Weekly Review and OpenBook Round Up

(eToro Blog) In the U.S., the markets focus was riveted on the U.S. Capitol where Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke concluded two days of testimony before various members of the Senate and House of Representatives banking and finance committees. Traders were anxiously awaiting any sign that the Fed’s gloomy outlook would be followed by a promise of defensive easing, but Bernanke, as usual, carefully couched his words to say only that the Fed would move when necessary. Bernanke doesn’t see any signs that the country could move into a double dip recession, but rather sees moderate growth ahead, leading many to speculate on the likelihood of future accommodation. Goldman Sachs recently released a report which said that their economists expect to see some easing which might come at the August or September Fed meeting, but the stronger possibility is that it will occur only after the U.S. presidential election in November.

The Fed’s beige book was also released late yesterday, and showed that there was moderate expansion in June through the present, but growth and the jobs market remained tepid at best; two key districts, namely New York and Philadelphia, reported slower growth, as did the Cleveland district and manufacturing declined in nearly all regions.

In the Eurozone, the debt crisis plods along with no resolution in sight, and even stoic German Chancellor Angela Merkel shows signs of doubts, expressed publicly on her political party’s website. It’s clear that markets are also doubtful, and expressed that with a rise in Spanish borrowing costs; today’s auction of Spanish sovereign debt saw the yield on 5-year treasuries rise to 6.459%, well above the 6.072% yield on a similar issuance in June. Spain is at the fore of the crisis; Finland and Holland both oppose the Spanish bailout, while other nations are argue over which entity will ultimately bear responsibility for repayment of the bailout – Spain’s banks or Spain’s government? Some economists are of the opinion that Spain’s banks are the tip of the iceberg and that the Spanish government will eventually need its own bailout.

One of the best features on OpenBook – some might say it’s the best – is eToro’s unique CopyTrade feature. There has been an incredible surge in popularity and usage, simply because it is an effective way to maximize profits – even if you know nothing about the forex, commodities or stock markets. CopyTrade has provided any opportunity for any individual – whether newbie, occasional, or experienced – to become a successful and profitable trader.

On that note, we introduce you to a pair of traders who can be found high up on the rankings board by virtue of their careful CopyTrade picks. We looked first at trader aykhan from Canada, who is ranked #6 on the 1-year rankings board and #34 on the 6-months board, with a win ratio of 90.9%, profitable days ratio of 49.4% and gains over the period of 33.7%. The trader currently has 131 followers and 6 copiers. The trader got to the #6 spot by copying OpenBook guru’s sadiqashanaz97 and erohal2009, exclusively.

Bearing in mind that the statistics reflect opened positions, trader aykhan had booked profits over nearly every period; last week he earned 0.1%, suffered a small 1.2% loss for last month, had a 0.7% profit for the last quarter, 27.5% profit for the 6-month period and 33.7% for the year. Comparatively, over the same periods, guru sadiqashanaz97 had a 1.6% profit for last week, a loss of 0.9% last month, a 1.1% profit in the last quarter, 92.1% over the last 6-months and 159.6% over the last year. Similarly, guru erohal2009 had a loss last week of -0.1%, a loss last month of 4.5%, another loss for the quarter of 5.2% and then profits of 36.2% and 123.3% over the 6-month and 1-year periods.

Trader davidgp of Venezuela is also on the 6-months ranking board in position #7 with a win ratio of 82.8%, profit days ratio of 53.8% and gains of 16.1% over the period. Like aykhan, trader davidgp also employs CopyTrade successfully, but to a somewhat higher degree. Trader davidgp has several gurus that he copies, including sadiqashanaz97, santoshtiwari, waleed0987, Malsolo, NMarijus and pawelskrzypek. Trader davidgp’s statistics are an amalgam of all of this CopyTraders’ own statistics; for the last week the trader had a profit of 4.6%, for last month it was 3.4%, for the last quarter 0.5%, for the last 6-months it was 16.1% and for the last year it was 14.1%.

While it is unclear just when trader aykhan’s and davidgp’s began copying their respective gurus, what becomes abundantly clear from the statistical data is the importance of not placing too heavily a reliance on too few gurus. While most of the gurus have been consistently profitable, they will be the first to tell you that trading is never a sure thing, especially not in these uncertain times and even some of the best gurus have had to accept a loss when the markets turned sour. But the larger the stable of gurus, the more likely a CopyTrading trader will be able to weather a downturn.

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