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Financial markets are complex concepts; they’re processes that can’t be fully grasped with merely a few hours of reading. The process of learning how to successfully navigate the financial markets is a progressive task that can only improve based upon your own individual input. Essentially, the more practice you put in, the better off you’ll be. Social trading shortens the learning curve exponentially. This new-age concept that has been introduced with the development of the internet enables you to trade within a digital setting and use other professional traders’ insight and experience to facilitate your own trading and investment process.
Whether you’re a new trader looking to make some extra profit from the online markets, or an experienced financial trader with decades of experience under your belt, social trading can help you. In this guide we have reviewed the top social trading platforms for 2019 and found that ZuluTrade is by far the best social trading exchange out there. Getting started with them is fast, easy, and free. Read on to find out how to get started.
What is Social Trading? Understanding the Online Trading Phenomenon
Social trading is not entirely new. In fact, the idea behind social trading has been around for decades. However, the mix of online financial markets and social networks has birthed an entirely new wave of possibilities where platforms can allow for facilitated ‘copy trading’. Exchanges such as ZuluTrade enable the possibility for social trading, and external third-party sites allow for the sharing of strategies, ideas, trade concepts, and much more, which enables any beginner trader to understand ideas and get the hang of things a lot faster than they otherwise would be able to.
This guide will dial in on Social Trading, conducted on a variety of financial markets.
Social trading is a concept; it involves using other traders and investors and their decisions as a base model in making decisions in your own investing or trading techniques. As a result, it is more of a mindset, which can be translated into a process for both new and veteran traders and investors.
Understanding what social trading is isn’t difficult. It is simply looking at one trade, completed by user 1, and using that information on judgment for one’s own trade. The process is commonly cross-referenced as ‘copy trading’ as well. An example can be used to understand the process even deeper. Take the following into consideration:
User 1 sees a profitable opportunity in buying Apple (AAPL) stock. User 1 links his account to a social trading platform that posts his trades when they’re made. User 1 buys Apple stock, and the trade is immediately posted to the social trading platform. User 2, who is an avid user of the platform sees that User 1 has made many profitable trades in the recent past and decides to also buy Apple stock. This process is known as copy trading, otherwise referenced as social trading.
User 1 and User 2 have both successfully engaged in social trading by doing this. Why is this important? There are multiple reasons for this, namely, because if you’re not knowledgable in trading, or a beginner, you can immediately get guidance in your trades from other more experienced people. Social trading is done specifically different using various terms on every platform, however, fundamentally the core process is traditionally the same on each platform.
Social trading contains a few pillars to it as well. You can create an online account that other users can follow, and you can use this account to share different ideas, strategies, and more. You have the option to build a following; it enables you to partake and interact with a community of like-minded traders and investors that are also trying to maintain profits in the markets. The concept of ‘social trading’ is really a multi-structured facet, one that we’re here to help you understand.
What is a Social Trading Platform?
As we’ve discussed, social trading is the process of utilizing a platform where the application or website allows us to merely copy other people’s trades. The process of social trading and copy trading is different per each platform, as not all are the absolute same. Each have their own traits and distinctive qualities; some offer incentives such as bonuses and discounts to be the one that is copied, while others do not.
Here are some of the best and vetted social trading platforms to get started immediately and start learning and expanding your knowledge in the markets:
What Are The Best Social Trading Platforms?
The Naga Group, who launched an ICO to raise funds for their own “NAGA” coin, are a powerful financial company that purchased ‘Naga Trader’ from its original owner to deliver one of the most interactive social trading platforms. The trading site, and subsequent mobile application, can be downloaded for free and you can get immediately involved in the Naga ecosystem. With Naga you can even compete amongst other traders in self-made competitions with wagerly winnings. This incentive is new for social trading and lets you add customizability. Naga Trader, despite launching a cryptocurrency, is a social trading platform for all global markets.
Pros:
Cons:
- Verification required for extended usage
- Support team can be laggard in response
ZuluTrade takes on social trading in a new aspect and has subsequently made a name for itself as one of the most promising and reliable platforms in the atmosphere. ZuluTrade works a bit differently than most social trading platforms; to work on ZuluTrade, you trade using one of the supported platforms and traders are then subsequently ranked based on customized criteria set forth by the presiding company. ZuluTrade records your overall strategy, aggression in trading, and categorizes them. Investors then, as a result, select which types of strategies and overall markets they want to target and can then select traders to copy. The platform is very innovative.
Pros:
Cons:
- Verification has been reported as lengthy
- Can be a complex platform to get the hang of at first
- Forex markets are the only current supported markets
Another strong contender when it comes to prospective social trading platforms is Darwinex. The platform was built by a registered UK brokerage firm and serves as an exchange to allow for incentivized market movement. Darwinex enables better pip pricing and fees for those who are successful in their trades. Darwinex additionally lets you copy trades and do what is called ‘invest in traders’. This can be customized to tailor certain traders that only use a particular strategy but can range to select your own individual traders. Regardless, Darwinex is a great social trading platform for both veteran users or newer traders.
Pros:
Cons:
- Barriers to entry for beginners can be difficult
- Higher relative fees if you’re starting out on the platform without success
TD Ameritrade – Ameritrade, ran by the popular retail bank “TD”, is one of the most trusted trading platforms in the financial ecosystem. The platform is overseen by a plethora of different regulatory bodies and maintains a level of market safety that many other exchanges seem to lack. Since the exchange is operated by an actual registered bank, it offers a level of safety with traded funds that many other exchanges simply legally cannot provide. This edge is very attractive, especially to prospective Forex traders.
Pros:
Cons:
- Verification can be long
- Higher fees
What to Look For When Choosing a Social Trading Platform
Using a social or copy trading platform can yield some very advantageous and opportunistic angles within the market, however, the platform in particular that you choose can stifle or excel your ability to exist in a market.
When choosing a social trading broker you should look for various factors, however, the main goal is to select a social trading platform or exchange that is tailored in your image and preference most specifically. Here are some important factors to assess and what to look for when choosing a social trading platform.
💰Low fees
Look for low fees, and if fees are nonexistent, look to see why that is. Some social trading platform incurs fees in other areas such as withdrawals and deposits instead of directly on the trades. Find the additional fees that these platforms apply to the users of the platform, and then apply it appropriately.
👩⚖️Regulated platform
Find social trading platforms that are regulated and registered with existing legislative or jurisdictional law bodies. This will ensure that all your activities on the site are legal and overseen by a legislative body. Otherwise, you don’t know if your funds are truly safe.
👍Large following on social media
A large following on a social trading platform is good; this means that there are more traders to choose from, and therefore more strategies and potential profit methods to choose from.
🔒Security
Ensure that the platform you’re using has a level of security and cyber protection added to it; many times social trading platforms can succumb to things such as DDoS and other cyber-like attacks.
How to Set Up An Account for Others to Copy
Social trading is a growing industry that has been reaching all corners of the globe; as a result, companies and exchange providers have flocked to incentivize trading on a copy-based platform. Creating an account to trade so that others can copy your trades does have some benefits, depending on the platform you’re using. Conceptually, by instantiating a platform where users can come and copy your trades if you succeed, you can emphasize your brand name and others will see that you’re a particularly smarter or well-versed trader. So how do you create a trading account for others to start copying?
Step 1: Choose your social trading platform
First, start by choosing a platform that you’re comfortable with using. We recommend any of the previously mentioned exchanges or providers as they’ve been previously vetted and have demonstrated reliability within the space. You’ll have to create an account, in the same manner, that we previously mentioned as well, however, in this instance, you do not have the choice for verification or deposit linkage. On most, if not all platforms, you cannot use a demo account as a standard for other traders to copy. As a result, follow the aforementioned tutorials, and if all is well, proceed to verify and link a deposit method.
Keep in mind each platform for social trading and getting your own copied-account set up is different. We’ll walk through the case of ZuluTrade; in ZuluTrade’s case, you want to create a ‘popular investor’ profile. This can be done by navigating to the ‘popular investor’ section of the site located here. For ZuluTrade, you can even get paid to get copied. In this case, though, you’ll need to apply. The application process can be started by clicking ‘Apply’ and following these criteria:
Step 2: Submit your application for review
If you match the previous criteria, you’ll then be able to submit your application to ZuluTrade for further review. You’ll get the following confirmation message if everything is correctly input:
Upon review, the customer service team will then look over your new application.
Step 3: Link your trades to a ‘custom popular investor profile’
If successful, you’ll then be able to link all of your trades to a ‘custom popular investor profile’. This profile is your hub where other users can login, click ‘copy’ on your profile, and then follow each and every one of your market movements.
As a result, if others are copying your profile movements, all of your movements will then be replicated equally on their profile as well. If you have ‘followers’ in this sense, and also make profitable trades, you’ll then additionally be rewarded for your actions. ZuluTrade has even gone as far as creating ‘tiers’ for those who are now considered to be popular investors. The following table indicates how increasing your presence and success on ZuluTrade can yield immense rewards:
Keep in mind, that this is not the standard for all social/copy trading platforms, this is only the reward structure for ZuluTrade. Other websites/applications will follow different types of tiers and structures, while some social trading exchanges won’t even reward profitable or successful copied trades.
What are the Different Types of Social Trading Accounts?
Social and copy trading have a few different types of accounts (Regardless of your platform of choice), so it’s important to keep yourself up to date with some of these changing fundamental account structures. Social trading accounts can differ and vary based upon the actual market you’re trading on (As discussed before).
Above is an example on a standard broker of differentiation between 2 types of trading accounts that are then able to be linked to the social trading aspect.
(Forex)Standard Accounts
Standard accounts are used in the Forex markets. These accounts enable you to trade lots in their standard form, which is equivalent to $100,000 per lot. Traders copying these sorts of accounts will be engaged strictly in the Forex market.
(Forex)Mini Accounts
Mini accounts are a niche type of Forex account. These accounts allow for trading of Forex in what is referred to as lots in their ‘mini’ form; otherwise, denominations of $10,000 per lot.
CFD Accounts
Depending on which broker or exchange you’ve chosen, the use of margin in combination with the utilization of registered or regulated financial products may potentially be enabled. CFDs are contracts for difference, financial products that enable the trading of an asset without actually ever touching the asset in question.
Copy Accounts
These accounts refer to accounts in the social trading atmosphere that are the ones opting to copy other investors and traders movements in the markets. In a ‘copy’ account, you’re not doing any actual trading, simply copying other movements within the markets.
Copied Accounts
‘Copied’ accounts are accounts within social trading that are being replicated or imitated. On platforms such as ZuluTrade, copied accounts are rewarded based upon how many people are copying their trades relative tot he success their trades are generating.
Social Trading Terminology
The following are basic terms that will come up frequently in social and community trading settings.
Copied/Popular Investors – Traders and investors who are being copied by other people, serving as a ‘benchmark’ for other investors and traders, are referred to many times as copied or popular investors. These are the traders and investors that you’ll be copying if you’re in the social trading market to have others make the trades and market decisions for you.
Performance & Return – Copied or popular investors/traders will subsequently either be very good or bad at what they’re doing. Subsequently, their performance and returns are how well their trades or market movements are. If a traders performance is high in terms of percentage, it means that they’ve done well in the markets. When copying a trader or investors base strategy, you generally want to look for consistent returns or performance, meaning they’ve been able to make positive and profit-yielding trades/profit in a consistent manner.
Copiers – Copiers are simply the users that are replicating the trades or base of each individual person. If you are a user that opts to let another trader or investor make decisions for your portfolio on a social trading platform, your categorization is then a ‘copier’.
Risk – Risk is the amount of downward pressure that a trader or investor is undertaking in order to obtain positive performance. Traditionally, the best methods are those with lower risk and higher rewards, but this is rarely the case. Risk is a certain tolerance for a loss that you can undertake. High risk means you’re putting a lot on the line; low risk means the opposite. A copied trader that is taking a lot of risk in their strategy is putting a lot on the line (Or essentially putting a lot in the markets) in order to make the returns they’re generating. You can take various levels of risk when it comes to your investment.
Holding Time – When you’re trading, there is a certain amount of time that you’re holding your positions for. Essentially, what this means is that you’re buying an asset or market position and not selling it for x amount of time. From the time you buy an asset to the time you sell that asset, is equivalent to your ‘holding time’. A copied trader with an average holding time of 7 days means that the trader traditionally holds whatever position they’re entering in for about 7 days on average.
How to Make Money with Social Trading
Despite your initial intentions, your most probable overall goal when it comes to social trading is to generate profit, or make money that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to. So how do you actually make money when social trading?
The goal in profiting with social trading isn’t to select winning markets; it’s to select winning traders. Social/copy trading is just as is traditional trading, based on strategy and has winners and losers. The overall intentions of social trading is to essentially select traders that are going to win, since after all, your money is just automating everything that your selected trader does. Here are some tips on how to make money with social trading:
- Select a trader that has demonstrated future potential in the financial markets, has had previous success/profitable trading, or has a quality you believe will yield positivity in the upcoming markets.
- On your platform of choice, select the ‘copy’ functionality with the desired amount of funds.
- The copied trader will trade and anything they do, will be parallel to your own portfolio. Await for them to make profitable trades; assuming they make profitable trades, your position size will increase along with the trade.
- You can choose to disable the copy-function which will withdraw your funds, or you can allow the account to function on its own. Either way will work. Then, your account value will have grown; if done successfully, you’ll have made money with social trading.
Well, what’s the catch? The downside is that you never for sure on any social trading platform which traders will be 100% correct; you need to be subjective. Vet your candidates for social trading very carefully.
The following example will walk through an example of a trader making money while social trading:
User 1 signs up for ZuluTrade (Or any other social trading application/website) –> User 1 deposits $1,000 to ZuluTrade and finds 2 traders (Trader 1 and Trader 2) that they are very fond of and who have shown consistent results in their trading –> User 1 selects the option to ‘copy’ traders 1 and 2 –> Traders 1 and 2 both profit; as a result, User 1 also profits
Tips for Social Trading
✅For Copy Traders & Investors (Copiers)
Identify Your Investment and Trading Goals
Figure out your own investment strategies and intended goals. Seek out which financial markets you’d like to target and for what relative time periods. Creating a plan in regards to your goals beforehand is very important as it will help you refine your process as you go along. Knowing your own comfortable criteria will also help you select a trader you’re comfortable in copying.
✅Filter Using the Criteria Available
Different trading platforms and exchanges have different filtering and siphoning options. For example, ZuluTrade lets you filter and identify the most optimal traders to copy in accordance to return relative to risk. You can also filter according to markets and things such as longest shown consistency. Parameters such as these can be invaluable when looking for traders to copy.
✅Look for High Performance As Well As Consistency
Identify traders that have shown high performance in their trading returns, but don’t allow for this to deceive you in your selection. High performance can just as equally mean luck. It’s entirely possible that a trader could have gotten lucky on a single trade. Look for investors and traders that are showing consistent returns as well as higher-based averages. A trader that has returned 25% over the course of 300 trades in a year’s time period is subjectively a much better choice than a trader that has returned 40% over the course of 2 trades in just a week’s time.
✅Place Limitations As Well As Ration-Indications On Your Account
Your account when copying traders should be limited and regarded with high due diligence. Putting your entire account in the hands of a singular trader that you’re not entirely knowledgable of can be an awful decision at times.
For Copied/Popular Traders & Investors
✅Choose a Platform Tailored for Your Own Methods
Certain exchanges and platforms offer intuitive tools, additional aids, and even monetary incentives for building up a trading following and still continuing to be successful. Analyze the available exchanges and platforms and try to match them relative to your own styles. If you’re looking simply to keep track of your own trades, then it’s recommended you put less regard to things such as incentives.
✅Apply a Unique Strategy
Keep in mind there’s a lot of traders looking to acquire copiers, especially on platforms that provide rewards and incentives, which means it’s competitive and therefore it’s more difficult to acquire more copiers. As a result, approach the market in a unique way. Provide unique strategies to investors and traders and give them a different reason to copy your trades instead of anyone else’s. When you have a subsequent edge over other traders, you’re giving copiers a reason to follow you instead of others.
✅Aim for Consistency
Showing traders and potential copiers that you can profit is one thing, but showing them that you can trade and make a profit in a consistent manner is an entirely different thing. Most professional and institutional level traders are looking for consistency when it comes to their trades. Therefore, try to start small and aim for trades you’re more than likely sure of. This way, you create an almost repeatable methodology that others can copy.
✅Don’t Rush Trades
The idea of earning income based on others copying your market movements can be very enticing. However, keep in mind that large-scale mistakes that are made early in your community trading career can be harder to repair; therefore, don’t rush. Plan your trades and carefully approach the markets.
FAQs
As far as looking for platforms that offer the highest profit to those who are trying to copy other’s trades, there’s not a real indicator for this, at least at the moment. However, Naga Trader, for example, maintains a customizable competition-based structure where people can create pools of capital and whoever trades the best for other social participants essentially is rewarded the capital. The key tip here is to expand your horizons as far as what platform you use.
Additionally, social platforms like ZuluTrade are regulated and their job is to govern users registering from certain jurisdictions. In other words, exchanges, and platforms that are regulated/registered with governing bodies have an obligation to allow/disallow your participation in social trading. However, if they’re not regulated or registered, they’re not obligated; keep that in mind.
Generally, we recommend a $250 starting account for those who are new to social trading, just so that you can maintain a handle on the process. However, this is entirely relative to your own account.
what’s the number one platform to get started with social trading??
Hello liam76. Thank you for getting in touch. We consider eToro to be the number one platform for social trading. Like all social trading platforms, it allows you to view the trades placed by the top investors active on the platform and you can place the same trades. It is a great opportunity for inexperienced traders to start developing their own trading strategy. Other than this feature, eToro is a fully regulated and trusted exchange, offering secure and efficient services. Its sign up process is very quick and easy, it offers a great variety of assets that you can choose from and it offers PayPal, among others, as a payment method to improve safety during transactions. Good luck!
is there some strategy to make the most out of my social trading experience?
Hello rebe51. Thank you for your question. It’s still online trading, but the kind of strategy is different, because you no longer have to choose what asset to invest on, but the trader to invest on. After all, once you select the trader to copy, the system will place the same trades that they place. To select the right trader, you should look at their past successes to see if they have potential for profitable trades in the future. Make sure you choose how much you want to invest for each trade, and start off with small amounts. This is pretty much all you can do in terms of strategy. Best of luck!
do you recommend any specific markets to copy trades?? I really want to give social trading a go and want to make sure I get it right!
Hello alia98. Thank you for your question. The biggest market for social trading is the Forex market at the moment and that is probably because a lot of top investors trade forex considering that the market currently has the largest overall volume. Largest volume means more liquidity and more liquidity means fasted execution of trades, which is why forex trading is so popular and why top investors trade with it and why inexperienced investors copy their trades. Keep in mind, that this does not mean we recommend trading forex, but simply that this is what most traders do. I hope that will help you in your decision.
what kind of social trading accounts are there??
Hello stan31. Thank you for getting in touch. There are quite a few social trading account types that you can choose from, such as Forex standard and mini accounts, CFD accounts, copy accounts and copied accounts. As the name suggests, the first two are used for forex trading. The difference between them is that while for the first one lots are traded for $100,000 each, for the second one they are traded for $10,000. CFD accounts focus on CFD trading and then there are copy accounts and copied accounts. In the first one, you are merely copying the trades of other traders, whereas if you have a copied account your movements are visible and can be copied. These accounts are rewarded based on how many people copy their trades.
what kind of things should I look for to choose the right social trading platform for me??
Hello este05. Thank you for your question. The things you should look for more or less depend on what you are looking for in a broker. The first thing to look for is platforms that have the social trading option, because there are not many out there that do. Once that is done, we recommend choosing one that is fully regulated by agencies like CySEC, ASIC or FCA just to make sure that the broker’s activities are being monitored. The rest pretty much depends on your preferences. You will have to take into consideration whether you are looking for a broker with low fees, a good asset variety, many payment options, low initial deposits and so on. It is very rare to find a broker offering all these things, but we believe eToro to be the one getting the closest to that.
Hello there. I’ve been thinking about signing up on Ameritrade but I am afraid that my account will get hacked. What should I do?
Hello Christopher. Thanks for getting in touch with us. First of all, rest assured that Ameritrade is an excellent platform that has adopted some great security measures to prevent that from happening. What you can do, just to be sure, is to go on the Ameritrade website and have a look through their legal section or their terms and conditions to see if they have a refund policy in case of hacking attacks. If not, you can simply contact customer support and ask if they have one. If they do, then you can be sure to get your money back in the unlikely event that your account gets hacked. Good luck!
Does social trading mean that I will be able to lower the risks and make quicker profits?
Hello Nathan. Thank you for your question. I am afraid I cannot give you a definite answer though. The thing is that online trading is a risky activity for anyone, even professional users. That means that a top investor has the same possibilities of getting a trade wrong as you do. Of course, it is more likely that the trader has done some accurate research first, but the stock market is so unpredictable that research is not always enough to guarantee profits. So the answer is, you may see quicker profits because you are not necessarily required to do all the hard work of market analysis, but the risks remain. I hope that helps.
Hello. Thank you for this review. Finding some accurate information on what social trading is and what it’s useful for was not easy. Good job! Do I need a specific amount of money to be able to access the social trading space?
Hello Daniel. Thank you for the nice words, they are very much appreciated. As for your question, you are not required to pay any specific additional amount to be able to access the social trading space, at least when it comes to the brokers we have reviewed so far. The only amount you should be aware of is the minimum deposit required set by the broker you want to sign up on. For example for eToro, you have to pay at least $250 to be able to sign up and access the social trading area. The same goes for AvaTrade if you pay via credit or debit card and $500 if you pay via WireTransfer. I hope that answers your question.
Hello. I’ve never traded online before and I have just created an account on eToro. Can someone explain how to find the traders and trades to copy?
Hello Stephanie. Thank you for getting in touch. Once you’ve signed up on eToro and deposited your funds in it, you will find a “copy people” tab that you can click on. Once you do that, you will see a list of traders and their portfolios showing how much risk they take, how much their return has been and how many copiers they have. If you click on “copy trades”, you will be able to see all their trades and their past performance. If you click on “copy”, you will place the same trade as the trader you selected and you will have the option of deciding how much you want to invest. Beware though, once you do that, the next trades will be placed automatically to copy that trader. I hope that’s clear. Good luck!
What does social trading mean?
Hello Carl. Thank you for your question. The idea behind social trading is to speed up beginners’ learning process when it comes to online trading. It basically allows you to view the trades placed by professional traders so that you have the option of placing the same trade. It is a way for newbies to begin developing a trading strategy by taking inspiration from the best traders around. This also means that you do not have to spend nearly as much time doing research on what is the most profitable investment to make because you can simply do what investors with more experience than you are doing. eToro is an example of a platform that allows social trading. Feel free to check out our eToro review.