Investing

Russian Stock Dumped for 1 Cent Shocks Retail Investors on EToro

The trading platform told users that it would liquidate positions in Russian supermarket operator Magnit, leaving many saddled with large losses.

EToro website on a smartphone.

Photographer: Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg
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Dmitriy Knyazev knew that owning any Russian stocks amid the country’s invasion of Ukraine was dicey. But, he reasoned, it was a long-term bet he could manage.

That calculus changed when he got a surprising message Thursday from his online broker, EToro: His 7,357 shares of Russian supermarket operator Magnit PJSC — a company that weeks ago was worth billions of dollars — were being sold for about 1 cent each.