UK onlyThis page covers eToro's UK free-share promotion specifically when Microsoft (MSFT) is the chosen reward — how the offer works, what £40 / £100 / £300 / £500 of MSFT actually buys you in fractional shares, and what owning Microsoft means alongside the other five tiles in the picker.
How the offer works
New UK-resident clients of eToro UK Ltd register through the partner link, choose one of six stocks as their free reward (NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, ASML, RR.L, GOOG), complete KYC, and make a first deposit of at least £500. eToro credits the chosen share — fractional where needed — to the portfolio within 7 days of a qualifying deposit. The deposit must stay on the account for 90 calendar days; an early withdrawal forfeits the reward.
There is no promo code. The partner link itself is what attaches the attribution and enrols you in the campaign.
Step by step — register and pick MSFT
The full flow takes 15–20 minutes plus the bank-transfer time. Six steps:
1. Open the eToro signup link
Click our eToro signup link. The landing page shows the four reward tiers (£40 / £100 / £300 / £500) and a Get started button.
2. Enter your email and pick MSFT
After clicking Get started you land on eToro's "Join eToro" form (left below). The moment you enter your email, the six-tile asset picker appears (right) — tap MSFT to lock Microsoft in as your reward. The choice can be changed any time before your first deposit clears; once it does, it's locked.
3. Finish account creation
Set a username and password (or continue with a Google account), accept the T&Cs and privacy policy, and click Create account.
4. KYC verification
Standard UK onboarding: ID (UK passport or driving licence), proof of address (recent utility bill or bank statement), and a short suitability questionnaire. Approval is usually within 24 hours.
5. First deposit
Card, UK bank transfer or PayPal. eToro UK supports GBP as a base currency, so a GBP deposit lands directly in the account without FX conversion. The £500 tier threshold is a hard floor in GBP — no buffer needed. (FX still applies later, at trade time, when you buy a USD-quoted share like MSFT — a small spread is built into the GBP→USD conversion eToro performs on the trade itself.)
6. 90-day deposit hold
Withdrawing within 90 days forfeits the reward. The MSFT share lands within 7 calendar days of a qualifying deposit (usually 2–4 days in practice) and shows up in your portfolio as a real fractional position priced at the moment of crediting.
Reward tiers — what £X of MSFT looks like
The reward is set by your first deposit only:
| First deposit | Free MSFT value | % of deposit |
|---|---|---|
| £500 – £999 | £40 | 8% |
| £1,000 – £4,999 | £100 | 10% |
| £5,000 – £9,999 | £300 | 6% |
| £10,000+ | £500 | 5% |
The £1,000 tier is the sweet spot in % terms: a £100 share against a £1,000 deposit is an instant 10% top-up. Higher tiers give a larger absolute reward, but the percentage falls.
How many Microsoft shares you actually get
Microsoft has a relatively high per-share price among the US-listed picks — as of early May 2026, MSFT is trading around $411.31 (≈£323.87 at GBP/USD ~1.27). So the fractional shares credited at the lower tiers are smaller than for NVDA or GOOG. At that level:
| Reward value | Approximate MSFT shares (May 2026) |
|---|---|
| £40 | ~0.12 share |
| £100 | ~0.31 share |
| £300 | ~0.93 share |
| £500 | ~1.54 shares |
Exact numbers move with the share price on the crediting day. Fractional shares track the underlying 1:1 — the smaller fraction doesn't reduce returns, only the share-count optics.
What Microsoft exposure actually means
Of the six options in eToro's UK picker, MSFT is the most diversified single name by revenue mix — cloud, productivity software, gaming, professional networking, dev tools, search and a strategic stake in OpenAI all roll up under one ticker.
What you actually own when you own MSFT:
- Azure cloud — the #2 hyperscaler globally, growing 25–30%/year. Most enterprise AI workloads sold to corporates run on Azure or AWS. Azure has been the largest single growth driver of MSFT's revenue since 2018.
- Microsoft 365 + Copilot — distribution of AI-assisted productivity to ~400 million paid seats. Even a modest Copilot attach rate is a multi-billion-dollar incremental revenue line.
- OpenAI partnership — Microsoft has invested over $13bn in OpenAI in exchange for revenue-share rights and exclusive Azure hosting. The partnership is structurally complex but commercially Microsoft monetises both sides: hosting margin if OpenAI scales, IP rights if it stalls.
- Gaming (Xbox + Activision Blizzard) — small relative to cloud, but a real cash flow line.
- LinkedIn, GitHub, Bing, Windows, Surface — long tail of cash-generative franchises.
Risks specific to MSFT:
- Lower torque than NVDA — diversification cuts both ways. If AI hardware capex is the dominant theme of the next 3 years, NVDA outpaces MSFT.
- Higher per-share price than NVDA/GOOG/AAPL — at the £40 tier you get a small fraction of a share. Returns are identical on a percentage basis, but the share-count optics are less satisfying.
- Cloud growth deceleration — Azure has been growing slower than the AI-hype headlines suggest.
How MSFT compares with the other tiles, factually:
- vs Apple (AAPL) — both are mature mega-caps with dividends. MSFT has more growth optionality through cloud + AI; AAPL has the consumer-brand premium in its multiple.
- vs Nvidia (NVDA) — MSFT is the diversified version of the AI thesis; NVDA is the high-beta single-product-line version.
- vs Alphabet (GOOG) — both have cloud businesses (Azure vs GCP) and AI assets. GOOG trades on a lower forward P/E; MSFT has a stronger enterprise foothold.
- vs ASML — different layer of the AI stack. ASML is the lithography monopoly that supplies chip foundries; MSFT is the AI software/cloud distribution layer.
- vs Rolls-Royce (RR.L) — different markets entirely. RR.L is GBP-listed and the only non-US-tech tile.
This page describes the offer mechanics and Microsoft's profile factually. It is not investment advice. All single-stock investing involves risk including loss of capital; if you are unsure whether MSFT fits your situation, speak to an authorised financial adviser.
eToro fees worth knowing
- Stocks: $1 to buy + $1 to sell (per leg, on top of the spread). The free share itself costs nothing.
- ETFs: 0% commission — eToro doesn't charge a per-leg fee on ETF trades.
- Withdrawals: flat $5 per transaction.
- FX: A GBP base account means no FX on a GBP deposit or withdrawal. When you trade USD-quoted shares (MSFT, NVDA, AAPL, ASML ADR, GOOG) eToro applies a small spread on the implicit GBP→USD conversion at trade time. RR.L trades in GBP with no conversion.
Conditions to mind
- UK residents only (eToro UK Ltd, FCA-regulated). Clients outside the UK aren't eligible.
- New clients only — existing or previously closed eToro accounts are excluded.
- No promo code — enrolment runs through the partner link.
- First deposit ≥ £500 in GBP. (eToro UK supports GBP base accounts — no FX conversion at deposit.)
- 90-day deposit hold — early withdrawal forfeits the reward.
- Real share, not a CFD — the position is yours to hold or sell, with pro-rata Microsoft dividends.
- One reward per person/household — eToro deduplicates via KYC.
- FSCS protection — investments covered up to £85,000 in the event of firm failure.
- Tax — capital gains apply on sale; dividends count as income above the allowance, with US withholding tax handled via W-8BEN.
- eToro can change or end the promo at any time.
Summary
Holding Microsoft is exposure to a diversified mega-cap with cloud, productivity software, gaming and a stake in OpenAI economics under one ticker, plus a small but growing quarterly dividend. The free share is a £40–£500 GBP-fixed position in MSFT that lands in your portfolio after the 90-day deposit hold. The other five tiles in the picker — NVDA, AAPL, GOOG, ASML, RR.L — give different exposures and dividend policies, summarised in the comparison list above. The choice is yours to make based on your own portfolio, risk tolerance and time horizon.