Etoro is fun but might be a scam

Dear diary, I am feeling something akin to disappointment but it’s nothing so deep that I can’t get over. As I was saying yesterday I found this forex trading program called etoro. I tried it out and found it interesting by comparison to 2 other forex trading platforms I demoed. I’ve been trading the USD against the CAD (United States dollar against the Canadian dollar) and the USD against the JPY (the United States dollar against the Japanese Yen). I’ve been having fun with it. The interface is right up my alley. I don’t do too well reading charts and graphs. The etoro interface makes it easy for an average capacity brain like mine to understand what is going on by making it plain as day. But as it turns out, etoro might be a scam. Such a shame.

But I suppose it makes sense because after using etoro for 12 or so hours I was starting to think forex trading isn’t really all that complicated if you only want to use it to make a few dollars per day. In “fun” mode I’ve seen profits ranging from $1.86 to $218.02, of course that’s before the broker took his imaginary cut. My total profit before the broker took his cut was $425.14 (I still have an open order waiting to turn profit). With the broker’s cut deducted my profit right now is $226.10, which isn’t bad for 10 hours of staring at a computer screen waiting for the right moment to close a trade. So naturally I was already starting to think I’ve found a possible answer to some of my money problems. If I can make $200 per day trading forex that would help my situation significantly.

But from what I’m reading the creators of the etoro platform might have intentionally fixed it so that while you’re in practice mode you have pretty good results (this is what I’m reading. I’m not making an accusation). However, once you start trading with real money your results are a bit different and you end up losing consistently as opposed to profiting consistently as you were doing in test mode. I’ve also read that when you have a profit and want to withdraw your profit they practically ask you for DNA samples and take you through a long drawn out security check process which sometimes ends with you not getting your money.

Again, I haven’t had this experience so I don’t know if it’s true; but I decided to check out etoro to see if there were complaints about scams as I was thinking seriously about preparing to trade with real money in a couple of weeks. When I looked up etoro scams I found a few complaints and discussions that did not speak favorably; but more importantly, for such a user friendly platform that makes it so easy to trade forex, I’m surprised I don’t see rave reviews from CNN and MSN money and other reputable and reliable places like that.

Right now I am running etoro waiting for the Japanese Yen to begin to lose some steam. I think if this is indeed a scam it’s unfortunate. It’s a nice little application. But just in case it is a scam I suppose I’d better try to learn how to trade using one of those more difficult platforms. Some “real trader” commented that etoro is an insult to “real traders”, likening the platform to a cheap flash game. Another referred to it as a platform for newcomers to forex trading who will never become real traders. Well, I’m not really looking to become a trader so that would have been okay with me. But I’m certainly not interested in throwing money away as I don’t have money to throw away. I could deal with losing my money honestly; but to lose it on account of the dishonesty of others is something else altogether.

I will need to test other trading platforms to see if my results are similar to etoro. Those “real traders” sure sound full of themselves though. Why the need to be disdainful towards “newbies”? Were they born trading or were they at one point “newbies” themselves? Sigh…