Etoro the leading provider of simplified Forex trading solutions just launched it’s own version of a Forex Social Community. I just briefly discussed social communities and networks couple of hours ago discussing fxstreet’s and myfxbook’s collaboration.

Etoro’s claim to fame is it’s simplified approach to financial trading which company believes will appeal to the masses. For now, it seems it’s not wrong as eToro is rumored to be making quite nice volumes and profits.

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Etoro’s new social feature is called OpenBook (in a way similar to myfxbook and facebook, I guess that’s the idea) which shows a list of ‘twittered’ trades by other participants. So far so good, but the real business model here is exactly what Currensee and other are trying to do – allow you to monitor and then follow the most skilled traders. I suppose following on this new platform allows you to duplicate trades on your account while the followed trader gets some kind of compensation.

The interface, just like the rest of eToro’s platform is dead simple requiring little knowledge of trading. In a way, it’s a very simplified version of Tradency – without all the sophisticated monitoring tools and parameters, which is also the flaw of OpenBook as it doesn’t allow you to effectively evaluate performance except for win ratio and total gain. Here there’s plenty of risk for traders who will need to be very very cautious when choosing whom to follow.

It seems that all the market understood by now that the real money is in auto-trading this way or another. Whether it is highly sophisticated strategy evaluation platforms such as Tradency, Currensee’s Social Networking or much more simplified tools such as FXBee’s or prettily designed and easily followed eToro’s platform. I also hope that this model would contribute to brokers becoming less market makers and more STPers as the mathematics here is simple: traders will follow only successful traders, successful traders will succeed only when their trades are STPed, and the total volume of several leaders and myriads of their followers can be very high thus substantially influencing any broker’s decision whether to mess with your trades or not.

It is actually the best model ever for the broker – you just take successful traders, put them on a STP server and do the same with their followers. This way you don’t take the risk and profit from volumes. Interests aligned.

LONDON and MILAN, 12 July 2010 – eToro, the fastest growing online financial trading company , has announced the launch of a new social trading network, OpenBook, that transforms the way people trade online. OpenBook enables users to view, share, and even copy their chosen trader’s moves in real-time. By enabling traders to follow and interact with each other, OpenBook breaks barriers between traders, accelerates knowledge sharing and shortens the learning curve for users that want to bring their trading experience to the next level.

“eToro’s mission from the beginning has been to make financial trading accessible to everyone. eToro’s OpenBook does exactly that, ” said eToro CEO, Johnathan Assia. “We want to give all our users a better position to succeed by transforming the lonely art of investing into an exciting collaborative activity. Everyone curious about financial markets can now witness trades as they happen, and watch how the experts plan their next move. Since eToro offers trading on global markets, people from all over the world can communicate easily around the clock and benefit from each other’s knowledge.”

eToro’s OpenBook opens up financial trading to all levels of expertise. Beginners can ride on the success of the experts by talking to other traders and following their activity, while seasoned traders will benefit by attracting followers and by being recognized as gurus. In addition, now that eToro makes all trades transparent to everyone, people can choose to follow those traders that have similar personal profiles and trading styles.

The eToro trading platform provides tools and instructional materials for traders of all levels, from novice to expert. The wide array of features includes an easy to learn user interface, instructional guides, research tools and an online community that caters to the diverse needs of over one million users worldwide.

To learn more about eToro and how to start trading with OpenBook please visit:

http://openbook.eToro.com

About eToro

With more than 2,000 new accounts opened each day from more than 130 countries, eToro brings online financial trading to over one million eToro users worldwide. Its “people friendly” platform, educational and trading toolbox and largest worldwide trading community make interaction and cooperation the heart of the financial trading experience. Currently available in 15 languages and offering the most commonly traded currencies, commodities and indices worldwide, eToro ‘s trading platform is the fastest growing online trading environment.

Dori Harpaz

eToro

Mobile: +972 52 6950718

pr@eToro.com

www.eToro.com

Michele Lewis

The Top Floor

Mobile: +44 (0)7729 501 369

michele@thetopflooragency.com

www.thetopflooragency.co.uk