In an overview of the Social Trading market that was posted a few weeks ago (Social Trading, Because It Sells!) we mentioned that “eToro is the undisputed leader and the company that basically everyone is trying to imitate.” The social trading broker is showing why they are #1 today with the release of a new Social Trading Index. The beta product is being demoed today at the financial technology conference, FinovateFall, in New York.
The Social Trading Index is based on eToro’s existing trading “Guru” copy system. Rather than follow individual traders and customizing risk criteria for each copied Guru, clients will be able to create preset list of search requirements to create an index list. Alon Levitan, Head of Strategic Marketing at eToro told Forex Magnates that clients can search for Guru’s to follow based on such examples, “the top five followed traders and best performing and can customize what the allocation will be for each trader.” The Index of followed traders will then be periodically readjusted according to the selected filters.
Overall, the new Index brings another level of innovation to the social trading market. With one of eToro’s advantages being its massive customer base which gives its traders a broad set of Gurus to follow, it will be interesting to see if rivals copy the Index idea.
eToro launches the first ever Social Trading Index™ based on people’s trading performance
New York, September 13, 2012 – eToro, the leading social investment network, announced today at FinovateFall the launch of its beta version of the Social Trading Index™. This enables eToro users to create their own indices and make them available to the entire eToro investment network. Users will be able to filter the trader rankings according to multiple criteria, such as risk behaviour, drawdown and other highly relevant performance parameters to create a unique list of traders that can then be selected to compose a user generated social trading index. Each created index will automatically update itself periodically based on the initial filter criteria chosen by its creator to select the best performing traders that populate the index.
The Social Trading Index is an evolution of eToro’s CopyTrader™ technology, which enables users to copy the trading activity of any user in the network in order to create a diversified people-based portfolio. As a result of offering the ability to aggregate several users into a single social trading index, users are able to benefit from an even more diversified and controlled investment portfolio. Through CopyTrader and Social Index people have now been transformed into a new asset class, paving the way for a social approach to investing.
“Through the launch of social trading indices, eToro is introducing a ground breaking approach where people themselves become the major asset class,” says Johnathan (Yoni) Assia, CEO and Founder at eToro. “Social trading indices is the next step in the evolution of social trading and eToro is packaging the aggregated knowledge of people into people-driven investment opportunities.”
About eToro
eToro is the world’s leading investment network, with over 2 million registered users in over 140 countries and thousands of new accounts opened each day. eToro leads the social trading revolution through its community powered network, which enables every investor to see, follow and automatically copy the actions of other investors in real time. eToro’s mission is to open the financial markets to every individual and make them accessible through a simple, transparent and more profitable way to trade and invest online. By harnessing the wisdom of the crowds every member of eToro’s social trading network benefits from accelerated information exchange, knowledge sharing and the ability to quickly identify the best investment opportunities. eToro’s open Guru Program allows expert and talented traders to earn wide reaching recognition and monetize their trading expertise by earning rich monthly rewards. eToro’s wide range of award-winning web-based and mobile social trading platforms appeal to every level of trading expertise, and provide an investment experience that caters to the needs of the investor. For more information, visit us at www.etoro.com.Alon Levitan
pr@eToro.com
www.eToro.com
Any time the word “Guru” is mentioned in trading or any other field it makes me very hesitant. There always seems to be something funny going on when a guru is involved.
It certainly seems that this type of social and mirror trading is here to stay. It seems people are talking about ZuluTrade all over the place now and now places like eToro are pushing it too. The trading landscape could be very different in 5-10 years if this continues and more and more people become involved who have zero clue what they are doing.
My guess is that as it becomes more popular and more people get burned (not saying they all will – just a lot) then regulations and barriers will increase to keep out the less serious traders/investors.