How to Automate an eToro Portfolio

Key takeaways

• Automating an eToro portfolio means keeping an allocation you chose in proportion over time; it is different from copy trading or Smart Portfolios, where someone else picks the holdings.
• On a standard eToro main-account connection, the rebalancing mode is one-click approval: nothing is sent to eToro until you approve the prepared orders.
• Unattended rebalancing is possible only on an eToro sub-account, funded apart from your main balance; connecting the main account never enables it.
• The connection uses eToro's own OAuth login, so your eToro password is never entered on a third-party screen, and the access can be revoked from eToro at any time.
• Rebalancing exists to control risk, not to forecast prices, and no automation mode promises a return.

Most eToro users think of automation as copy trading: find an investor you trust and mirror their moves. That is one form of automation. It is not the same as running your own portfolio on a schedule. Automating a portfolio means defining a set of holdings based on your own goals and risk profile, then having a system keep those holdings in proportion over time without requiring you to track prices or decide when to act.

This article explains how portfolio-level automation works on eToro, what each mode actually does, and where the hard limits are. Knowing those limits before you connect matters: the answer differs depending on which eToro account type you have, and it is easy to connect a main account expecting behaviour that is only available on a different account entirely.

What automating an eToro portfolio actually means

eToro offers two native automation features: Copy People and Smart Portfolios. Copy People mirrors another investor's trades in your account. Smart Portfolios are thematic baskets curated by eToro. Both are externally directed: another party is choosing the holdings and deciding when to change them.

Portfolio automation, in the sense this article covers, is different. You define the portfolio based on your own goals and risk tolerance. An automated system keeps the allocation in line over time by rebalancing when prices push your weights away from their targets. You hold the account. You approved the connection. No one else is selecting your assets, and no one else is deciding when to rebalance.

The full picture of what an eToro connection can see, what it can do, and what it can never do is documented in how Acubic works with eToro. That article also covers the credential type, the revocation path, and the managed-set boundary in detail. This article focuses on the automation modes specifically.

The difference between delegating and automating is covered in more depth in copy trading versus building your own portfolio. If you are weighing a third-party tool for the maintenance side, it is worth reading what to check before connecting an AI tool to eToro first.

Why rebalancing benefits from automation

A portfolio drifts when its holdings grow at different rates. A position you set at 15% of your portfolio can become 22% after a strong run, while another drops from 12% to 8%. That shift changes your risk profile. The portfolio is no longer expressing the allocation you originally chose. A 60/40 equity-bond split that drifts to 68/32 after an equity rally carries different expected volatility and different drawdown characteristics than the original design.

Rebalancing corrects that drift. Manual rebalancing means monitoring weights, calculating the required trades, and placing them yourself. Automated rebalancing runs the same steps on a schedule, generating the minimum set of orders needed to close the gap between what you hold and what you decided to hold. It does not liquidate and rebuild from scratch; it trades only the difference between the current state and the target.

The reason this matters practically is that the correction is hardest to make at exactly the moment it matters most. After a market move that has pushed your allocation out of shape, manually identifying the correct trades across a dozen positions and placing them promptly takes real effort. An automated system does the calculation and queues the trades for you, on the schedule you chose.

The mechanics of portfolio rebalancing, including timing approaches, threshold models, and cost considerations, are covered in the portfolio rebalancing strategy model guide.

Regulators describe the same discipline. The US Securities and Exchange Commission's guide to asset allocation and rebalancing puts it in one line: "Rebalancing is bringing your portfolio back to your original asset allocation mix." It describes two ways to decide when: on a regular time interval "such as every six or twelve months", or only when an asset class moves more than a set percentage away from its target.

Threshold rules are what keep drift small. In a January 2025 note, Vanguard illustrated a hypothetical 50% stock, 50% bond portfolio through the March 2020 volatility: under a threshold-based approach "the same portfolio never drifted more than +/– 2% away" from its target (Vanguard's approach to target-date fund rebalancing). That is an illustration, not a track record or a forecast for yours, but it shows what consistent maintenance is for: holding risk where it was set.

The three automation modes available on eToro

When you connect an eToro account to Acubic, you choose from three operating modes. Which modes are actually available to you depends on the account type you connect, so read this section before assuming full-auto is an option on your current account.

• Manual: Acubic shows a checklist of the trades needed to bring the portfolio back to target, but it places no orders; you decide whether to place them yourself. This is the right choice if you want to see what rebalancing would involve without any automated trading activity.
• One-Click Approval: Acubic prepares the rebalance order set on your chosen schedule and sends a notification. Nothing reaches eToro until you approve it. This is the only rebalancing mode available on a standard eToro connection.
• Full Automatic (unattended rebalancing): Acubic executes rebalances automatically, on schedule, without requiring your approval each time. This mode is only available through an eToro sub-account, a ring-fenced account funded separately from your main balance. Connecting your main eToro account does not enable this mode, and no setting inside Acubic can change that.

The decision between these modes, and when each is the right choice for your situation, is explained in detail in one-click vs full-auto rebalancing.

Which automation modes each eToro connection type supports

Mode (in-app label)	Standard eToro main account	eToro sub-account
Manual	Available	Available
One-Click Approval	Available (the only mode that sends orders)	Available
Full Automatic	Not available	Available

The reason the two brokers differ here is structural, not a product setting, and how the two brokers differ for automation explains it side by side.

One-click approval on a standard eToro connection

When you connect your main eToro account to Acubic, one-click approval is the mode available to you. At each scheduled rebalance, Acubic calculates the trades needed to return your portfolio to its target weights and presents them for your review. You approve or defer. Nothing is sent to eToro until you act. While an approval is pending, no further rebalances are queued for that connection.

This is a deliberate design, not a limitation. You approved the portfolio. You approved the connection. Each rebalance is a decision point, not a background process. For investors who want to stay informed about every adjustment, one-click approval gives you a maintained portfolio without removing you from the loop.

If a specific order fails, Acubic records the broker's stated reason and continues with the remaining orders independently. You can review what executed, what did not, and why, after each rebalance run completes.

Manual mode is also available on a standard connection and is a reasonable starting point: Acubic shows the trades needed to return to target but never submits an order. To move to One-Click Approval, stop automation and switch modes.

Unattended rebalancing and the eToro sub-account

If you want rebalancing to run on a schedule without requiring your approval each time, you need an eToro sub-account. This is a separate account within the eToro platform, ring-fenced from your main account and funded independently from your main balance. Connecting your main eToro account to Acubic does not enable unattended execution on your primary positions.

The sub-account is funded separately, and order sizes within it are scaled to what you funded: the proportion of the sub-account's virtual balance you have actually put in. Acubic can then execute scheduled rebalances automatically within the eToro sub-account. The positions inside the sub-account are distinct from your main account, so automated activity there does not affect what you hold elsewhere on eToro.

The setup sequence for an eToro sub-account is the same as for a standard connection in most respects: build a strategy, connect your main eToro account, create the eToro sub-account from Acubic (or paste the key of one you made in eToro), set a capital figure and a rebalance frequency, and then the scheduler runs without needing per-rebalance approval. Copy-traded positions on the sub-account, if any exist, are identified and excluded from the managed set.

This distinction is worth stating plainly: if you have read about full-auto mode and assumed it applies to your existing main eToro account, it does not. Full-auto is an eToro sub-account feature. Standard eToro connections always require one-click approval before a rebalance executes. If you encounter a description of this product that suggests otherwise, it is inaccurate.

The complete guide to how Acubic works end to end, including the step from portfolio construction to live execution, is in how Acubic works.

Rebalance frequency

For both one-click and unattended modes, you configure how often Acubic runs the rebalance check: monthly, quarterly, or annually. Monthly captures drift more frequently but generates more trading activity. Quarterly and annual schedules are quieter, with lower turnover, at the cost of allowing more drift between runs.

The right frequency depends on the volatility of your holdings and how closely you want the realized allocation to track the target. You can change the frequency at any time without disconnecting the account.

What data Acubic uses to construct the portfolio, and why the construction method does not depend on predicting near-term price moves, is covered in what data Acubic uses.

What Acubic does not do

Acubic does not predict short-term price movements. The portfolio construction engine uses historical returns, correlations, and risk estimates to set allocations. It does not forecast which assets will rise over the next week or month. A portfolio built with Acubic is a structural allocation decision. The system maintains that structure over time; it does not change the allocation in response to market news or short-term signals.

Acubic does not manage positions you have copied from other investors on eToro. Copy-traded positions are identified and excluded from the managed set. If you have copy-trading activity on your eToro account, it coexists with but does not interact with the Acubic-managed allocation.

Acubic does not move money. There is no withdrawal, transfer, or deposit function anywhere in the product, and no automation mode changes this. The connection is used to read positions and place equity orders, nothing more.

Acubic does not promise or imply any level of return. Portfolio construction optimizes for risk characteristics, not for a target return figure. Performance depends on market conditions that no construction system controls. Acubic does not claim to beat the market and publishes no track record.

Disconnecting does not liquidate your positions. Whether you disconnect inside Acubic or revoke the access token inside eToro, your existing holdings stay exactly where they are. Acubic stops sending rebalance proposals; it does not close your trades.

How to get started

The starting point is building a portfolio, not connecting a broker. The guided conversation in Acubic asks about your goals, risk tolerance, and the asset categories you want to include. The engine runs a screen, select, and allocate sequence using that input and proposes a set of holdings with target weights. You review the full proposal before any broker action is possible. Nothing touches an eToro account at this stage.

Once you have reviewed the proposed portfolio, you connect your eToro account through eToro's OAuth flow. You authenticate on eToro's own login screen, approve the access, and return to Acubic. Your eToro password never appears on an Acubic screen. Acubic is a listed integration in the eToro App Store and connects through eToro's standard approval process.

You then set how much of the account Acubic manages, choose your rebalance frequency, and select your automation mode. For most people starting out, one-click approval on a quarterly schedule gives you a maintained portfolio with clear visibility into each rebalance decision. Both settings can be adjusted at any time without reconnecting.

If you want to see what the portfolio engine proposes before connecting a broker at all, the construction step runs without a connection. You can review the portfolio, examine the target weights, and only connect eToro when you are ready.

Start at Acubic's portfolio builder, or read the full details of what the eToro connection covers on the eToro integration page.

the access your application receives is limited to the scopes the user consented to and revocable by them at any time

OAuth is the standard behind "log in with" buttons: you sign in on the provider's own page, and the app receives a token limited to the scopes you approved. A scope is one named permission, such as reading a portfolio or placing an order.

Further reading for each step:

• New to the platform: investing on eToro as a beginner.
• Comparing eToro's own options: eToro Smart Portfolios compared with a built portfolio, and eToro Tori versus a third-party portfolio builder.
• The technical boundary: what the eToro API can and cannot do.
• The setup itself: connecting an eToro account step by step.

Sources

1. SSO (OAuth) getting started, eToro API portal, accessed 12 October 2026.
2. Beginners' Guide to Asset Allocation, Diversification, and Rebalancing, US Securities and Exchange Commission, accessed 12 October 2026.
3. Vanguard's approach to target-date fund rebalancing (23 January 2025), Vanguard, accessed 12 October 2026.