn More About Interest on Balance
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3. Dividends
Dividends are paid by companies to their shareholders from profits or reserves. They are distributed regularly based on each shareholder’s stake and offer an opportunity to earn a passive income.
Invest in Dividend Stocks
On eToro, dividend payments vary based on whether you hold a CFD position or a real asset and are paid on the ex-dividend date and payment date, respectively. Shareholders receive their dividend, minus any tax, directly to their available eToro balance. Those shorting the stock will have the dividend value deducted from their balance.
Plan your investments with eToro’s Dividend Calendar.
Make the most of your portfolio
By leveraging stock lending, interest on balances, and dividends, eToro investors can generate more income from their portfolios. It’s a diversified approach that can deliver additional returns and support long-term investment goals.
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eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
This communication is for information and education purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice, a personal recommendation, or an offer of, or solicitation to buy or sell, any financial instruments. This material has been prepared without taking into account any particular recipient’s investment objectives or financial situation, and has not been prepared in accordance with the legal and regulatory requirements to promote independent research. Any references to past or future performance of a financial instrument, index or a packaged investment product are not, and should not be taken as, a reliable indicator of future results. eToro makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication.
