Category: Companies Overviews

Japanese MoneyTap app Connects 60 Banks with Ripple

1 min read

The payments network Ripple is looking to launch the MoneyTap application with support from the SBI Ripple Asia Japanese Bank Consortium later this year. That will cause Ripple to have a large share of the Japanese currency transfer market, maybe the largest. MoneyTap has officially launched its website which is a major step forward connecting several Japanese banks via Ripple solutions. It said, in March this year, the app would make it easier for banks to settle round-the-clock domestic payments in Japan. MoneyTap App is going to reduce fees associated with traditional money transfer services. The fact is that Japan is residence to a huge market for fintech, or financial technology, particularly in the areas of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

The deal between Ripple and the consortium has been planned for a few years.

Japanese MoneyTap app and Ripple

But now it looks like the firms involved are setting the closing preparations to launch the MoneyTap application in Japan. The app which was announced earlier this year, but the website for the service went live yesterday, September, 13th.

The main purpose of the new technologies is to be applied in a wide range of industries to facilitate and enhance a great number of processes. The banking sector is one of the spheres that eagerly adopt new solutions with a view to improving its functioning.

MoneyTap is a kind of a “simple bank transfer application without charge” and “a new bank experience application provided from the consortium for domestic and foreign exchange”.

Speaking about the fund transfer system in Japan, transaction fees are quite high and requires a lot of time to be executed. By implementation of MoneyTap app, the situation will be changed. Via the solutions offered by Ripple, it is planned to reduce fees and to achieve a possibility to carry out reliable same-day transfers.

The application is not ready for download just yet. But, the website going live shows that it will be soon. The projected launch date is autumn 2018.

Ripple’s own blockchain technology is known mainly as the underlying network for its cryptocurrency, XRP, known as ripple too and it is also used for real-time transaction settlements.

Presentation of the new app

The new app, Money Tap will offer a money transfer too, so that will be available on iOS and Android phones. That characteristic place them to be one of the first apps with such functionality that will be used by a number of banks at the same time.

In the beginning, the application will be working in collaboration with three of the members of the SBI Ripple Asia Consortium. The first banks involved are SBI Net Sumishin Bank, Suruga Bank, and Resona Bank. This preliminary launch will be followed by the service for the other 60 plus members.

Ripple hits the center of Japanese money transfer

Ripple are hoping that the move will place them at the center of the huge Japanese international money transfer market. They believe that can offer more affordable transfer than SWIFT is. Money Tap app could be more efficient in transfer smaller amounts of money than was previously feasible with traditional options.

It is interesting that it will also compete with remittance companies like The Western Union Co. (WU). The launch will also support Ripple’s claims of offering a robust and dependable technology platform that can form the strong support of the modern payment system.

Japanese MoneyTap app and Ripple keep the project under the veil

We must say that practically no information on the project has been already revealed, but it is clear that Money Tap will be used by the Japanese Bank Consortium that unites over 60 local banks. That is almost 80% of the country’s banking system.

The CEO of a Tokyo-based Strategic Business Innovator Group (SBI) has once said that they are also examining a possibility to use XRP for bridging currency on the Money Tap fund transfer platform. Now SBI is working with different cryptocurrencies.

Ripple solutions and XRP tokens represent a special interest for SBI. Just a few months ago, the company established its crypto exchange called VCTRADE.

Good news for Ripple, more and more financial institutions are implementing Ripple’s technology to make easier their processes.

But fans of the Ripple project, particularly XRP token, should hold off on celebrating just yet. Like with many of the projects Ripple is working on, it could be that the service exists without using the token itself. Whilst this would likely be positive for those invested in terms of exposure, it would not represent automatically adoption of XRP in itself.

It would make sense for Ripple to sideline their XRP token given that it is still not clear whether global regulators deem it as a security.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

14th September 2018
Costa Coffee sold to Coca Cola!

1 min read

Whitbread, a leisure group taking in coffee shops and hotels, said earlier this year it would spin off Costa Coffee and list it as a separate entity, following pressure from activist investor Elliott.

Whitbread has agreed to sell Britain’s biggest coffee chain to Coca-Cola in a £3.9bn deal. On Friday the company said a sale of the business is now “in the best interests of shareholders”.

Whitbread’s stock rose more than 18% in early trading on Friday.

Leisure group Whitbread says sale ‘in best interests of shareholders’.

Profit of this deal will be used to pay down debt and increase the pension fund. Whitbread said it intends to return a majority of net cash proceeds to shareholders.

Earlier this year it was reported that Whitbread has been got close to a potential buyout of Costa Coffee.

The company said the sale of the coffee chain will allow it to focus on its Premier Inn hotels business.

Hospitality group Whitbread is cutting hundreds of management roles, two months after confirming plans to spin off its Costa Coffee business, The UK Independent revealed earlier in July.

The company will let at least 250 managers go as part of a restructuring of its restaurant business, which is held under the Premier Inn brand.

Employees were told about the redundancies but were given no further detail at that time.

But on Friday everything became clear.

Workers have been concerned that job cuts were appearing since the Costa spin-off was announced, and feel that the process has not been handled well by Whitbread, according to a source close to the company.

Chief executive Alison Brittain said: “This transaction is great news for shareholders as it recognizes the strategic value we have developed in the Costa brand and its international growth potential, and accelerates the realization of value for shareholders in cash. This combination will ensure new product development, continued growth in the UK and more rapid expansion overseas.”

Whitbread bought Costa Coffee, which is now the UK’s biggest coffee chain, for just £19m in 1995. when it had only 39 shops and now has more than 2,400 UK coffee shops, as well as some 1,400 outlets in 31 overseas markets. Costa Express has 8,237 vending machines worldwide.

For Coca-Cola, the transaction represents a leap into the global coffee market, where it has little presence, allowing it to diversify away from fizzy and sugary drinks, which have declined in popularity among increasingly health-conscious consumers.

Coca-Cola chief executive James Quincey told investors on a conference call that Costa was “a winning company that can go global”.

He admits that retail sales were a new area for Coca-Cola, but said Costa already had “a strong management team” and that Coca-Cola intended to “make it attractive for them to stay”

Think the Coca-Cola dividend, its stocks provide a remarkable wealth to investors like Warren Buffett.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

1st September 2018
Steve Wozniak will join a cryptocurrency startup called Equi Capital

1 min read

Apple Inc. (AAPL) co-founder Steve Wozniak, according to some media, will join a cryptocurrency startup called Equi Capital, concentrated on investments in the digital token collection. Coindesk, www.coindesk.com, reported: ”Speaking to Null Transaction, the bitcoin proponent said this is the first time he has worked with a blockchain company in his career, adding that he ‘was amazed at the technology behind [cryptocurrency]’.”

Equi aims to act as an investment firm, Wozniak said.

According to the startup’s Twitter page, it hopes to help both retail and professional investors purchase equity in companies in an effort to replace traditional investing firms.

Steve Wozniak said:

“Our approach is not like a new currency, or something phony where an event will make it go up in value. It’s a share of stock, in a company. This company is doing investment by investors with huge track records in good investments in things like apartment buildings in Dubai. We have one person in our group who has listed out a whole apartment building for bitcoin.”

Wozniak did not provide details on what his role would be at the startup but he did indicate that the company may register in Malta. Malta is a well-known area which has been working to develop a friendly regulatory environment aimed to attract firms in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space.

Continuing to promote the potential use cases for blockchain technology, Steve Wozniak said, “I’ve encountered people working in real estate avenues, types of Uber systems, everything we’ve got in our life, especially involving transactions – retail sales, car sales, manufacturing of goods … working on bitcoin applications … and they all have value.”

The tech guru’s choice of first crypto project is a bit surprising.

As reported by The Next Web, Equi has had a pretty rough path so far. At first, they were launching its token via ICO. But because of lack of interest, the sale was canceled and pre-sale investors were refunded.

A follow-up bounty scheme to reward users with tokens for publicizing the project also saw major issues when a partner marketing company soon walked away, indicates the news source. Going the bounty route also raises the thorny issue, according to CoinDesk, that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has indicated that even giving away tokens may break securities rules.

Note: During the weekend, Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency leader, was trading above $6,700 at the time of this writing. The most popular and largest cryptocurrency in the world, the past week showed signs of upward impulse and return to the stability at this price point. Other digital currencies were trading laterally.

Ethereum reached $280, Litecoin was a trading bit under $58 per token.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

26th August 2018
Apple is charging their batteries with Tesla’s employees

2 min read

The personnel flow has been going from Tesla Inc to Apple Inc, the iPhone maker has poached at least 46 employees from Tesla in 2018!

Elon Musk called Apple ”Tesla graveyard”, as his employees are being poached by Apple.

Dozens of current and former Tesla employees have left for Apple since late 2017, according to research conducted by CNBC.

Back in 2015, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that Apple serves as the “Tesla graveyard” for staff that left or was no longer needed. “if you don’t make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple.”

But Apple Inc seems to have decided to show him that it is a furious playground.

According to several current and former Tesla employees and LinkedIn data, manufacturing, security and software engineers, and, more recently, supply chain experts, are now at Apple.

The Tesla employees that have left Tesla have joined various departments at Apple, not only Project Titan, Apple car development endeavor. And, they are reportedly working on “display, optics, and battery-tech” for the myriad of mobile devices that Apple makes. Apple seems to have employed no less than 46 people that used to work for Tesla since the beginning of 2018.

According to a current Tesla employee who kept in touch with former colleagues, Apple appears to be placing renewed emphasis on manufacturing processes and equipment, the report said.

The company outsources production to firms like Foxconn, but still offers input on new processes and techniques, as well as other areas of manufacture.

Apple is paying bigger salaries than Tesla

Apple can afford to pay 150% of the salaries that Tesla doles out. Multiple sources told CNBC that Apple pays about one-and-a-half times the salary for technicians, software, and manufacturing engineers compared to Tesla. That might be one of the reasons that high-profile talent like Tesla’s VP of engineering Doug Field is now back at Apple, after a few years at the electric car-maker. Apple has hired former Tesla Autopilot, QA, Powertrain, mechanical design and firmware engineers, and several global supply chain managers too. Some employees joined directly from Tesla, while others had been dismissed or laid off before joining Apple.

One Tesla engineer, as their spokesperson, commented on Apple’s poaching that Tesla must be comparatively poor, but work is more meaningful:

”We wish them well. Tesla is the hard path. We have 100 times less money than Apple, so of course they can afford to pay more. We are in extremely difficult battles against entrenched auto companies that make 100 times more cars than we did last year, so of course this is very hard work. We don’t even have money for advertising or endorsements or discounts, so must survive on the quality of our products alone. Nonetheless, we believe in our mission and that it is worth the sacrifice of time and the never-ending barrage of negativity by those who wish us ill. So it goes.”

Runaways from Tesla to Apple

And CNBC reports that the company from Cupertino is on a hiring spree, poaching “scores” of ex-Tesla employees for a variety of projects, citing better pay at the iPhone giant.

All sources come from LinkedIn profiles. Doug Field, a high profile executive who oversaw engineering for the Tesla Model 3 hasn’t updated his profile at that time. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year he planned to take a “six-week sabbatical.” But this month it came out that he took a job at Apple. That means he is returning to the company he had worked for before Tesla. How things look now, Field is working on Project Titan, Apple’s car project. Apple has a team of at least a few hundreds working on autonomous vehicles, with test vehicles driving on streets of California these days.

Tesla’s employees say that, even before Field left, they saw more colleagues voluntarily leaving than they had in prior years at Tesla.

Tesla disputes that more people are leaving than in recent years and says the data does not back it up. The company told CNBC that voluntary attrition has decreased by one-third over the last twelve months, and noted that it has recently added talent from Apple and other companies.

But the truth seems to be somewhere else.

A former Tesla vehicle engineer who was laid off by the company in June said that stock options at Apple would probably be more attractive than they are at Tesla during a rocky time. Many employees at Tesla already sell their options as soon as they are able to in order to make up for the relatively average salaries and the high cost of living around Silicon Valley, he said.

Maybe the panic caused by a large number of employees leaving Tesla and going to Apple has caused Musk to tweet on August 7th that he is considering taking Tesla company private at $420 per share buyout and that he has secured the funding needed to do so.

Tesla has had a turbulent year, with controversies on daily bases, and the stock options that Tesla employees receive may be less desirable given the stock’s volatile price. Compared to Apple, which became the first company to be valued over $1 trillion earlier this month, Tesla is not giant.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

24th August 2018
Facebook seems to be pushing forward with its blockchain plans

2 min read

The head of its cryptocurrency team David Marcus revealed he was leaving his role at Coinbase to focus on the social network’s strategy. Marcus announced Friday that he would step down from his seat on the board of cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase.

Marcus gave a statement to TechCrunch explaining his stepping down “because of the new group I’m setting up at Facebook around blockchain,” pointing that “Getting to know Brian (Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase), who’s become a friend, and the whole Coinbase leadership team and board has been an immense privilege. I’ve been thoroughly impressed by the talent and execution the team has demonstrated during my tenure, and I wish the team all the success it deserves going forward.”

According to Facebook, this move was made to “avoid the appearance of conflict” between Marcus’ two roles.

Facebook and blockchain plans

It’s not absolutely clear what exactly is going on in Facebook’s developing cryptocurrency division. But according to several reports, something is in progress.

There are speculations about what this might be. Maybe Facebook and blockchain plans are not so unimaginable.

Facebook could build a cryptocurrency wallet.

They could create their own token that could be used for paying things with partnered businesses or through Facebook ads. Blockchain makes transactions free or cheap, so Facebook and its partners could offer users “3% off for buying made with FacebookCoin” or something like that.

Possible Facebook’s cryptocurrency feature could be well-positioned to run such an idea. They have extensive connections with more than six million advertisers and 65 million businesses that have Facebook Pages. The social network could offer less costs of running the program, the transaction fee savings on to the users, and promote partnership with Facebook Crypto as a way to boost sales for businesses. That could get clients to spend more money on Facebook ads because the discounts would increase conversion rates and discounts like this could bring users into.

That could swiftly make Facebook a power player in the global payments ecosystem; or acquiring major blockchain startups, perhaps even Coinbase itself.

Previously, Facebook announced that it won’t be building on the Stellar protocol.

Facebook already lets sending money through Messenger for free, but only with a connected debit card or PayPal account. In the future, they could offer cryptocurrency based payments between friends to let a wider range of users through Messenger. If Facebook Crypto wallet could be fund once with a payment, and with a one-time transaction fee, and then they could send and receive the tokens for free. Blockchain could further increase engagement with Messenger for its 1.3 billion users.

Facebook offered to major banks to integrate financial data into its social platform. That step signaled Facebook’s ambitions to expand its role in finance and e-commerce. But in light of the site’s recent spate of controversies over privacy also raised red flags for many. That incident suggests several potential benefits of applying the technology, as well as some pitfalls. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that technology like blockchain could give users more control, including over financial and other personal data. That could be helpful to moderate future consequences against the platform, which recently reported discouraging user growth.

Why this is so important?

A top problem of decentralized blockchain apps is how you bring your identity with you. Securely connecting your wallet, blockchain-based goods and biographical info to new apps can be a difficult process. Usually, users have to type in long, complex keys that are heavy and annoying to remember. Users of social apps like Facebook Connect, which uses an OAuth single sign-on which provides instantly join apps without creating a new username and password, or filling out a profile and uploading a photo, want this social network because of its simplicity too.

Zuckerberg acknowledged that blockchain systems, which run on distributed swarms of servers, are “harder to control.”

In theory, the first cryptocurrency launched by Facebook would be usable outside of Facebook’s platform, because blockchain-based identity systems could obstruct Facebook’s efforts to gather user data. Even after many years of scandals about privacy, all data continue to exist on Facebook’s core asset. That suggests that any blockchain product have to be very delicate to simultaneously cater to users and shareholders. But Facebook has a strong record of not being traditionally hacked. It wasn’t a massive user data debacle like LinkedIn, Twitter and similar social networks. An openly centralized identity system to connect with decentralized apps might bring the UX comfort necessary to unlock a new wave of blockchain benefits.

Anyway, it seems there are several reasons why David Marcus stepped down from Coinbase board.

And we may guess about Facebook and blockchain plans.

For instance, FB plans to launch exchange or to launch their own payment platform or, which is more possible, to launch its own crypto wallet.

The conflict of interest narrative makes each of these assumptions seems real. Speculations about buying Coinbase are less probably because if Facebook wanted to buy Coinbase, Marcus would have stayed there and brought more of ”his people”.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

13th August 2018
Opera wants to win some fans in the blockchain world

1 min read

Opera wants blockchain and a cryptocurrency wallet. Well, this great news! Opera is to become the first desktop browser to include a cryptocurrency wallet. Users will not need third-party extensions or applications. That is an interesting approach to security. But handling cryptocurrencies is about to get easier.

Opera wants blockchain

The cryptocurrency wallet integrated into the Android version of Opera since June of this year since desktop wallet is synchronized with it. If you want to send some payment, you should sign the transaction using your phone’s built-in fingerprint reader, rather than typing out a long passphrase.

And that is the most important question about security. Passwords can be forgotten. They can be stolen. The biometric access, not perfect but it is, in theory, more secure and less liable to result in irretrievable coins. Funds and assets and the secure cryptographic keys associated with them are stored locally on the user’s phone, not on a remote server somewhere. To connect the mobile wallet to the desktop browser, the user only has to scan a QR code.

Opera wants blockchain and to become the first desktop browser to include a cryptocurrency wallet.

“After making crypto payments smooth and easy on mobile, we wanted the find the perfect solution for PCs”, said Opera EVP of Browsers, Krystian Kolondra, in a statement. “We realized the best way is to utilize our new mobile crypto wallet technology and to give our PC users access to it.”

Opera is making a big bet that blockchain and distributed apps (called Web 3.0) will become mainstream in a significant way. By adding this attribute, it places its browser at the essence of it.

“Our next aim is to make crypto-integration mainstream,” said Kolondra. “We believe blockchain technology has the power to transform the web of tomorrow and expect it to make a big difference in the years to come.”
Opera promises its browser cryptocurrency integration will roll out to users “soon.” Who wants to get a sneak peek can subscribe on https://www.opera.com/crypto.

You might be interested in Project Libra: Facebook’s new currency based on a blockchain
Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

10th August 2018
Ripple – All You Need To Know

1 min read

Actually, I have something to admit. For me, Bitcoin remains the king of the cryptocurrency, especially when it comes to increasing prices and media attention. But there are other pretenders on the throne. and one of them is Ripple.

What is it, what is the difference from Bitcoin and why many do not recognize it as a cryptocurrency?

First of all, it should be explained that Ripple is not a cryptocurrency in the usual sense of the word. In fact, this is a settlement system that has become a faster, more transparent and secure alternative to the existing ones (for example, for the SWIFT system used by banks).

XRP, the so-called Ripple coins is used to facilitate transfers in different currencies. In existing settlement systems, the basis for the conversion is usually a USA dollar. That process is associated with additional costs and lasts for a long time and bank transfers between countries, often last up to 3 days.

Converting payments to XRP instead of dollars, the system saves inventory costs, and transaction processing takes a few seconds.

Many banks have shown interest in the new system and have already tested or implemented applications based on it.

How Ripple differs from Bitcoin

XRP is a token used to transfer values to the Ripple network. While bitcoins were created by mining, all 55 billion XRPs (often referred to as waves) were created by founders.

Every month, through a system of smart contracts, the market gets a billion tokens. In that sense, Ripple copes with the mechanism of gradually increasing the offer of bitcoins, but without the huge cost of electricity for mining.

Technically, it does not even use a blockchain in the usual way. The Ripple blockchain is not distributed over the network of computers, but it is stored on servers of trusted partners in the so-called “permitted” network. This means that it is not a decentralized system.

Ripple is not created as a resources of payment. In fact, it’s only purpose is to transfer values when converting other currencies (or commodities, such as gold or oil) through the Ripple network. Every time a bank or other organization uses it to transfer money or assets, a small amount of XRP is maintained.

How to invest in Ripple

Ripple has definitely taken its niche among the cryptocurrency world, and a large list of organizations that use it shows that tokens themselves will eventually get a great value. Last year, it overcame bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies in terms of growth.

XRP is traded on Binance and Poloniex crypto exchange markets. As a rule, they can not be bought for plain money – first, you have to buy Bitcoin or Ethereum, and then convert them to Ripple.
Interest in Ripple from major financial institutions is an important indicator of its future value.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

1st July 2018
Facebook Starts Accepting Cryptocurrency Ads Again!

1 min read

Facebook starts accepting cryptocurrency ads but retains the ban on advertising of ICO projects.

The policy from Facebook now requires cryptocurrency ads to apply to be listed on the platform, so Facebook will be able to examine their eligibility by verification details, licensing and whether the company is publicly traded.

That means, Facebook has changed its policy and allowed the advertising of cryptos, but the ban on advertising of ICO projects continues, the official statement said on Tuesday, June 26th.

On January this year, Facebook announced a new policy banning companies from advertising initial coin offerings (ICOs), binary options and cryptocurrencies on the platform. The ban on cryptocurrency ads stemmed from ICO scams and the lack of regulation.

Green light for cryptocurrency ads

The new statement said the company was looking for the best way to “preset” a ban on advertising cryptos “over the past few months” to “allow some commercials, but keeping in mind that they are safe.”

In Facebook’s changed policy now stands:

“Starting from June 26th, we will allow the advertising of cryptos and accompanying materials from previously approved persons. We will continue to prohibit commercials that promote binary options and ICO projects.”

The new policy requires from advertisers who want to advertise cryptos to submit a Facebook application in order to verify their business. The applicants must have the licenses they have collected, whether they can trade on public stock exchanges and other important information related to their business.

Bearing in mind these restrictions, Facebook acknowledges that not everyone will be able to advertise what they want. The company says it will listen to feedback from users and change the policy as needed. It is also said that the technology behind the cryptos will continue to be researched.

Facebook first banned cryptos in January 2018, which was aimed at “preventing advertisements promoting financial services that are often associated with frauds.”
Facebook states that the initial ban deliberately encompassed all aspects of the crypt of the world so that the company would have enough time to evaluate and isolate dangerous advertisers.

The reversal comes at a time with rumors that Facebook may be looking to acquire Coinbase. If the rumors are true, Facebook’s acquisition of Coinbase would give the industry a one-step closer to its legitimacy.

Facebook starts accepting cryptocurrency ads, what is next?

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

1st July 2018
EToro or Tradeo, That Is The Question?
We made a comparison

4 min read

***eToro USA LCC does not offer CFDs, only real Crypto assets available

eToro and Tradeo? It is very hard to make a decision about which broker suits you when you want to start trading or investing in cryptocurrencies. You can find a lot of offers but whom to trust? And that is the most powerful weapon in your hands. Freedom to check all of them. I suggest testing everyone who has a demo account.

OK, not exactly all, but let’s say the first 5 on the radar. In intention to help you, we will try to make a comparison between the brokers, eToro and Tradeo.

When you are reading reviews about both, you will find that both are reliable. But there are some PROS and CONS on both sides.

ABOUT Etoro and Tradeo

EToro is one of the largest currency trading companies operating currently in global financial markets. Forex eToro was established in 2007, its headquarters are located in Limassol (Cyprus) and this broker is a Cyprus Licensed and registered investment company.

Tradeo (registered in Cyprus) is not, strictly speaking, a broker in its own right, but a partner of FXGlobe Ltd, who are the actual providers of the brokerage services obtained through the Tradeo platform. They’re an STP brokerage (not a market maker), which means they don’t trade against you.

EToro is a leading social trading platform and takes advantage of the most advanced tools, advice, and support by top professionals.

Tradeo is not the first social trading platform, but they are one of the newest and most heavily invested in the social trading concept as the new wave of Forex’s future.

The fact that eToro has over 5 million users shows that their idea of social trading found it, enthusiasts, globally.
But Tradeo is one of the first trading platforms around that have fully integrated both trade execution and social trading functionality into the same interface.

After we were testing eToro and Tradeo with a smaller real account, we have some experience to share with you. So, let’s start!

Features

our preferred trading platform system is designed to be as user-friendly and transparent as possible. Terms are carefully explained, tutorials are readily available, and policies are straightforward.

Tradeo combines social trading with an advanced, synergistic trading platform, a platform that fully integrates both social and trade execution within the same visual interface.

eToro and Tradeo have enjoyable web and mobile trading platforms and good social trading experience.
To open a real account on eToro, the amount you need to deposit vary across countries and with Tradeo it is €100 but both have free accounts. Tradeo wins this round.

On Tradeo signing up is easier since only one sign up is required.

We have to say that social trading as a form of trading has been largely confined to platforms like eToro or ZuluTrade. That was the case until the introduction of Tradeo’s social trading network, which gave social traders an alternative social platform to trade on.

The eToro ‘Copy Portfolio’ platform allows traders to copy what they refer to as Popular Investors. By following the trends and decisions of experienced traders, newcomers can make a profit without having to learn all the complexities involved. (Also, through the eToro trade copier venue, popular investors are rewarded for sharing their expertise, making this market an effortless second income for veteran traders.)

But Tradeo went a step further. You can follow experienced traders on Tradeo too. One of the unique features of the Tradeo social trading platform is that additional commentary is provided that explains the strategic moves of one’s choice of partner. In other words, a trader may learn as he/she goes along with each mirrored trade. They can chat directly, just like Facebook, with traders that have a wall where they can see what your “friends” are doing. Automatic stop-losses may also be set for added protection.

EToro and Tradeo both have a fast and seamless account opening process, as we already said a bit simpler on Tradeo.

SUPPORT SERVICE

our preferred trading platform support service is not available 24/7 and traders have many difficulties to contact acc officers especially if they don’t live in the same time zone. EToro doesn’t provide live chat (you have to fill the ticket and wait for an answer but not too long) and it is a problem for some traders.

Tradeo highlights its reliability is the quality of their customer support service. To provide their clients with unfettered access to the support services, Tradeo has made their support services available on a 24 hours basis. This means regardless of the time of day, a trader can always request assistance from the support staff at Tradeo. Access to their support services is enhanced by the fact that traders can communicate with the support team through email, live chat, or the telephone.

Both offer multilingual communication.

Free demo account

Both have unlimited FREE DEMO ACCOUNTS. EToro with $100,000 paper money and Tradeo with $50,000 paper money.

76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider
whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

eToro and Tradeo platforms are easy to use and the withdrawal process is fast (account opening is completely hassle-free and super fast).

Both brokers have acc managers who are a real asset and always available, along with great info, but eToro doesn’t provide live chat.

But something has to be NOT GOOD 🙂

our preferred trading platform CONS:
1. Their spreads are slightly more than with most other brokers and their trading platform isn’t as advanced as offered by other brokers.
2. The data eToro provides is not completely transparent.
3. You cannot download or view the full trading history of the traders you may want to copy and the performance statistics only go back for 1 year.
4. The disclosed deadlines are long and you should expect them to be even longer than it is disclosed (instead 5 you can wait up to 10 days)
5. Does not accept Bitcoin deposits/withdrawals
6. Limited cryptocurrency listings
7. No live chat with customers according to testimonials
8. The financial offices are not located in different time zones, which makes communication difficult for the customers
Tradeo’s CONS:
1. Only One Account
2. Limited Payment Options
3. Currently not so developed community
4. High spreads
5. There is a slim column at the bottom of the page for opening an account somewhat slightly annoying. It pops up on almost every page and often interferes with the rest of the information posted there.
6. Salespeople can be pushy
7. The company refrains from publishing exemplary spreads – customers with an interest in this matter must ask support for a current listing.
We recommend you to read this too: How to find and use the best online stocks trading platforms?

IMPORTANT BENEFITS of eToro and Tradeo

Tradeo has a Live stream of trading signals that allows you to view what other traders are buying and selling in real-time and also Live market notification that keeps up-to-date with market movements and improves your trading decisions.

Tradeo has Social WebTrader, an advanced trading platform, layered with social data such as technical indicators and analysis, social charts, one-click trading, free trading signals. And there is one feature that makes the Tradeo’s social chart a little special: Real sentiment and volume indicators which may be switched on or off at any time. This is true data showing where the majority of Tradeo’s clients have their positions on any given currency pair, and how much is being traded through the brokerage. These can be powerful tools for traders who know how to use them.

our preferred trading platform Social Trading features are by large the most evolved in the field.

All traders have a public profile, which can be freely viewed, where several data of past performances can be found. Everyone can follow everyone else, just like all trades can be replicated. Even someone who has never manually opened a trade, by simply replicating other’s trades, can be copied (maybe even you, one day).
Even though it has been improved since the users’ performance view is still not at the same level as the other companies in the field.

But let the traders speak for themselves. Here are some testimonies.

They said about eToro:

* EToro is simply the best and easy to use for newcomers. There is a difference between losing because you made the wrong decisions and a poor site. Most of the comments on this site tell me more about a poor loser than eToro.
* It is the worst platform I came across, freezes 2-6 hours every week during peak times.
* Poor execution (always 8-10 pip delay for execution on top of spreads). You cannot do market orders and have to wait to manually open trades and when you open you lose out 8-10 pips due to poor execution. There is no trailing stops either.
* It seems pretty impossible to reach a customer service representative.

They said about Tradeo:

* I was heavily scammed by Banc de Binary. I won them finally but without help of Tradeo I would not have done it. Guys from Tradeo told me one thing that no regular trader knows. Regulated brokers are not allowed to give signals. That is strictly prohibited in terms of licence but however they do it. That was the main reason I got a positive decision from the Ombudsman of Cyprus and even after that it took about half a year of fight to get my money back. I highly recommend Tradeo as a reliable broker.
* I started with Tradeo 2 months ago. Since then I had really good support. I like the social features and that you can copy other traders. Of course it is not always 100 % profits, but it far better results than if I was trading on my own. I made withdraw 1 week ago and 3 days after I received it without fees. So based on my experience till now I recommend Tradeo both hands.
* I am very satisfied with the attention. Complete users expectation. I received good bases to use the platform, good explanations and customer support. Fast transactions every time I wanted to withdraw money. Highly recommended!
* I got insulted by their sales people after repeating call because I was not interested after testing the demo.

FINAL WORDS

eToro would have scored higher if it was listed on a stock exchange or provided more transparency about its financials. Based on our research and testing we think eToro is not a scam, it is an honest business with regular operation problems. And we hope they will solve them.

Tradeo is one of the better ‘trading platforms’ in terms of social interaction features offered. Wonderful for beginners. Hence Tradeo is more suited to active traders who enjoy engaging with others than passive investors who just want to copy other traders without monitoring their positions.

We hope that this article was helpful to you. If it is that case, feel free to share it with others.

You might like to know Why Are There People Who Profit In Trading?

ETORO DISCLAIMER:

eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFDs.

Please note that CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 76% 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.

Past performance is not an indication of future results. Trading history presented is less than 5 complete years and may not suffice as basis for investment decision.

Copy Trading does not amount to investment advice. The value of your investments may go up or down.
Your capital is at risk.

Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and
you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more

eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs and makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication, which has been prepared by our partner utilizing publicly available non-entity specific information about eToro.
29th June 2018
TRADEO, Why Should You Choose?

3 min read

Tradeo have been established since 2011, and have a head office in Cyprus.

If you try to find them on Facebook and visit their page, you will find that they don’t have many followers, barely 16,000 which is strange for a broker with almost 8 years of experience.

Anyway, Tradeo is a unique Forex & Commodities CFD broker offering a social trading platform. Based on a variety of performance indicators, investors can search and find hundreds of traders to copy or follow, which is good for new ones.

Although many believe that Social Trading is seen by many as an easy way to invest, however there are some risks involved.

To open a live account, you’ll need a minimum deposit of $250 or to use their demo account which is better because you have chance to learn and you can use this FREE DEMO ACCOUNT to try with paper money trading.

Take your time, test, learn, see how it looks when you lose trades, see when you win some.

Also, you can follow what experienced traders do.

Proper research and time must be spent on vetting the various traders you want to follow. But beware, past performance is never an indication of future results, which means a “good” trader will not necessarily continue to be profitable.

And after some time you can open a real account. That’s a big opportunity.

But every single information you can have if you visit their website. which is available in several languages: English, Français, Русский, Italiano, Español, Arabic, Português, German, English and Korean.

That’s why they have a BrokerNotes A support rating because Tradeo offers over three languages.

Use this link to check:
https://tradeo.pro/ww?p=default-0318

In the process of opening account, you’ll need to answer a few basic compliance questions to confirm how much trading experience you have. That’s why you have to put aside at least 15 minutes or so to complete the account opening process.

Every new client must pass a few basic compliance checks to ensure that you understand the risks of trading and are allowed to trade.

It’s important to note that you won’t be able to make any trades until you pass compliance, which can take up to several days, depending on your situation and on your personal data.

SCAM OR LEGIT

Tradeo is licensed in the European Union by CySEC in Cyprus with licensed number 282/15.

For clients outside of Europe, they are is owned by; Adelane Trading Ltd., which is located at Bul. Todor Aleksandrov 28, Floor 9, Sofia, Sofia Center, Bulgaria.

Using a regulated broker is the smart choice for all investors because their license offers you various protections.

Many forex brokers try to be all things to all people at the same time but fail due to a lack of focus. On their website, we find “Tradeo is pioneering the world’s first true Social Trading platform. Backed by leading venture capital firms, Tradeo is committed to revolutionizing the financial trading experience. We’ve spent the last three years working on a suite of exceptional Social Trading tools. From accurate market feeds, advanced charting, and groundbreaking social features to our beautiful interface, Tradeo’s technology represents a quantum leap in the quality of a trader’s overall online experience.”

Tradeo’s operating platform sets them apart from the herd of competitors in this field. Not only can you mirror-trade by choosing from a large group of expert global traders, but you may also learn from the strategy commentary included by the service and set loss limits that will automatically protect your risk downside. The social trading feature set is free. You may trade forex, stocks, commodities, and indices, and your account is protected by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission. (CySEC)

WHY TRADE WITH TRADEO?

You can find several reasons:

1) Tradeo was founded after three years of intense development, by experts in the forex industry and social trading operating systems;
2) Two trading platforms: Tradeo’s proprietary trading platform or MT4;
3) Nearly 100 asset choices, comprised of forex pairs, stocks (CFDs), commodities, and indices;
4) Free demo account for unlimited time, and only one account classification;
5) No dealing desk – full Straight-Through Processing (STP) trading model;
6) Help desk support available online via email or live chat, or direct phone line;
7) No additional commissions for Social Trading features;
8) Leverage offered up to 200:1.

And for beginners very important information.

One of the features of the Tradeo social trading platform is that additional commentary is provided that explains the strategic moves of your choice of partner. In other words, you may learn as you go with each mirrored trade.

Also, automatic stop-losses may be set for your protection.

And you have several ways to access to support personnel which is available through live chat, email or direct phone connection.

You can find great recommendations and testimonials for Tradeo in forums:

“I thought it would be hard to get started, but they really made it easy. Once I picked a few leading traders to copy, it was all automatic – now I just sit back and watch them trade for me!”

But also:

“I’ve been with Tradeo but I’m soon leaving. I’m waiting to be paid my Rev Share commissions since 6 weeks. I posted a message on their chat wall asking if anybody else got the same problem and guess what? A formal Senior Account Manager answered that they cannot afford anymore any payment and that he is still waiting to receive part of his salary. SO PLEASE BE CAREFUL ….”

As we can see, the experiences are different. We can not ignore the fact that mistakes are sometimes caused by our side.

So, it is the smartest way to create a demo account at first. To avoid mistakes.

Tradeo competes with eToro, one of the largest “Social Trading” brokers.

But eToro has ‘’Copy Portfolio’’.

About other respectable exchanges read HERE

26th June 2018