In March 2014 International Finance Magazine recognized WhoTrades.com as the best social network for traders 2014.
3rd April 2014
The network attracted thousands of followers only over two years, uniting traders from around the world. In this interview, company founder Victor Remsha talks about how the social network has achieved such success.
IFM: Victor, how did you get the idea to create social network for traders?
Victor: We saw the power of social networks as a special instrument designed for exchange trading at the stage when this phenomenonhad just started to gain popularity. Our company launched a new prototype of this project, Common social network focused on the Russian traders, in 2007. This was a logical move, since our business originated from Russia where we are the oldest and the largest broker operating under the brand name FINAM. We initially considered a social network as an effective communication tool launched for integration with high technology, so we implemented a number of challenging breakthrough solutions in Comon project. In particular, the users got the opportunity to trade on the Russian exchanges and currency markets and mirror deals of other users of the networkfor the first time in the history of social networking. Followers were enthusiastic about the company’s aspiration to create not just a platform for communication, but also a high-tech service with a set of various exchange instruments enabling users to learn how to trade and make deals. The number of users increased tenfold in no time, and only a few networks could boast such a strong growth.
FINAM Investment Holding reached the level of a global broker, becoming a member of leading US and European stock exchanges two years ago and the social network broke new ground along with it. So as you can see, a global social network for traders developed from the Comon project.
IFM: In your opinion, what is the main difference between WhoTrades and other social networks?
Victor: We have at least three strong points. The main difference is the global nature of the network. We unite not just traders from a particular country, but the whole world. Traders from more than 50 countries trade and write blogs on the site, interfac eof the social networkis translated into 21 languages, and more than 600,000 people are active users of the network. High-tech nature is another strong point. The project is being upgraded by leaps and bounds, new services and instruments appear almost every month. Practical utility is the third importantcomponent of our success. Distance learning service was launched as part of WhoTrades. About 40 courses in English, Chinese,Thai and Russian were created, more than 400,000 people registered for them. Students of distance learning program opened more than 1,000 real accounts in 2013, it is an illustration ofthe efficiency of our learning system. I have not included the social component in the list of advantages simply because it is cornerstone of the entire project, a self-evident priority.
IFM: Tell me about the most prominent projects. What attracts people to WhoTrades?
Victor: Currently WhoTrades has opportunities which other projects are unable to provide, so that’s why it attracts users. We are focused on various categories of traders and investors since we have both offers with minimum deposits from USD 5 for investor possessing small capital and services with the threshold of USD 25,000 for large investors.
Talking about the most prominent projects, I want to take note of the most significant product, which was recently launched, MMA (Multi Market Account), which enables simultaneous access from one trading account to the majority of the world’s leading trading floors.As part of the service,a customer can trade in more than 1,000 instruments, shares on the stock markets of the US, Europe, Asia and South America, forward contracts, depositary receipts and currency.
Chain FX Light, a service designed to mirror profit of experienced traders on the currency Market, is very popular. By subscribing to one or several strategies of the best traders, a network user automatically copies the trading results of professionals to his/her account. Thus, even a beginner in the market without experience can show the same results as an experienced manager, by simply subscribing to a strategy.You do not need to open accounts to start trading, just register on the site and fund your account using a credit card or e-money.Withdrawal of earned money is simple and accessible at any time.Stats prove that the service is very popular, with more than a thousand subscriptions to and unsubscriptions from strategies being registered on a daily basis.
In addition, we provided users of our project with access to the US market,offering investors the lowest prices for orders of any size.
At the same time,a lot of user-friendly stock market services are integrated into the social network, here you can find content with analytics, forecasts and charts for shares, currency pairs and other instruments. Our network provides the users with a large range of free trading platforms, including versions for mobile devices.
IFM:In your opinion, how will the network develop? What are you going to offer users of the network in the near future?
Victor: WhoTrades users are looking forward to breakthrough offers in option trading, lower threshold to access the US market, access to new stock exchanges. In addition, we are going to launch a service to mirror deals of successful investors on major world stock exchanges, including US markets.
Network users soon will be able to use a unique instrument – personal site constructor: any user will have an opportunity to create for a few minutes a full-featured financial site where he/she could promote and offer his/her services. We also plan to integrate external services providing current market information.
As for the educational component, Whotrades.com’s learning program will be extended this year and the learning process will become more interactive, efficient and interesting.
I think we have endless potential for development and we are only at the beginning of our endeavor. And it is very pleasant to note the attention of the professional community to our project.The International Finance Magazine award shows that we’re moving in the right direction and I would like to thank your magazine for its support because this award is another incentive for active growth.