[mr_mitm]

Neo brokers offering highly leveraged index funds securities with very low trading fees and convenient mobile apps are absolutely indiscernible from gambling. Some people bet on the NASDAQ like other people bet on race horses. It might be even worse, because how can you stop people from trading securities?

[Youden]

> Neo brokers offering highly leveraged index funds securities

These, eToro and the like, aren't "brokers" so much as online betting platforms for the stock market.

A typical broker like Interactive Brokers, Charles Schwab etc. acts as a gateway to the market, other traders act as counterparties, and is bound by strict regulation

These "neo brokers" as you call them don't. Those "securities" you're buying are offered by the broker, at a price set by the broker, the broker may be the counterparty and they can't be transferred. Just like a casino.

This is all laid out in the terms and conditions for anybody who cares to read them, e.g. [0], sections 7.1 and 17.

If you want to gamble based on stock prices using leverage, at least do it right: use derivatives. They're leveraged but thoroughly regulated and traded on central exchanges.

[0]: https://www.etoro.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/eToro-EU-Te...

[mr_mitm]

I was thinking of platforms like Trade Republic, and it's my understanding that they are backed by a licensed bank and what you trade are indeed regulated derivatives. Have I been misinformed?

[Youden]

Hadn't heard of that one, I don't immediately see anything that makes it seem as dodgy as eToro. Do you have a link to any of these highly-leveraged securities they're trading?

[mr_mitm]

This is a 73000x security on silver: https://www.ls-tc.de/en/turbo/4244036

It's got an ISIN and all that.

L+S is the exchange where Trade Republic trades: https://support.traderepublic.com/en-nl/705-On-which-trading...

[Youden]

Ah, I see. That's indeed completely separate from what I was talking about. I didn't know such securities/exchanges existed.