Social trading is a new and fast-growing way of trading online. Social trading platforms and social trading networks allow traders to take advantage of the power of social networks to benefit from trading transparency. You can trade forex, indices, commodities, and single shares on most social trading platforms. You can follow top traders in the network to study and even copy their trading actions.
Getting started in social trading is quite easy. Currently, there are a number of social trading platforms available. However, choosing which platform or network to join could take some time and research. In this article, we will review and compare some of the best social trading platforms and networks. You can learn about the features, pros, and cons of each platform and decide by yourself which social trading network to join.
What is a social trading platform?
A social trading platform, or social trading network, is an online place that connects traders. Much like a social network such as Facebook, on a social trading platform, you can discover and connect with other traders. Most social trading platforms support Forex social trading as well as trading of stocks, indices, and commodities. Not only can you trade in a social trading network, but you can also follow other traders to get trading signals and trading advice, which could help you make better trading decisions. Many social trading networks support copy trading, which can even be done automatically.
How do I join a social trading network?
Most social trading networks allow you to register an account on their platform for free. You need to deposit money into your account for real trading. However, many social trading platforms offer social trading demo accounts for people to get a taste of their system as well as to practice social trading.
How Do You Make Money on a Social Trading Network?
On a social trading platform, regular users can follow and even copy top traders. This can help them make better trading decisions and thus make more money. Top traders with followers, on the other hand, get paid by the social trading network based on things like the volume of copied trades by their followers. For people with very good trading skills, becoming a top trader on a social trading network can be a good source of some extra income.
How do social trading networks make money?
Social trading networks can make profits in a number of ways. Some social trading platforms belong to broker firms (such as eToro), which make money from the spread of every trade. By adding a social trading network, those firms can attract more customers and, as a result, increase their profits. Some social trading networks do not belong to a broker firm, but they partner with other broker firms so that they can earn commissions by introducing broker deals. There are some other social trading networks that make money by selling their technology to broker firms.
What are the best social trading platforms and networks?
Although social trading is still relatively new, there are already some social trading networks that you can join. Below are some of the best social trading platforms:
1. eToro:
eToro is a social trading platform and a multi-asset brokerage company. The company has registered offices in the United States, Cyprus, and Israel. It has more than 4.5 million users from 170+ countries.
On eToro’s social trading platform, users can trade currencies, commodities, indices, and CFD stocks. The most basic function of eToro’s social trading platform is to provide users with live feeds of trading activities, which can provide valuable insight into strategies and market trends.
eToro’s social trading platform allows users to view profiles of other traders and follow traders that they are interested in. eToro provides rankings and an Investor Finder to help users find other traders.
Copy trading is possible with eToro’s CopyTrader function. Once you have found another investor that you would like to copy, you can allocate a certain percentage of your funds to copy his or her trades. With CopyTrader, you can pause or resume as you wish.
Trading beginners can benefit from eToro’s social trading platform by following and learning from more experienced traders. They can also interact with other traders for ideas and tips. Experienced investors can take advantage of eToro’s social trading network to gain popularity as successful investors with many followers. They can recruit copiers and get rewards.
2. ZuluTrade
ZuluTrade started as a Forex social trading platform. Recently it added binary options to its platform. The company is based in Athens, Greece.
ZuluTrade is a large social trading network, with 100.000 traders from 192 countries. Users can open a ZuluTrade account in different base currencies, including USD, JPY, EUR, GBP and AUD.
On ZuluTrade’s platform, a signal provider is a user who trades and makes his or her results and statistics public. Followers can follow a signal provider and copy his or her trading action in their account.
ZuluTrade has a proprietary algorithm called ZuluRank that ranks traders on their social trading platform. The more profitable a trader’s strategy is, the more followers will receive his or her signals. Traders earn commissions based on signals generated and their followers’ account sizes.
ZuluTrade allows traders to choose from 3 trading platforms: ZuluTrade+, ActTrade, and MetaTrader 4 (MT4).
3. ayondo
Ayondo is a social trading, CFD, and spread betting company with its headquarters in London, UK.
Ayondo’s social trading network allows users to discover, follow, and automatically copy the actions of the top traders. Users can build their own portfolios based on up to five top traders.
ayondo provides a ranking list of top traders that can be searched based on different criteria, such as profit, market time periods, etc. With a few clicks and drag-and-drop, followers can create a portfolio by following other traders. Anyone’s social trading platform allows users to test their portfolio for up to 15 days using virtual money. It also provides loss protection tools for risk management.
On Ayondo’s social trading platform, there are different levels of traders: street traders, Professional Traders, Rick traders, and institutional traders. Traders with the best risk/return profiles can reach the highest level and receive the highest share of revenues.
