As I closed one of my positions in Porsche with over 137% gain today, I realised that in 3 days I will celebrate 1 year with eToro. I put 10 lessons learned from my experience:
๐ญ. ๐๐๐ค๐ง๐ค ๐๐จ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐๐ฃ๐ซ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ eToro is attractive for long term investing as the fees for equities are 0. Due to spreads, liquidity and technical issues, it is sub-optimal for trading,. I have seen day traders quite frustrated and have experienced issues myself. For long term, patient investors, the investment style is just perfect for eToro.
๐ฎ. ๐๐ฉ ๐๐จ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ / ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐๐๐ ๐๐ค๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฅ๐ก๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ง๐ข ๐๐ก๐ก๐ค๐ฌ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐พ๐ค๐ฅ๐ฎ ๐๐ค๐ง๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ก๐๐ค I joined eToro just to buy $PAH3.DE (Porsche Automobil Holding SE) after my thorough research - it proved to be the cheapest broker. I learned about the Popular Investor program later and got attracted to it. The fact there is not fee to be paid to copy a PI is mind-blowing for an industry professional. Even my sister who works for a leading Asset Manager asked me ยจhow much is the management fee?ยจ.
๐ฏ. ๐ฝ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐ช๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐ฃ๐ซ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ค๐ง ๐๐จ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ My character is not easy and I have a strong point of view that I am able to defend. I voiced my opinion related to risk, which backfired and there was a period when I was copy-blocked. This period allowed me to humbly study the Risk Score in more detail, which allowed me to then manage the portfolio in an even better way. Being a PI is a big responsibility and I think should be respected more on the platform.
๐ฐ. ๐๐๐ค๐ง๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐จ ๐ฆ๐ช๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ช๐ฃ๐ฅ๐ค๐ฅ๐ช๐ก๐๐ง Remember my post about shorting $TSLA (Tesla Motors, Inc.) ( ow.ly/tSUv30ruVrV ) that generated almost 1000 comments - some extremely aggressive. We made a good 30% or so on the trade and the people hated our guts for it. It did put me a bit on the map as someone who is able to go his own way and persist. I guess I did earn some haters though :)
๐ฑ. ๐๐ฉ ๐๐จ ๐๐จ ๐ข๐ช๐๐ ๐๐๐ค๐ช๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐ค๐ฅ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ ๐๐ฉ ๐๐จ ๐๐๐ค๐ช๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ค๐๐๐ฉ With c.1600 Copiers, I must say that some of them became close friends. It is critical to manage the communication with the Copiers and it can be extremely challenging and time consuming. Building a Dream Team has been great though and many of you have played a pivotal role in managing the Feed as well as pitching me investment ideas. It has been a major joy and I will remain the same even as we scale to 10.000 Copiers :-)
๐ฒ. ๐พ๐ค๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ง๐ค๐ข ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐จ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ๐ค๐ง ๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ง ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ง๐ข Joining the PI program, I did not realise that most people come from outside finance and are pure self-taught retail traders. That is quite different to me with 17 years trading and working in the financial services industry. The good thing is that we can co-exist and I am a bit of a black sheep, shorting $BTC , using the financial jargon, and occasionally, wearing this $RMS (Hermes International) tie and generating even more hate.
๐ณ. ๐๐๐ค๐ง๐ค ๐๐จ ๐ฉ๐ง๐ฎ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ ๐๐๐ง๐ Being Elite PI, I spend more time with eToro management. I realised how the platform is a victim of its own success. Given the pandemic, the number of people joining the platform is so high that eToro is not always able to withstand the growth. This must be very stressful for the management and customer support, so please - ALL - have more respect.
๐ด. ๐๐๐ค๐ฅ๐ก๐ ๐ก๐๐ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐&๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ค๐ข๐ฅ๐ก๐๐๐ฃ (๐ง๐-๐ก๐๐๐ง๐ฃ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ๐๐๐ฎ) People love to complain and look for a scapegoat. Copying a portfolio with no fee vs 2/20% you would pay normally is just a steal!. On top, you would pay a yearly fee to manage the account and if you trade less than 30-50k in one transaction it would not even make sense as the fee to make a transaction (yes, each time you open or close) would make it nonsensical and unprofitable. Trading used to be beyond reach for most. eToro changed it. Please appreciated it. $NSDQ100
๐ต. ๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฎ ๐จ๐ข๐๐ง๐ฉ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ก ๐ฅ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐ก๐ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐๐ค๐ง๐ค There are AMAZING people on this platform. VP level, CEO level, super smart, all ages, cultures and colours. Mostly you do not hear from them. They just calmly invest and enjoy the profit. All the BUY or SELL, to the moon, hodl nonsense that you see is just the familiarity bias - it is not representative of the whole platform.
๐ญ๐ฌ. ๐๐ฉ ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐ก ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ค๐ฃ๐๐๐ง ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ญ ๐๐ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฅ๐ก๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ง๐ข When I joined the PI program I wanted to grow immediately and fast. I noticed that I have an edge in terms of experience in finance and, thus, was impatient to materialise my goals immediately. eToro has made me work hard for it and it is fine. I hope for more partnerships and support in 2021 and beyond.
Looking forward to next 12 months and more!
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