Thoughts on eToro

masonic

jimjames wrote: »

You have zero savings if your sig is to be believed.

I'm assuming (hoping) that's just the running tally for this year.

TheBunting

I haven't updated my sig, I won't be until I tally up for this month. Yes you are correct my ISA savings aren't included in my sig as I have already been investing in that

So it seems a bad idea. I'm not jumping into it and "wasting" anything Masonic. Hence asking around on the matter.

masonic

TheBunting wrote: »

I'm not jumping into it and "wasting" anything Masonic.

I don't think I said or implied either of those things.

ChesterDog

TheBunting wrote: »

I quite like it, can put in say $500 and invest it copying 2/3 different traders, so if one does perform badly there are two others to make up for it. Or if you chose wisely, all three could perform well and make you mone.

But what about two performing badly and eliminating the gain from the one who doesn't?

This sort of thing is speculative. Gambling, while under the illusion that you have some sort of winning system.

If you are going to attempt to tweak it away from risk by diversifying in this or a similar manner, why bother taking such a risk in the first place?

You cannot escape the basic premise of increased reward only being available by increasing the risk, and that means that the probability of achieving that reward reduces as its value increases.

seacaitch

Novices can have a tendency to approach investment as if it's a 'get rich quick scheme', when in reality, for the vast majority of people it's a 'get rich slowly scheme'.

If you do approach it as a get rich quick scheme, seduced by the allure of a wealth-enhancing shortcut, then unless you are unusually lucky or unusually skilfull, you'll find it turns out to be get poor quick scheme instead...

It's often the case though that novices have to learn this lesson for themselves in order for it to be internalised and truly believed. If so, it's likely they'll pay some "tuition" fees to the market or its various intermediaries to obtain this "schooling", but c'est la vie.

My advice would be to listen very carefully to those who've been there and done it, as a way of accelerating your accumulation of useful investment knowledge. Where possible, learn from the mistakes (and insights) of others who've gone before you rather than entirely reinventing the wheel yourself. Don't be afraid of testing out your own ideas, but put risk management (not dreams of the potential gains on offer) at the forefront of what you do, so that any "tuition" fees you pay enroute are minor, not ruinous or even material to your financial well-being.

If you're sensible, you'll eventually (perhaps quite quickly) find a route through the investment jungle that works for you, suits your character, and is able to meet your long term investment goals. Good luck.

NB on the specific question asked in the original post about mimicking some "top trader", this seems to me akin to cribbing someone else's homework or exam paper; even if it worked (and the post regarding enormous spreads to be paid suggests that on the face of it this is scheme to extract, not enhance, the wealth of novices...), you wouldn't learn a thing. Following tips is a mug's game. Your focus should be on accumulating a generalised skillset that you can apply in the investment field for the decades ahead of you, not be jumping around to some tipster's tune, nor dallying with short term trading, where all but the unusually lucky or unusually skillful will find themselves fleeced.

ermine

seacaitch wrote: »

It's often the case though that novices have to learn this lesson for themselves in order for it to be internalised and truly believed. If so, it's likely they'll pay some "tuition" fees to the market or its various intermediaries to obtain this "schooling", but c'est la vie.

Amen to that and props to you, sir. You are not a newbie as the badge seems to indicate

For me - well dot-com was a get rich quick scheme. Until it wasn't. Damn

Second try - indexing out of it, 1% Virgin FTAS index CAT fees. Yawn, and still nothing much

Third try -IG index using some of the sorts of things eToro does. I used their simulator and wasted three days trying to find a black box method that worked. There may be one but I didn't find it. At least it was their backtesting simulator.

Fourth try - forex on IG with a spreadsheet controlling value at risk. Boy was that a rough ride. The spreadsheet served me well, ended up £1500 and figured I didn't want to sit behind a screen work that hard, and I didn't have the cojones to risk more. I just felt I was picking up pennies in front of a steamroller. I had to risk so much money and see gut-wrenching volatility. I thank my Guardian Angel none of those Black Swans turned up. It taught me to forswear any form of leverage.

Fifth try - getting in in 2009, then 2011. Try and buy when you can't bear to do it. Reduce churn. Read voraciously but take everything with a pinch of salt. Slowly I get less bad at this, it's only taken 15 years and four duff goes, but I'm now ahead and getting a stable income, though I reinvest that at the mo.

I got good value from the money I lost, because I am now well clear of the losses. It taught me not to do those things again. I'm sure I haven't researched all the ways of screwing up royally, but I've at least started getting ahead decently*. Largely by buying the right stuff and sitting on my hands.

Jesse Livermore said

It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight!

*It hasn't been hard getting ahead decently over the last five years. Only those who go into and come out of a crash intact will have an idea if they are made of The Right Stuff, and I don't have that ticket yet.

TheBunting

Message recieved, thanks guys