eToro

ACCICB told me about eToro and I went to check it out as I was curious about it. eToro is a social network of sorts whereby you can copy traders/investors trades. It's like Seeking Alpha where crowd sourced is seen as being more accurate than individual analysis except that in eToro you get to make money if the traders/investors you follow are correct. I suspect that the traders/investors being followed are earning more $$$ from having their trades copied than the actual trading itself!

There have been some unhappiness in the past about eToro's fees and the way they manage complaints and grouses. I'm happy with the brokers I'm using so while I did signed up with eToro, I didn't fund my account nor did I follow anybody. I guess it's a matter of me wanting to own my skills rather than following somebody who has the skills.

It is based in Cyprus and currently allows trades in a few key markets such as NYSE, LSE etc so it's not as comprehensive as other brokers but the markets they offer have more than enough opportunities to keep you busy if you are just doing this on the side. The charges are kinda weird and I can't seem to figure if it's cheaper than IB but I think the draw here is that you can earn easy money if you follow the right trader/investor.

Some of the top ranked traders/investors have a day job so I'm impressed with what they have achieved so far given the demands of work, family etc. ACCICB was telling me how a lady spent 8 years learning how to trade while working in a day job at a FMCG company. When she finally cracked the code, she left her job behind. I applaud her for doing that and I think sometimes it's the push factors that compels you to leave your career behind as I think many people are very adept at resisting the pull factors.

Comments

  1. Singapore Man of LeisureJune 12, 2015 at 10:46 AM

    Joyce,

    I find it funny why any traders would want to "follow" another trader?

    Especially those of us who are trading to achieve.

    If it's money we want and we don't want to do the work ourselves, I'll rather give the money to an active money manager, or a passive index fund - depending on our preferences.

    Make a decision! Either DIY or outsource.

    Nothing is sadder than pretending what we are not...

    I'll bet the lady who spent 8 years trading part-time before she cracked the code didn't "follow" another trader ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joyce LeongJune 12, 2015 at 12:33 PM

      Hi SMOL,
      I think some of the traders were following those who have expertise in certain areas which they don't have such as FX for eg. I like to look after my own $$$ so equities work for me. I think she DIY while working in a full time job plus this crowd sourced thingy hasn't been even invented yet!

      Delete
  2. Money HoneyJune 13, 2015 at 2:19 AM

    I see a few local traders or stock gurus screaming their achievements via their daily blogging and urging new members to participate in their workshops, seminars etc; guaranteeing fantastic returns.

    Most people want to have it easy. Why spend precious hours to crack the code when you can just follow these traders earning easy money and hence covering the membership cost.

    There are different ways to do things and their eventual varying results. Freedom of choice and we need to respect this aspect.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joyce LeongJune 13, 2015 at 10:31 AM

      When you wrote screaming, I had a small amused smile on my face! Totally agree on freedom of choice and everyone gets to choose what works for them

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A tale of two stocks

Once in a while say a year or two later, I will be very kaypoh and look at the past stocks that I’ve analysed before just to see how it’s doing. I may or may not have invested or traded in that stock but it just takes one second to click on the link and see the chart. I would have remembered it’s previous price so the current chart can either make me have 3 reactions. Oh chey, it’s the same or not much difference, Wow look at it go to heaven or Wah Kao this one die liao.  For the first reaction I usually just leave the stock be but for the other two reactions, I will go and take a look at my past analysis to see whether I’ve “predicted” it’s future. Two stocks caught my eye as one went to the sky and one straight to hell. Both were similar in the sense that they faced crises except that one managed to turnaround whereas the one in the depths of hell have a long way to go. Let’s start with the one in hell which is  Capita  which I did a sort of write up on in 2014. ...
Read more

Are you exchanging time for money?

Time is the most precious commodity on Earth. Or maybe it should be oxygen because without it we would just die! Assuming that our basic needs are met ensuring our survival, then time is more valuable than money although some may argue that money can be used to buy time. It's true in some situations and not in others. For example, money can help to relieve you of some mundane tasks so that you have more time to do things that you like. But money can't buy you time with your loved ones if their time is up. If you hate your job, you may feel like you are exchanging your time for money especially as you count down the minutes, days, weeks, months or even years to a new job or to a new endeavour that hopefully won't make you dread getting out of bed everyday. Sometimes I think we forget how precious time is and waste it like it is always there. In a way time is like oxygen, we breathe every second until we forget its very existence until it is taken away from us. The tim...
Read more

True or False: Guaranteed minimum of 40% returns

I had some difficulty thinking of what to write in this post and as I read the posts of other bloggers, I thought that I should share about my Chinese beautician who is an excellent source of stock market ideas and everything from China.  Basically we talk about stocks almost all the time since she invests in purely Chinese stocks. Currently ACCICB covers Chinese stocks so I've been thinking of starting my research and who knows I may pick up some stocks along the way. Back when we both didn't know that the other invests/trade, we already get along since we bitch to each other about work and I find her rather similar to me in terms of personality. I admire her candor among other characteristics and over the space of many years, we have become rather close. I do worry when she wants to return back for good and as she will be going home for a month, she told me that she knows of this scheme in China which seems like a deal too good to be true except that it's tru...
Read more