After OpenBook, a highly innovative piece of software from eToro comes something tied in and potentially even better. Launched this Summer, Copy Trader allows you to select Forex and Commodity traders from OpenBook to copy their trades automatically. You can only allocate 20% of your account to these copies, and you get to invest 10% of the traders trade, so unless you’ve got a huge account you’re not going to make a mil overnight.

Having said that, if you look at what is going on at the platform, it’s quite obvious that a lot of traders see it as a valuable tool. So, it’s time to revisit it, and take a look at the ‘ups and downs’ of this fascinating new product.

Just select, click and sit back, goes the blurb, no need to learn about trading etc, all on autopilot. Hmm… Now this software is great, but as we all know there is no such thing as a magic bullet, although in this case, it could be referred to as a ‘smart bullet’ (in the right hands).

You will need to pick your traders carefully, based on a variety of criterion. If you listened to the ‘pitch’ (and believed it), you could go away for a few weeks vacation, safe in the knowledge that your account will be a lot bigger in the black on your return.

Hmmm… Worst case scenario, while you’re away, Rod, Jane, and Freddy all for some reason simultaneously go bonkers, and rack up a load of losing trades – which have been automatically copied to your account. All very unlikely, but, in this game you’ve always got to be aware of the potential downside, even more so when you are literally putting your hard earned cash in someone else’s hands.

So you are probably not going to get wiped out, but the point is, you cannot leave anything to run on autopilot without at least checking in on a pretty much daily basis. A trader that you are copying may decide to experiment with a new currency pair, or commodity, which may not suit their style, and bang, a run of losing trades reflected in your ‘p and l’.

In short this is a potentially great tool which needs a bit of care in use, and attention to detail. If you would like to check what types of elements you should be looking at when copying traders, then head on over to a newly launched Copy Trader learning site, which is taking an experimental look at the software to assess it’s viability, and to create a learning base for new traders.

The site is taking real examples using a demo account, and at the very least gives new traders a couple of ideas on where to start with Copy Trader.

AVA FX one of the world’s biggest Forex and Commodities trading platforms has introduced a limited time offer of free cash bonuses for new account holders.

Open an account with them receive a cash bonus which is only available to new customers.

To receive a $50 bonus, open a silver account with a minimum of $100. If you open a gold account you will receive a bonus of between $100, and $1,000 – dependent on the size of your deposit which must be between $1,00 and $9,999. To claim a bonus of $1,200, you will need to open a Platinum account with a deposit of $10,000 or more.

If you are flush enough to open a $50,000 Ava Premium account then you will need to call AVA FX to find out what special VIP benefits are currently on offer.

To sign up with AVA FX, or to find out more about their trading platform visit www.avafx.com.

Forexyard, one of the most successful Forex and Commodities Trading Platforms is currently running a great cash-back promotion for current and new account holders.

Deposit funds worth $1,000 or more into your Forexyard account and receive a 10% cash-back bonus of up to $1,000.

If you deposit $1,000 you will get $100 cash-match, and $500 for a deposit of $5,000.

On top of this, anyone who makes a $5,000 deposit will be eligible for their new free advanced trading courses, which have been developed in partnership with the Online Trading Academy.

Starting with an Introductory Forex course, the courses move on to cover Advanced Forex Trading Techniques, Technical Analysis, Fibonacci Training, Risk Management, and the all important Stress Management.

To take advantage of both of these offers, or to open an account, visit www.forexyard.com

Etoro one of the biggest Forex and Commodities trading platforms is running two bonuses at the moment, which combined could be a nice little earner for you and a pal – or just someone you know.

With their ‘Invite a Friend’ program you get $100 added to your account for the referral, and the new account holder gets $50. The $50 is on top of the welcome bonus that is received by anyone opening a new account with Etoro. To claim the bonus, you just need to click on the ‘Invite A Friend’ button in the account balance of your trading software, and enter your friends’ email.

Etoro’s welcome bonuses are staggered on a scale dependent on whether you sign up for their Mini, Standard, Silver, or Gold accounts. You can get a $25 bonus for opening a mini account, all the way up to $1,000 for opening a gold account (minimum deposit $4,999).

Don’t forget to check out the terms and conditions, and remember this deposit bonus is only open to new customers. But don’t forget the ‘Invite a Friend’ is open to all members, so check through your Rolladex, erm, I mean contact list, and see if there’s anyone who would do well to sign up at Etoro.

Trinitas Capital (IOM) owners of Betsfortraders.com have announced that they have sold their financial betting business to the Regents Market Group.

This means that the Betsfortraders website is now closing, and clients are being advised to claim their account balance from Betsfortraders and transfer to Betonmarkets.com who are now owned by Regent. The future of Betsortraders is unclear, although at this stage it appears that the site is simply going to vanish!

On one level this is good news for new punters, as Betonmarkets may start a bit of a promotional drive to help quickly grab those undecided clients leaving Betsfortraders. Both sites work in the same way, although Betonmarkets’ range of products and bet types is larger. For those who are thinking of dipping their toes in the world of fixed odds financials, Betonmarkets’ minimum deposit of £10 was quite an incentive over Betsfortraders £50 minimum (not that deposit minimums are the ‘be and end all’ of choosing your online broker). So, maybe this is not a great loss to the trading world – time will tell.

It does make you wonder what happens to websites when they are discarded, particularly those with advanced and very user friendly trading software. We may see it resurface re-branded in the future, although these things don’t usually happen over-night. Anyway, watch this space, and if you are wondering if there are going to be any choice promotions in the offing, check out Betonmarkets.