Social Trading Explained | Sites for Beginners 2022

eToro describes itself as the ‘world’s leading social trading platform’ – and for a good reason. It was one of the first forex brokerage firms to perfect the art of social trading by providing its clients with an automated copy trading option. This gives beginners, slightly experienced, and part-time forex traders an opportunity to profit from this highly lucrative market.

Others factors making eToro a market leader in the social trading world include its expanded world presence in several countries around the world. We also liked their pro-trader qualification criteria. This takes into account such aspects of their trading history as their biggest downturn, minimum deposit amounts, and hourly-risk score. Most importantly, they have two different types of copy portfolios. The first, allows you to copy elite traders while the market portfolio will enable you to copy best performing pooled fund/ trading portfolios.

Centobot is a relatively new entrant in the world of financial markets. But it maintains one of the most technologically advanced software. We are especially drawn to it because of their recently launched Binary Cent trading feature – an advanced social trading feature that supports crypto copy trading.

We feature it here not just because it is one of the highly innovative crypto trading sites, but also because of its ease of use. You only have to create an account with Centobot and choose the BinaryCent trading option. This then directs you to a copy trading area where you are presented with a list of all the best performing traders. Here, you get to choose the trade positions to enter and the amounts for every trade. Note that you will need a minimum deposit balance of $250 to start trading.

Naga Trader boasts of having some of the most advanced social trading features that include social networking and copy trading. Social networking involves coming up with unique projects that traders from all over the world can collaborate on. Copy-trading, on the other hand, allows Naga traders to replicate the success of elite traders to their trades. These two practices have gained unrivalled popularity in the global markets that they have earned Naga Trade a nickname – the “Tinder Of Trading.”

The brand that traditionally dealt with stock, commodities, and futures CFDs also has in its product list crypto coins. It also went ahead and launched their coin – the Naga Coin. It is available on both the MT4 desktop and mobile app, and you will need a minimum initial deposit of $500 to start trading.

AvaTrade – one of the most reputable forex brokerage firms in the world – will also allow you to copy trade on its site. Copy-trading here is granted to members with real active accounts either directly or indirectly. Here, you start by creating and funding your account before connecting it to ZuluTrade or Duplitrade.

You can then use either of these to copy and replicate an experienced trader’s strategies. This makes AvaTrade one of the few brokerages that give you more than one option when it comes to selecting a copy trading interface. The minimum deposit amounts for a real trading account typically stands at $100. You will, however, need a minimum $500 if you hope to copy trades found in their system.

Zulu Trade is by far, one of the most advanced social trading platforms. Founded in 2007, Zulu Trade has gone on to usher in significant changes in the world of forex and binary options trading. And all these can be attributed to its wide array of social trading features as well as the depth of its data collection and analysis tools. It also partners with one of the widest pool of reputable forex and CFD trading brokerage firms.

Zulu Trade works by gathering as much investor trading data as possible. It records elite investor’s trades, their trading strategies, and their aggression of taking up positions and compares it with other Zulu Trade users. A beginner can then decide on the pro trader to copy by first deciding on the strategy they wish to adopt and the target markets. They then will be presented with a list of all successful pro traders with whom they share a brokerage firm.

Before eToro and ZuluTrade, there was Tradency – a pioneer forex broker that offers both social and copy trading services within its native mirror trader platform. It helped the social trading niche as most of the new social trading sites borrow heavily from its operations. However, as most networks sought to come up with more social trading tools, Tradency chose to maintain its original mirror trading tool.

This explains why it has minimal trading tools that involve networking, mentorship, or sharing ideas. The most you can do on Tradency is view the portfolio strategies of different elite traders and mirror (duplicate) them on your account. It also isn’t an independent brokerage but a trading software company. This implies that your preferred broker will determine such aspects of trade as leverage and the minimum deposit.

Ameritrade is a highly reputable trading site offered by an equally reputable bank in the U.S – TD. The fact that highly regulated brokers back it gives investors a sense of confidence and trust that most other brokers and trading sites can’t match. Its approach to social trading is also different from that of major industry players.

For instance, while some like eToro and Zulu Trade pay too much emphasis to Copy Trading, Ameritrade seeks to leverage social media and industry influencers in helping its clients make more informed investment decisions. This involves coming up with social media bots that help traders get around the system, receive mentorship, and even execute trades automatically. There are also others that capture social media and Wall Street influencer’s sentiments towards different financial markets and shares it with their clients.

Darwinex is probably one of the newest entrants into the global social trading scene. And it brings with it a new, unique, and highly effective strategy-sharing approach. Other social trading apps with a copy trading feature don't always reveal the trading strategy to prospective copiers, which is what make Darwinex an interesting option.

It classifies the strategy as an investor’s asset and hides it in a Darwin. Interested individuals will then pay an agreed sum amount to access the strategies. This is unlike brokerage software such as Zulu Trade and eToro that charge a percentage of earnings made from the use of the investor’s strategy. The trader is then can copy, replicate, and customize this strategy in their trading accounts without being subjected to additional costs.

Social trading refers to the different finance and investment industry player’s ability to interact freely, share ideas, and network. And Tradeo lives true to this. The forex broker provides its clients with not just one of the widest range of social trading and networking features but also the most transparent system in terms of costs and spreads.

Here, you have full access to any other trader’s signals and orders that are visible on the chart. This, according to Tradeo, makes it possible to social trade in a more personalized manner. They also have highly effective copy trading features that let you copy your favorite pro trader’s strategies and automatically replicate them on your trading account.

First off, it is important to mention that Myfxbook is not a forex broker. It is a platform on which you can host your different broker accounts, and share your results.

In it’s less than a decade of active operations in the industry, Myfxbook has morphed into a household name. And this can be attributed to this unifying feature as well as its auto trading platform. Its rich social trading features are evidenced by the program's transparency. And this makes it possible for you to view orders and trading strategies entered into by other investors. Plus it has an automated copy trading tool that lets you copy and replicate winning strategies in your trading account.