A "Zynga for real men": troubling blend of FX trading and social gaming (opens in new tab)

This is not a serious complaint. Forex speculators don't cause currency collapses; bad central banking policy does. Forex traders either a) get it wrong, and lose money, or b) get it right and make money while bringing prices in line with reality.

Play with eToro for a few minutes some time. It's a very well-done app. Both as a game and as a trading platform, it's a move in the right direction, and it's something worth emulating.

I think this is the start of a trend - opening up financial trading to the masses, and making it easy (and fun). With pretty much zero return on cash in the bank, and a general distrust of banks, people are thinking about just doing it themselves. Covestor is another one to watch.

It's baffling as to why anyone would make comparisons between Zynga, forex, and "Lending Club" or feel moral consternation at the possible damage twopenny short positions might have on international trade.

I've never heard of etoro, but try to understand that forex is for experts only and can only serve to wipe you out.

etoro is simply a nice frontend. It is built on top of www.retailfx.com/.

Thanks for the comments. Like most people here, I do not believe that eToro users will have any power to influence the market one way or the other (as I wrote). More, I am troubled by a social gaming approach to something that has actually real-life consequences. A speculation market of sufficient scale could cause major currency fluctuations. The Zynga comparison was made by their primary investor, which is why I cite it. Shall we open a gaming market as well to predict foreclosures and then reap the benefits?