Exclusive Interview with CEO of ZuluTrade, George Ilias
Copy Trading, or Social Trading, is one of the hottest trends in retail trading of the last few years. It allows traders to copy and execute automatically the trades of professional traders. This is why it is called "copy trading". It is a great solution for traders who don't have the time, experience or knowledge to trade themselves. It is also far more than just automation. Unlike algo-trading, behind every trade there is a human trader, not a "robot". This is why it is called "Social Trading".
Launched in 2007, ZuluTrade is a true forefront in this field and have gained a reputation as an industry leader in transparency and innovation, also known for its proficient network of traders. George Ilias, who was one of the first employees in the company and now serves as its CEO share with us, in an exclusive interview, the benefits of copy trading and what makes ZuluTrade a true platform that combines the "social" and the "copy".
Question: Before we begin, can you introduce yourself and tell us your journey with ZuluTrade?
George Ilias: Sure hi!
My name is George Ilias and I have been the CEO of ZuluTrade Group for the last four years.
I was one of the first employees to join back in 2008 when we were still trying to bring the innovative idea of copy trading to life. I initially replaced the tech founder, then built the tech teams and was CTO and Lead Director for several years before becoming CEO.
Question: People from every part of the world are connected much more closely with social networks nowadays, what do you see in this trading environment? What do you foresee in the future of social trading?
George Ilias: I think human beings are social creatures; interaction among peers has always been a core human need!
Trading in global markets, investing, cryptocurrencies, etc., are trends that intrigue more and more of us every day, but usually most people don't have the time to learn or may even find it intimidating.
The truth is trading can be scary and it is difficult to beat the market.
CopyTrading is a very good way to join the world of trading; you get to learn from people that have a proven track record of succeeding with their trading strategy, and hopefully achieve one's investment goals.
At ZuluTrade, besides sharing the trading track record, we value Traders that care for their follower-investors. It is appreciated by the community when traders take time to explain their strategy, answer questions and share their knowledge and perspectives.
These social features are definitely helping people to trust the service more, as for some people understanding that there is a human curator of the strategy is important.
Others care mostly about the profits obviously, but even being in an environment where people are there for the same reason, brings forth the benefits of healthy competition.
ZuluTrade is working on launching more social features to help users get informed about news regarding their investments and favorite traders in real time and engage in even more useful interactions.
Question: What are the advantages of ZuluTrade compared to other social trading platforms? How could clients benefit from these unique features from ZuluTrade?
George Ilias: ZuluTrade's uniqueness is summarized in its ethos and innovation.
ZuluTrade is a truly open & transparent ecosystem for CopyTrading, where the service profits when users profit.
What do we mean by open?
In ZuluTrade, Traders don't have to deposit & trade with zulu in order to share their strategy - ZuluTrade supports more than 50 brokers and several different platforms. This means, it's easier for talented Traders that have been building their account for years, to join, import their live history and share.
In other broker-copy trading services, they have to start from scratch and these services usually have leverage over the Traders. They pay them to trade. How can one be sure they are not manipulating copytrading service for the Broker's own interests and not for the users'?
Now regarding transparency.
It is our priority is that we share as much data as possible and that the data is 100% verified and cannot be manipulated. That can be achieved because ZuluTrade is an intermediate, independent, regulated system that records trading data in real time and no one party can intervene to alter them.
This is important, because many services advertise nice ROIs etc, but the beautify the performance creating attractive and don't mind warning the users of the perils of copying strategies that are too risky or difficult to replicate.
Lastly - and the list can go on here - is that we are the platform that offers Profit Sharing accounts - investors pay traders only when they make a profit from copying their strategies. 25% of their winnings would then be split two ways, 20% to the trader and then 5% to Zulu.
This is why both ZuluTrade and the Traders are incentivized to do their best for the investors to have increased chances to make a profit as everyone wins.
This is indicative of the ethos we discussed earlier and the key aspect that separates us from other services, where some advertise Copy Trading but instead their business models are not in line with the investors best interests.
Question: How could ZuluTrade ensure Traders are fairly paid and investors/followers are fairly charged?
George Ilias: Being fair is among the values we stand for, for the whole ZuluTrade ecosystem: from our Employees, Investors, Traders and Partners.
As with the question above, ZuluTrade pays Traders 20% of the profits they will generate to the Investors/ followers.
And that's fair: the people that have developed the best trading strategies and share their knowledge should get the biggest part of the pie. ZuluTrade enables them to do that.
Except for technological innovation & various automations, ZuluTrade has a certified portfolio management team that monitors the copytrading activity real time to make sure that Traders play by the rules and the best ones get support, recognition and, of course, are fairly compensated.
Any opinions, news, research, analyses, prices, other information, or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an "as-is" basis, as general market commentary and do not constitute investment advice. The market commentary has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research, and it is therefore not subject to any prohibition on dealing ahead of dissemination. Although this commentary is not produced by an independent source, FXCM takes all sufficient steps to eliminate or prevent any conflicts of interests arising out of the production and dissemination of this communication. The employees of FXCM commit to acting in the clients' best interests and represent their views without misleading, deceiving, or otherwise impairing the clients' ability to make informed investment decisions. For more information about the FXCM's internal organizational and administrative arrangements for the prevention of conflicts, please refer to the Firms' Managing Conflicts Policy. Please ensure that you read and understand our Full Disclaimer and Liability provision concerning the foregoing Information, which can be accessed here.