Social trading platforms encourage a collaborative environment among traders, allowing users to learn from and replicate the trading strategies of their peers.
Social trading leverages collective intelligence, enabling users to tap into the experience of successful traders. The best social trading platforms include transparent performance metrics of other traders, copy trading functions, community features for interaction and idea sharing and broker integration.
The blend of community and technology empowers people to make more informed trading decisions, potentially shortening the learning curve and diversifying their investment approaches.
Here are five of the best social trading platforms to consider for your specific goals.
5 Best Social Trading Platforms
- eToro — Best Overall
- ZuluTrade — Best for Copy Trading
- NAGA — Best for Community Focus
- DupliTrade — Best For Automated Strategy Copying
- AvaTrade — Best for Trading in Multple Jurisdictions
How We Chose The Best Social Trading Platforms
We focused on transparent trade copying and user performance metrics, ensuring you can see a trader’s history and success. We also prioritized platforms with vibrant community features for interaction and learning, seamless broker integration, and easy-to-use interfaces. Fees and risk-management tools were also evaluated.
5 Best Social Trading Platforms
eToro — Best Overall
eToro is known for its CopyTrader feature, which allows users to automatically replicate the trades of successful investors. It’s a good choice for those new to trading as well as experienced traders who want to diversify their strategies by observing and mimicking others. Its integrated brokerage service provides a seamless experience for trading a variety of assets, from stocks and cryptocurrencies to forex and commodities.
Key Features:
- Fees: Opening an account is free, but a $10 monthly activity fee applies if you don’t log in for 12 months. A commission of $1 or $2 may apply when opening and closing a stock position.
- Investment Access: eToro offers a wide selection of assets, including thousands of stocks from major global exchanges, popular cryptocurrencies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), forex pairs and commodities.
- Platform Experience: The mobile app and desktop are user-friendly and feature an intuitive interface that mimics social media feeds. This makes it easy to browse, follow and copy other traders and execute trades.
- Tools and Education: eToro’s tools include charting capabilities, watchlists and research analysis. Its educational content is geared toward understanding the platform’s features and basic trading concepts. The real educational value comes from observing and interacting with experienced traders in the social community.
- Drawbacks: eToro’s research tools and educational resources for advanced traders are less comprehensive than traditional brokerage platforms.
Who It’s Best For: Beginner traders who want guidance from experienced investors, crypto enthusiasts and people interested in a social, community-driven approach to investing.
ZuluTrade — Best for Copy Trading
ZuluTrade allows users to automatically copy trades from a global network of signal providers. Unlike platforms that act as their own brokers, ZuluTrade is an intermediary, connecting traders to a variety of compatible third-party brokers. It’s an attractive option for people who want to diversify their trading strategies by leveraging the expertise of others, particularly in the forex and contracts for difference (CFD) markets.
Key Features:
- Fees: ZuluTrade does not charge a subscription fee. The third-party broker you choose determines the cost you’ll pay to trade.
- Investment Access: Investment access is determined by what your chosen integrated broker offers. Users can generally access forex pairs and CFDs on various assets, including indexes, commodities and some cryptocurrencies.
- Platform Experience: The user-friendly web-based platform is accessible on desktop and mobile devices. The interface makes it easy to browse and select signal providers. The copy-trading setup is straightforward and allows users to customize risk parameters and manage their copied portfolios.
- Tools and Education: ZuluTrade provides comprehensive performance data for each signal provider, including real-time statistics, historical profitability, drawdown levels and risk metrics. Its ZuluGuard feature is a risk-management tool that automatically deactivates signal providers whose trading behavior deviates from established norms.
- Drawbacks: ZuluTrade’s focus on forex and CFDs is not ideal for investors who are interested in traditional equities or long-term investment strategies.
Who It’s Best For: Forex and CFD traders who want to automate their trading by copying a range of signal providers and those who value extensive broker choice and transparent performance data.
NAGA — Best For Community Focus
NAGA combines brokerage services with comprehensive financial tools and a strong community focus for social trading. Its Auto Copy feature allows users to replicate the trades of successful NAGA Traders across various asset classes, including cryptocurrencies. NAGA integrates social feeds, an in-house crypto wallet and user interaction, making it a good choice for investors who want a dynamic and interconnected trading experience.
Key Features:
- Fees: NAGA offers commission-free trading on stocks. There are no account minimums, but minimum deposits apply for funding. An inactivity fee may apply after a period of not logging into your account.
- Investment Access: NAGA offers over 1,000 assets, including forex pairs, cryptocurrencies (including less common altcoins), and CFDs on stocks, indexes, commodities and ETFs.
- Platform Experience: NAGA’s platform is accessible via web, desktop and mobile apps. The user-friendly interface provides both manual trading and social copy trading. Its social feed allows easy interaction, sharing trading ideas and following top performers. The platform integrates a personal crypto wallet for managing digital assets.
- Tools and Education: NAGA’s trading tools include advanced charting, technical indicators and economic calendars. It provides educational resources and tutorials, but the focus is on the platform’s social aspect, where users learn by observing, asking questions and copying successful traders. The NAGA Feed is a live stream of trading insights and discussions.
- Drawbacks: Research and analytical tools are not as deep as those on platforms geared toward experienced, independent fundamental or technical analysts. The social features could be a distraction for traders who prefer a more analytical approach.
Who It’s Best For: Traders who value an all-encompassing social environment and are interested in copying others, cryptocurrency trading and integrated financial services.
DupliTrade — Best For Automated Strategy Copying
DupliTrade offers a selection of proven trading strategies from professional traders. It emphasizes automated execution of the strategies directly into the user’s account rather than focusing on social interaction. Users benefit from experienced traders’ insights without having to make trades themselves. It’s an ideal platform if you prefer a hands-off approach to diversifying your portfolio.
- Fees: It doesn’t cost anything to set up an account, but the minimum initial deposit to your brokerage account should be $2,000.
- Investment Access: Investment access is determined by the broker you choose from DupliTrade’s integrated list, but it mainly includes forex pairs and CFDs on assets like indexes, commodities and some cryptocurrencies. DupliTrade does not offer direct access to stocks, index funds or options.
- Platform Experience: DupliTrade’s web-based platform focuses on presenting performance metrics of available strategies clearly and enabling connection to a user's brokerage account for automated copying. The platform isn’t designed for extensive social interaction, but it’s easy to select and monitor your chosen strategies.
- Tools and Education: DupliTrade’s rigorous selection process for strategy providers ensures users get high-performing trading systems. It offers detailed performance statistics for each strategy, including historical profit, drawdown and risk levels. Educational content focuses on understanding how to select and manage copied strategies.
- Drawbacks: The higher minimum deposit may be a barrier for novice traders with limited capital. The platform’s emphasis on automated strategy copying means less direct social interaction and community engagement compared to some other platforms. Investment access is confined to Forex and CFDs.
Who It’s Best For: Intermediate to advanced traders who want to automatically diversify their portfolios by copying professionally vetted forex and CFD trading strategies through their existing account or a new account with a regulated broker.
AvaTrade — Best for Trading in Multiple Jurisdictions
- Best For:Non U.S. Forex & CFD TradersVIEW PROS & CONS:securely through AvaTrade's website
AvaTrade is considered one of the most strictly regulated CFD platforms in the industry. While many brokers have one or two licenses, AvaTrade is regulated across multiple jurisdictions, including Central Bank of Ireland, ASIC in Australia and FSA in Japan.
AvaTrade provides social trading through its AvaSocial App and integration with DupliTrade. It offers trading for a range of CFDs, then layers social capabilities on top. Users benefit from AvaTrade’s robust trading conditions and regulatory oversight while still engaging in copy trading with a community of experienced traders.
Key Features:
- Fees: AvaTrade charges a $100 administration fee. If a trading account has been inactive for two consecutive months and the equity is less than $2,000, users incur a $10 inactivity fee.
- Investment Access: AvaTrade offers a range of CFDs, including forex pairs, cryptocurrencies, stocks, indexes, commodities and some bonds and ETFs. The number of licenses it holds indicates a significant investment and commitment to meeting complex regulatory requirements globally.
- Platform Experience: AvaTrade’s multiple platforms include AvaTrade WebTrader and mobile app, MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). The user-friendly AvaSocial app is a dedicated interface for social trading that allows users to browse, follow and copy traders. It’s designed for manual and copy trading.
- Tools and Education: AvaTrade provides market analysis, educational resources and trading tools on all its platforms. For social trading, AvaSocial offers performance states for expert traders and allows direct interaction with the community. Users can monitor experts’ performance, adjust portfolios and stop copying at any time.
- Drawbacks: While AvaTrade integrates social features, it’s a CFD broker, which might make the social experience feel less central than other platforms. The social aspect is primarily on the AvaSocial app rather than integrated into the main trading platforms.
Who It’s Best For: Traders who want a highly regulated and secure environment for CFD trading, as well as the option to engage in social copy trading through integrated apps.
Choosing The Best Social Trading Platforms
Social trading platforms allow people to observe and replicate the strategies of experienced traders.
Our top picks include eToro for its overall ease of use and vast community, ZuluTrade for its extensive broker integration and transparent signal providers and NAGA for its community focus and crypto ecosystem. DupliTrade’s automated strategy copying stands out, while AvaTrade offers CFD trading with integrated social options.
Choosing the best platform depends on your investing goals, preferred asset classes and desired level of interaction and control.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is social trading?
Social trading is a form of investing where traders share strategies and results publicly, allowing others to observe or automatically copy their trades. It combines community-driven insights with technology, letting beginners learn directly from experienced investors.
Is social trading good for beginners?
Social trading can help beginners learn faster by providing access to the strategies of successful traders. However, it’s important to understand the risks and choose reputable platforms with transparent performance metrics.
Which platform is best overall for social trading?
eToro is widely considered the best overall social trading platform because of its easy-to-use CopyTrader feature, large community of traders, and wide selection of assets including stocks, crypto, and forex.
Disclaimer: eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks andcryptoassets, as well as trading CFD assets.
Please note that CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
This content is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice or investment recommendation.
Cryptoassets are unregulated and can fluctuate widely in price and are, therefore, not appropriate for all investors. Trading cryptoassets is not supervised by any EU regulatory framework. Past performance is not an indication of future results.
