eToro is a brand new trading platform that just might
be the most novice-friendly FOREX learning tool on the
market today. eToro makes learning and mastering your
FOREX trading skills an incredibly fun experience with
a graphical user interface like no other FOREX platform.
Beginners first venturing into the world of FOREX now
have an entertaining solution to the difficulty that comes
in trying to initially understand FOREX and making sense
of the most highly regarded, widely used but complex FOREX
platforms out there.
> Visit
eToro,
and start trading today!
The people behind eToro didn’t look to
create another drab platform with absolutely no user interaction
or a sense of community amongst users. They’ve instead
produced a very lively alternative. eToro mixes the traditional
FOREX platform with elements of a video game. The graphics
are enough to make even a small child curious about “playing”
FOREX. You keep score with other traders in the community
– sometimes with a cash prize on the line to be rewarded
to the champion.
eToro trading areas
The eToro lobby has four trading areas. The first one
is the FOREX Marathon. Graphic characters, ranging from
a farmer (US), sumo wrestler (Japanese Yen) and a European
businessman (Euros) represent each currency in the FOREX
Marathon. Simply choose the currency that you’d like to
buy, pick the currencies to compete against, select the
amount and click the “Open Trade” button at the lower
bottom right of the screen. Within these four simple clicks
you have a visualization of the marathon, showing you
exactly how your money is moving as you watch your character
race for the finish line.
If you’d like to run more than one trade,
simply click back to the lobby to open additional trades
simultaneously. You can click back and forth between whatever
simultaneous trades are active with the My Open Trades
section in the lobby or the Trading Log screen. My Open
Trades does a really nice job of allowing you to view
all running trades, regardless of the trading arena, detailing
the currencies you are buying/selling, the amount, profit
and gain.
The Dollar Trend is the next trading area
in the lobby. You choose whether the US dollar will rise
or fall and the currencies to pit the dollar against.
Similar to the FOREX Marathon, you watch the currencies
race against one another, this time the graphics are in
the shape of a coin or button, representing each currency.
The Globe Trader is the third trading area
in the lobby. Make your selection and you will see a wire
signal, representing your trade, between the competing
countries on the trade arena’s map. A tiny info box above
the wire will give you access to exactly how your trade
is performing profit-wise with a more detailed breakdown
at the lower left of the map.
Forex Match simulates a tug of war between
currencies, representing your trading. I tend to spend
a lot of time in this arena.
All trades from each trading arena will
remain open until you manually close them. The trades
continue running even if you close out of the program
entirely. The trades will automatically close out when
the market closes at the end of the week. eToro runs on
historical data on the weekends so you can still practice
and test your trading skills although the market is closed.
The Trading Log presents you with a breakdown
of the performance of your Active Trades and your trade
History.
Please note the Championship & Chat
section of eToro. eToro tracks score of every individual
user FOREX performance, just like video arcade games list
user high scores. eToro periodically holds championship
challenges with the top traders winning prizes, namely
cash. Traders are also able to communicate with each other
in real time in the chat room. Message board forums are
coming soon.
Much of this review has focused on using
eToro as an introduction to the world of FOREX. eToro
has recently entered the world of real live
trading. Users select whether they want to “Trade
For Real” or “Trade For Fun” when logging into the system.
Some personal information is required to create a Real
Account. You are then set up with a username and password
to enter real trading. A deposit can be made to fund your
account using either a Credit Card or Wire Transfer.
Deposit and withdraw funds
For a Credit Card deposit – the minimum single deposit
limit is $50, the maximum single deposit is $1,000 with
a monthly deposit cap of $5,000. The Wire Transfer deposits
are with a minimum single deposit of $500, a maximum single
deposit limit of $5,000 with a monthly cap also at $5,000.
Funds can be withdrawn from your account
by submitting a withdrawal request from the “Account Balance”
section. A signed withdrawal request is required and a
user’s first withdraw will require a copy of a photo ID
or passport, a copy of the front and back of the credit
card used to fund the trading account and a copy of some
recent utility bill. There is no bank withdrawal fee but
a $25 fee accompanies Wire Transfer withdrawals. Withdrawals
are processed within five business days of the request.
eToro is an exciting new force in
the FOREX community. It’s proof that FOREX trading can
be fun and entertaining. It wouldn’t be surprising to
see more people catch onto FOREX, thanks to eToro’s innovative
and inviting presentation. The program is in its infancy
right now and it will be very interesting to see where
the developers and programmers take it from here!
