Compare the 7 best social copy trading platforms in 2024

By:

Prash Raval

Prash is a financial writer for Invezz covering FX, the stock market and investing. For over a decade he has traded spot FX full time while... read more.

 & 

James Knight

James is the Editor of Education for Invezz, where he covers topics from across the financial world, from the stock market, to cryptocurrency, to macroeconomic markets.... read more.

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Richard Stutely

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Updated: Dec 7, 2023

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Our experts ran a series of tests on all the leading social and copy trading services to put together a definitive list of the best options. We rated each trading platform according to its cost, how many other users there are, and how easy it is to verify each trader’s track record.

Best social trading networks for copy trading overall for 2024

What are the best copy trading platforms?

These platforms offer the best trading experience and you can sign up right now by following any of the links below. To find out what each platform is best for, scroll down to keep reading.

Top 7 social copy trading platforms, reviewed

1. Plus500. Best for international CFD trading*

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4300

No. assets

$100

Minimum deposit

Stocks

Platform type

Pros & Cons

Can get a free demo account A great mobile platform Well regulated in multiple jurisdictions Wide variety of CFDs to trade Several good risk management tools

No support on trading information and education Website isn’t brilliantly designed to help users find answers to their questions No MetaTrader trading platform compatibility

Overview

We love Plus500 because it is one of the industry’s most transparent and reliable brokers. Its fees are clear and you’ll know exactly what you will be paying before you make a trade. Its technology driven platform gives access to CFDs on over 2000 stocks.

Plus500 has something for all types of stock trader, no matter what level of experience. Its zero commission and tight spreads make it a top choice for day traders and its trading academy is packed with educational content, perfect for beginners just starting.

For accurate instrument availability, visit plus500.com.

The fees: There are no commission fees on any trades with Plus500 and it makes it money through the Bid/Ask spread. Spread starts from 0.01% and varies depending on the instrument. Additional fees include overnight funding depending on trade size and guaranteed stop orders, which add a minimum of 10% to the spread. There is an inactivity charge of £10 per month for accounts not logged in for three months. 

*Based on a comparison of 60+ leading brokers and trading platforms.

Visit Plus500 Plus500 Review

Buy or sell stock CFDs with Plus500. 82% 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.

2. Best online broker for range of markets

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...

No. assets

...

Minimum deposit

Stocks

Platform type

Pros & Cons

Regulated by several financial authorities Free stock and ETF trading for US traders Earn interest on cash balance Free demo trading account available

The desktop trading platform is complex to navigate Customer service not available 24/7 Credit/debit card payment not available

Overview

We love Interactive Brokers because it has one of the widest selections of tradable assets we’ve ever seen. IBKR is one of the best-known and longest-running brokers in the world and when you create an account you’ll have access to tens of thousands of stocks, ETFs, funds, indices, currencies, bonds, and cryptocurrencies. 

Besides lots of markets, Interactive Brokers also offers a good range of additional tools and features including risk management tools, cutting-edge portfolio management services, and the ability to automate your trading system through ready-made or custom-built algorithms. 

The fees: Charges vary depending on the asset you’re trading. Stocks and ETFs are commission-free, as are most funds. Options fees range from $0.15 to $0.65 per option contract. Cryptocurrency fees range between 0.12% to 0.18% of the trade value. Forex trades have commissions which can be as low as a fraction of a pip. 

Visit Interactive Brokers Interactive Brokers Review

3. Public. Best for sharing beginner trading ideas

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...

No. assets

...

Minimum deposit

Stocks

Platform type

Pros & Cons

Commission free stock and ETF investing Share and compare your portfolio on a social trading platform Trade crypto, fractional shares, and alternative investments

You can't trade on margin or use leverage No forex, options, funds, metals, or bonds

Overview

We love Public because it’s a social platform where you can share trading tips and get ideas from other people. Public offers 9,000+ financial instruments, including cryptocurrencies and stocks from around the world.

Alongside a community of other investors all sharing their ideas, Public offers real time news and information so that you can see the full picture before you invest. And the assets don’t just include your run-of-the-mill assets; you can make alternative investments in things like handbags and comic books as well.

The fees: There are no fees for investing in stocks during regular trading hours in the US – 9.30am-4pm EST. There is a $2.99 fee for trades outside of regular hours.

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4. Degiro. Best for 0% commission on US stocks

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50

No. assets

...

Minimum deposit

Stocks

Platform type

Pros & Cons

Low trading fees No minimum deposit required Segregated client funds

No US customers No forex or cryptocurrencies offered for trading Limited educational resources

Overview

We love Degiro because it offers a simple trading platform so that you can trade quickly and easily wherever you are. Degiro offers stock trading on 50 stock exchanges in 30 countries, including the US, UK, and all leading European markets, with free stock trading on all US stocks.

Degiro has won 86 international awards and is one of the largest companies in Germany. All its services are available online or via the Degiro app. The website also boasts a huge range of educational material, including an Investor’s Academy, to help you get started.

The fees: All stock trades come with a €1 handling fee. US stock trading has no other fees, UK stock trading costs $1.75, and European stock trading costs €3.90. The rest of the world costs €5. A core selection of ETFs are free to trade, other global ETFs cost €2 plus a €1 handling fee. Derivative trading costs €0.75. There are no inactivity, deposit, or withdrawal fees.

Visit DEGIRO DEGIRO Review

Investing involves risk of loss

The best copy trading platforms for your needs

What’s the best social network for traders?

Zulutrade has the best social trading features. It is not a broker itself, but like a live trading feed that integrates with your brokerage account.

What is the best copy trading platform?

eToro, thanks to its unique CopyTrader feature. eToro’s CopyTrader is like a social media feed plugged into your trading account, where you can copy positions from your feed to your account at the touch of a button.

Which platform is best for copying forex trades?

AvaTrade is best for copy trading forex. You can copy trades directly or link your account to a social trading network, like Zulutrade, and add trades to your account from there.

What is the best platform for copy trading crypto?

eToro. It offers a wide range of cryptocurrencies along with a quality copy trading service. You can trade 70+ crypto coins, including the most popular digital assets, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin.

What is the best platform for copy trading stocks?

Zulutrade, because you can connect it to any leading stock broker and access thousands of stocks. You can find hundreds of traders to follow, all with an in-depth knowledge of the stock market.

What is a social trading platform?

Social trading platforms are stock brokers that allow users to take advantage of a wide range of ‘social’ features, such as viewing others trading strategies, or copying their trades. These services offer a trading experience that’s more tailored to new or casual traders, with more experienced investors offering their advice and expertise for others to follow.

What is social trading?

It’s a form of trading that works like a social network. Traders interact with each other, use those interactions to improve their trading strategy, and copy each other’s trades. It’s a good way for beginners to learn from more experienced users by following the thought process that makes them buy or sell an asset, or seeing a particular trading strategy in action.

If you would like to learn more and create your own trading strategies, on this site you can also find other interesting articles written by our finance experts, related to the best day-trading platforms, the top trading apps and more.

How does social trading work?

Social trading works by offering a platform for beginners and experienced traders to interact. Professional traders can post their trades and other users can comment on each one, or copy them to open their own position immediately.

Similar to social networks like Instagram or Twitter, users are able to gain followers by offering the best content. Traders who prove themselves with the best performance over a long period of time can end up with a large number of followers.

Often the trader can make money based on the number of people following each trade. Sometimes by charging for access to their trades, other times the platform pays them a commission based on the amount of trades that are copied.

What is copy trading?

It’s the act of copying another investor’s trades straight to your brokerage account. Ideally, the other investor is more experienced and successful than you in the financial markets. It’s a way for new traders to start following a profitable trading strategy without doing the research themselves.

Copy trading often goes hand in hand with social trading, as you can use one of these platforms to curate your own feed, like a social media network. Each trader posts trade ideas, with some reasoning that explains why they’ve made a particular move, and you can then copy that trade straight to your own account.

Many copy trading brokers allow you to audit each person’s track record, so you can find and follow only the most successful traders.

Quick answers to key questions

Is social trading the same as copy trading?

They are similar but with social trading the emphasis is on the social: these platforms give you the chance to interact and share ideas with other users, like a social network. Copy trading is a more transactional form of trading where you can simply copy someone else’s trades onto your own account.

Copy trading can be manual, where you follow another trader on a social trading network and copy the positions you like. It can also turn into mirror trading, which is essentially an automated version of this process. You can set up alerts or trading signals through an algorithmic trading service and simply copy every trade it sends you to your own broker account.

Is mirror trading the same as copy trading?

Yes, but mirror trading is automatic while a copy trading method is manual. Mirror trading is when you set up your account to automatically follow all the trades from another trader’s account. Copy trading, meanwhile, involves more manual selection: you follow a trader and decide which trades to copy.

Mirror trading is most common in the forex markets. Some people choose to set up their account to automatically copy trade forex positions from more experienced currency trader. However, it isn’t exclusive to forex, you can also use the same method to copy trade stocks or crypto.

How much does it cost to use a copy trading broker?

The best copy trading platforms do not charge any fees for copying other traders. It’s normally possible to join a network for free and you can browse and copy other users without incurring a charge.

However, there may be a minimum deposit that you have to meet in order to open an account. For example, a social trading platform may allow you to copy other traders for free, as long as you deposit a minimum of $200 into your trading account. 

If you want to mirror trades (mirror trading is where trades are copied automatically to your broker account) then there is sometimes a fee.

Which is the best social investing network?

eToro is the best social investment network. It has millions of copy traders from 140 countries around the world, which makes it a fertile ground for sharing ideas and trade suggestions.

What is the most popular copy trading platform?

Again, eToro is the most popular copy trading app. It gives you the chance to audit any user you want to copy trades from to check that they have a strong track record. This has helped it attract millions of new users to the platform.

Do I need any copy trading software?

No, the best social trading platforms do no require you to download anything. You can copy trade from web browser or mobile app, all you need to do is sign into your account.

Can I copy trade via MT4?

Yes, you can copy trades to your broker account through the MetaTrader 4 software. Most brokers integrate with MT4, the software simply gives you more freedom to analyse the market and learn trading strategies.

How should I choose a social trading platform?

The most important thing is to look for a broker with social or copy trading features. That means the ability to audit other users and their trading record so that you only follow the most successful traders.

• Fees. Pick a platform that charges the lowest trading fees. While the social network aspect is usually free, you may have to pay to place trades. This is very important if you plan to make a lot of trades.
• Choice of assets. Social trading platforms initially became popular as a way of copy trading forex markets. However, as time has progressed most copy trading software now lets you trade lots of assets and you’ll need to make sure what you want to trade is available. You can copy trade crypto, stocks, or currency markets, so there are lots of options.
• Reliability. When copying a trade there will be a slight delay before it’s executed on your platform. This could mean you get a worse price than advertised by the trader. Read customer reviews on each platform to get an idea of how reliable and fast its trading service is.
• Number of users. Platforms with the highest number of users tend to be the best and offer the widest choice of traders to copy or learn from. You’ll find it easier to search for profitable traders to copy for each specific asset class you wish to trade. Connecting with other users via the platform is also a much smoother process. 
• In depth trading history and information. If you plan to use a social trading platform to copy other users, you will find it beneficial to have as much information about their trading history as possible. When choosing a copy trading service, it’s important to look out for one that offers in-depth history for all of its traders on the network. 

Should I use a social trading platform?

Social trading platforms are great for beginners. It’s a lot easier to learn by following the decisions of more experienced traders, and you can make money along the way. Most social trading platforms offer a simple copy trading option and you can automate your trades if you want.

Experienced traders should also consider the benefits of social trading platforms. Professionals are able to earn passive income from allowing other users to copy their trades. Or they can increase their profits by copying or engaging with other traders who have a profitable track record. 

All these platforms also let you track your own performance. This makes it easy to keep tabs on your copied trades and profits. It’s possible to build a diversified portfolio of the best traders on each network and copy trades from different assets. Using online copy trading brokers means you spread your money around different investments while profiting from someone else’s expertise. 

Pros and cons of social trading

FAQs