eToro, a leading social trading and investing network, announced its partnership with Twitter to integrate real-time asset prices into the social media platform's $Cashtags feature. eToro told Finance Magnates that Twitter's owner Elon Musk was not directly involved in the deal.

The new feature means Twitter users will get direct access to trading from the social platform owned by Elon Musk, whose recent actions suggest he wants to move the app closer to the financial industry. The latest move will see eToro join the growing trend of the popularity of finance on Twitter, called ‘fintwit’, becoming a true social trading app.

Twitter and eToro Announce New Partnership

With this collaboration, Twitter users can quickly access up-to-date prices for stocks, ETFs, commodities and cryptos by simply searching using a $Cashtag symbol. This partnership aims to provide a seamless experience for Twitter users, enabling them to click through to the eToro platform for more comprehensive information on the asset and the option to invest.

Yoni Assia, the CEO and Co-Founder of eToro, highlighted the importance of social media in democratizing financial education.

“Twitter has become a crucial part of the retail investing community – it’s where millions of ordinary investors go every day to access financial news, share knowledge and converse,” Assia commented.

The CEO emphasized that eToro was founded on the principles of community, knowledge-sharing, and increased access to financial markets. The partnership with Twitter aims to harness the power of shared knowledge to yield better results and facilitate group investing.

Growing Popularity of $Cashtags on Twitter

Since introducing pricing data for $Cashtags in December 2022, the feature has experienced widespread adoption. With over 420 million searches for $Cashtags since the beginning of 2023, there is an average of 4.7 million searches daily. Activity tends to increase around significant earnings announcements, such as when Apple released its Q4 2022 earnings report on 2 February 2023, prompting 8 million $Cashtag searches.

“Twitter is what’s happening and what people are talking about right now,” Chris Riedy, the Vice President of Global Sales & Marketing at Twitter commented. “We believe real change starts with conversion and finance, and investing is a growing part of that conversation.”

Some of the most commonly used $Cashtags include $TSLA (Tesla), $SPY (SPDR S&P 500 ETF), and $BTC (Bitcoin ). This increased usage of $Cashtags is indicative of the growing trend of financial discourse on Twitter, with a recorded 498 million global tweets about business and finance in the first 90 days of 2023. Notably, 65% of these tweets originated from users aged 18-34.

Riedy shared his excitement about collaborating with eToro, stating that the alliance aims to provide users with enhanced market insights and increased investment opportunities. Furthermore, the company plans to continue supporting the expansion of the #FinTwitter community.

eToro Makes a Stronger Entry into the US Market

Twitter enjoys its greatest popularity in the United States, where, according to last year's statistics, it had a base of nearly 77 million monthly users. eToro's partnership with the social media platform serves as a stronger entry into the local market, where more and more players in the retail trading world are trying their luck.

American clients are also being targeted by other brokers popular in Europe, such as Plus500, which has become a sponsor of the Chicago Bulls basketball team, and IG Group, which acquired Small Exchange in April 2023 from Foris DAX Markets, the parent company of Crypto.com.

In addition, the company run IG North America, IG US and tasty software solutions. The firm believes Small Exchange, which is registered as a Designated Contract Market with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, can help it achieve its innovation goals.

Elon Musk Pushes Twitter to Financial' Super App'

Since Elon Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion last year, the social media giant has been making moves that previously seemed highly improbable at best.

The Tesla owner and controversial billionaire aim to turn Twitter into a so-called 'super app'. Such applications offer users access to various services in one place, similar to how Revolut or Robinhood function and WeChat in Asia. Even so, eToro told Finance Magnates that Twitter's owner Elon Musk was not directly involved in the deal.

Evidence of this transformation can be seen in Twitter's official corporate name change to X Corp, following its merger with a shell company of the same name. During a Morgan Stanley conference in March, Musk claimed that Twitter would become the largest financial institution in the world.