What is an eToro Popular Investor?
An eToro popular Investor is one of the traders we're copying on their site. One of eToro's main selling points is its 'Copy Trading' option. It's why I, and millions of others, joined the site.
It allows us to automatically copy all the trades of more experienced traders and investors. It's incredible.
So how do the traders we copy Make Money from it?
They make money directly from eToro. The customers don't pay them, eToro does.
The more people are copying you, and the more money they're copying you with, the more you can earn.
How Can I have my trades copied?
It's really very simple. The eToro popular Investor program is designed so that anyone can try it out. They want to offer as many great traders to their customers as possible. After all, great traders are what we're all looking for, so eToro's always on the lookout for new talent.
Do I need To Be a professional Trader?
Nope. You don't need to be a professional trader, or financially trained - no certificates or degrees are needed... Just talent. Users on eToro will be checking your statistics page - if they like what they see, they'll copy you. It's that simple.
How do I sign up?
In eToro's 'help' section, you'll see this link to the Popular Investor Page.
It gives lots of information about the benefits and requirements of the program.
Right at the top of the page, there's an 'Apply Now' button. Click that, and it will walk you through the process...
Before you click apply! There are some requirements... (They're simple...)
Anyone can join the eToro popular Investor program, provided you've met their requirements.
You can see the requirements explained briefly if you scroll down on that same Popular Investor page.
There are 4 levels or 'Tiers' of Etoro Popular Investor
In order to keep things simple, and also reward good performance, eToro has made 4 different levels or 'Tiers'.
As you get more copiers, and have more money copying you, you can rise through these tiers.
As you rise through the levels, the benefits and payments get better. The better you do, the more you'll make...
The requirements are different at each level. In order to progress you'll need more people to be copying you, and more money being used to copy you overall.
You'll need to adhere to eToro's 'Responsible Trading Guidelines' at every level - that never changes. First, let's go over the 4 different levels:
Level 1 - 'Cadet'
The first level is 'Cadet'. This is where we all start. If you sign up, and meet the requirements, you'll start as a cadet.
Requirements:
Responsible Trading
You'll need to adhere to eToro's 'Responsible Trading' policy.
Max Daily Risk Score
This means that your 'Risk Score' can never go over 6 out of 10, and you can't use as much 'leverage' when you trade as other people.
Your 'Risk Score' is calculated daily by eToro. All traders on the site have a current risk score. Etoro are trying to make especially sure that Popular Investors don't do crazy things with other people's money...
You can find your current risk score on your stats page in your profile.
(you can find the leverage restrictions in this post on etoro)
Trading with leverage involves risk
Minimum Copiers
You'll need at least one 'Verified' copier before you apply.
That means you'll need someone to copy you who has verified their account fully with eToro.
Verification is really a standard step in joining eToro - you can find out more about it in this post.
Sometimes people don't do it though, and it can cause problems with withdrawals etc due to money laundering laws.
The person who copies you also can't be a family member, so you'll need to find a way to get your first copier. We'll get to that later.
Once you have one copier or more, you can apply to be a popular Investor.
Minimum AUC
AUC stands for 'Assets Under Custody'. It refers to the amount of money people are using to copy your trades.
So, if you get all of the people who are copying you, and you add all of the money they are copying you with together - that's your AUC.
At cadet level, you need to have at least $1000 of other people's money copying you. That's not much really - it's pretty do-able 🙂
Minimum Time in Level
You'll have to stay in this level for at least 2 months, so you can't just leapfrog all the way to the top level Popular Investor straight away. Even if you fulfill all of the requirements for the top level investor on day 1, you'll still have to wait to get there.
You have to go through all of the levels one at a time first.
WHAT Benefits do i get at cadet level?
The chart on the right shows the benefits at all levels of the eToro Popular Investors program.
At Cadet level, you're on the first step of the ladder. It's nowhere near the top tiers, but it's an all-important start...
From here, you have to prove yourself to the community.
As you progress to the next level, you'll start to get monthly payments, and eventually possibly a share of your AUM.
LEvel 2 + 3 - 'Champion' & 'Elite'
Level 2 and 3 both come with monthly payments directly from eToro. Nice!
Increasing AUM, Equity, and Copier Numbers are needed to progess.
You have to stay at Champion level for 4 months and at Elite level for at least 2 months.
MONTHLY PAYMENTS
Once you achieve 'Champion' Level, you'll get a monthly payment directly from eToro for as long as you stay at that level. At 'Elite' level that payment becomes a percentage payout based on your AUC.
Cadet Level (the entry level) is the only one where you don't get one of these payments...
WITHDRAWALS WITHOUT FEES
You'll also have fee-free withdrawals from eToro from 'champion' level upwards. No more fees every time you want to take money back out of the site...
LEvel 2 - Champion
At 'Champion' level you'll have a red star next to your name on eToro.
LEvel 3 - Elite
The green star shows you're at 'Elite' level of the eToro Popular Investor Program.
Level 4 - Elite Pro
The black star means you've reached the highest level of Popular Investor on eToro - the 'Elite Pro' level.
elite and Elite Pro level popular investor on etoro
This is where it gets potentially quite amazing financially.
Share of 'Assets under Custody' (AUC)
On the previous level, you get a monthly payment. Once you reach 'Elite' level, you get a different type of payment altogether...
You'll get (depending on your level and factors) between 1.5% and 2.5% of your annual AUC (paid each month).
The higher your AUC, the higher your payments
At this point, you're rewarded with a percentage of your AUC (Assets Under custody). So, if you have $5 million of other people's money copying you, you'll get a share of it.
$5,000,000 X 2% = $100,000
Split that number in 12 (so they can work out a monthly payment)
$100,000/12 = $8,333 / month.
Some PIs have a lot more than 5 million AUC - it can get extremely lucrative...
Nice.
How hard is it to get to Elite Pro Level?
It's not easy - your statistics need to be attracive enough in terms of RISK and Profitability. If you're doing well, consistently, people will see it.
It seems to pick up momentum. The more copiers you have, the more visible you become... Copiers may comment on your posts or engage in some other way. That's all going to make you more visible and, get more people having a look at your stats.
eToro Editor's Choice
At the top of the 'Copy People' page, you'll see the 'Editor's Choice' section. Here, eToro regularly highlight various traders who they believe the community might be interested in.
Getting featured in this section often rockets a popular Investor into the spotlight. When this happens, copier numbers often increase exponetially for a while. Keeping those new copiers is really up to your performance though...
How do you get into the Editor's Choice? I have no idea 🙂 Do well consistently I think.
The Popular Investor Dashboard
Once you're a Popular Investor, you'll have access to a whole new dashboard within your eToro profile. It'll show you metrics on the number of copiers you have, you Assets Under Control, and much more!
Many of these features only start working when you have more than 20 copiers. So don't panic if they're not there immediately!
How do i get my first copier?
Everyone needs 1 verified copier to get started. It's part of the requirements before you apply. So how do you get yourself one?
Can my copier be a family member?
Unfortunately not. It needs to be someone else. The best way I've seen is to either get a friend to copy you, or attract someone from the community.
HOW?
One of the best ways seems to be through posts within the Etoro community. But becareful - nobody likes a spammer. You can easily get reported by other users if you just keep spamming... Useless requests for copiers or unrealistic descriptions of your trading prowess are never welcome.
Other user may end up reporting your posts. If so, eToro may check to see if you're in breach of their community guidelines. If you are, you may be blocked from posting for some time, which you want to avoid at all costs.
The best strategy is to offer actual value to the community somehow. Find something which may be of real genuine use to the community. Find a piece or niche of information which nobody else is gathering and share it. Give people something truly helpful and they'll reward you with attention.
The more attention you have (as long as your stats are already good), the more people are likely to copy you. Starting off can be difficult, but once things are moving, it's easier to keep them moving.
BEST OF LUCK! And see you on the site 🙂
Check out How I'm doing here 🙂
Here's my profile on eToro...
Copy Trading does not amount to investment advice. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.