Israeli online broker eToro targets Southeast Asia’s young and savvy investors with global outlook
- The Ping An-backed broker is targeting young traders with its machine learning-based ‘social trading’ platform
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eToro, the Israeli online broker previously known for offering highly leveraged trade on bitcoin, is planning expansion in Southeast Asia and potentially Hong Kong, as it sees growing demand from thirty-somethings seeking to trade beyond their domestic markets.
Chief executive Yoni Assia said he expects Asia this year to contribute up to 30 per cent of the company’s total revenue, up from 15 per cent in 2018, thanks to growing markets in Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand for cryptocurrency trading services.
“In Asia’s competitive landscape, we don’t see a lot of sophisticated tech platforms that enable people to trade the global markets,” said Assia. “People in this region are interested in investing in global markets.”
He said the platform tends to draw a younger demographic than traditional brokerages, with data showing eToro’s registered traders to be 34 on average.
He said eToro’s “social trading” platform aims to target this segment of retail traders in Southeast Asia, as they actively seek out “top traders” through social network and mimic their trade ideas.
Through machine learning, he said, the platform helps users filter out top traders and build portfolios spanning stocks, crypto-assets and commodities among others.