Just over one year ago, when eToro launched its groundbreaking OpenBook platform, many people dismissed social trading as a far-fetched idea that would never catch on. Now, when social trading has become an established, if not the leading mode of trading, those same skeptics find themselves asking how they ever traded outside the framework of a social investment network.
And indeed, social trading has opened up many doors that were previously closed to non-professional retail traders, and even created some new ones in the process. Thanks to the eToro OpenBooktraders can share information easily, through automated live trading feeds that make the entire investment community transparent, which means that any ideas generated by the community is up for grabs for everyone.
However, unlike other social trading networks, eToro’s brand
of social trading is not only about sharing information, but also about putting
it to practical use. With the groundbreaking CopyTrader feature, traders can
implement the trading skills of expert traders, or “Gurus” as they’re known in
the OpenBook community, to their own portfolio. All you have to do is find the
Guru you want to copy, select the percentage of funds you want to dedicate to
copying that particular Guru, then sit back and watch your copied positions
make their way in the markets.
The best thing about CopyTrader is that unlike any other
automated trading mechanism it enables you to retain full control over your
account. Don’t like a certain copied trade? You’re free to close it at any
time. Don’t like the way your Guru trades? You’re free to stop copying him/her
whenever you choose. Sounds simple, but this one little feature has brought
about an entire new mode of investment called “people based” portfolios,
wherein instead of investing in the unpredictable markets you invest in a much
more predictable variable, which is the Guru’s trading ability.
Your next question is, how can I find the Guru for me?
Well,
the eToroOpenBook has made that pretty simple too, with the brand new “Guru
Finder” feature. Just enter your criteria in the many parameters at your
disposal, such as win/loss ratio, average trade duration, risk level, etc., and
the Guru Finder will deliver a list answering your criteria exactly. You can
then check out the Gurus’ personal profiles to find out more about their
performance, their portfolios and their popularity in the OpenBook investment
network. The Gurus themselves can also turn their copiers into extra profits
through eToro’s Guru Program.
Recently, in light of the tremendous success and growth of
the OpenBook social trading network, eToro has made some modification to its
famous WebTrader online trading platform in order to accommodate the new social
options available to eToro traders. The new WebTrader is even more streamlined
and easy to use. The updated interface is simple to navigate and can also be
customized according to your personal preferences. For example, you can now
collapse and expand the live market rates box to make the specific markets
you’re interested in more immediately accessible. In addition, the new rates
box now includes a miniature price chart to give you a general idea of the
current trend for each instrument, which you can then expand in the WebTrader
charting software by clicking on the chart button.
The WebTrader is also automatically synchronized with eToroOpenBook, so any copied trades (manual or automatic) will immediately appear in the “Open Trades” panel in the WebTrader interface, where you will be able to edit them if you wish to do so. Thus, as far as social trading is concerned, no other platform even compares in terms of usability and smart design.
To learn more about eToro, or to sign up for a free eToro account,
