What is Forex CopyTrading?

Copy trading, or social trading, is a relatively recent development from the world of online Forex and commodities trading. In short, it enables traders to copy other traders trades via automated software. For those readers who are looking for a 'money printer', please click the 'back button',
as this author does not believe in get 'rich quick schemes' or other 'magic bullets'. But if you are interested in technology that allows you to potentially profit from other traders' experience without having to become an expert yourself, please read on.

Forex trading for individuals (as opposed to companies) has experienced a growth spurt over the past few years due mainly due to the growth of the internet, and the development of online trading platforms. These platforms enable individuals or 'retail traders' to 'earn' money by trading on relatively large sums of money with the facilities of leverage. Without going into too much detail, leverage allows you to 'buy' $10k worth of a currency with a mere two hundred dollars, and enable you to speculate on it's future value without risking more than your leveraged outlay.

Currency trading has been going on for a long time, but the birth of the internet has made this process, like many other areas in life, a lot simpler. However, although the process itself has been made simpler, despite what you may hear on the net, the process of actually making a profit from trading currencies and commodities is still a 'bit of a gamble'. Think about it, if it was that easy everyone would be doing it and making a fortune.

If you do a bit of research on Forex related forums you will hear plenty of success stories of how well people are doing from trading, but you will also hear some horror stories - and we are talking bankruptcy. To be a success at Forex trading obviously requires certain abilities and qualities such as discipline, rigour, and good old fashioned maths.

So, if you are not a maths genius, and you don't have the ability to identify and 'step back' from a bad trading strategy what do you do? Is Forex a complete 'no no' for you? Social or copy trading can to some extent bridge this gap of expertise. You can literally set your account on 'autocopy' without having to even learn what levels of support and resistance are. By copying successful traders you are obviously putting yourself in a stronger position, however, you should always bear in mind that the whole environment is one that is fraught with potential risk.

So, if you are interested in engaging some of your spare time in the heady world of Forex trading, where do you start? If you are a complete beginner, then a demo account is probably the best (only) option for you. The two main players in this field are eToro CopyTrader, and Zulutrade, both of whom offer demo accounts so that you can 'try before you buy. They both offer an online platform that works in 'real time', so, you can realistically assess how you would perform based on real executed trades. However, it must be noted that there is a psychological difference in trading for real as opposed to demo money. Good luck, it's fun, but don't sign up to a live account until you have got your head around a demo account.