eToro Introduces New Copy Trading Requirements Amid Increasing Popularity

eToro, the world’s largest social trading network, has introduced new requirements to its Popular Investors Programme. As copy trading gains in popularity, the changes are designed to ensure only traders with demonstrated market experience, consistent track record, lower risk profile and sufficient personal funds are qualified as Popular Investors and hence can be copied by other platform traders.

According to the new requirements, participants in the Popular Investor Programme must now maintain a risk score of 6 or less. They also have to meet the minimum deposit requirement and maintain the minimum level of equity set for their respective levels in the Programme. Each Popular Investor must also gain at least two months of experience on each level, before progressing to the next one.

The new Copy Trading requirements are detailed below:

Yoni Saad, Head of eToro’s Popular Investors Programme commented:

“Our Popular Investor Programme helps people benefit from the wisdom of the crowds. By copying Popular Investors on our platform, traders gain a better understanding of the markets and our research shows that eToro traders are consistently more profitable than people who trade manually.”

“As copy trading becomes more popular, these new requirements are designed to make it easier for traders to find someone with ‘skin in the game’ to copy. At the same time, they encourage Popular Investors to take a more responsible approach when making investment decisions with other people’s money as well as their own.”

eToro’s Popular Investor Programme, launched in 2013, allows members to benefit from the strategies of successful traders on its platform by automatically copying their trades. At the same time, it allows Popular Investors to build and monetise their investment portfolio by receiving an attractive monthly income from eToro on top of their profits. The Programme now has four levels: Cadet, Rising Star, Champion and Elite. Each level has its own benefits, including a spread rebate from the previous month’s spread costs, fixed monthly payments and revenue share as an eToro partner for any new members the trader introduces to eToro.

eToro’s data shows 80% of 124 million copied trades in 2015 closed in profit, suggesting it is one of the most profitable investment options in the market.