What is now called social trading is one of the newest and most popular forms of investing for many people all over the world. What is it? Social trading combines the reach of social media with the innovative speed of online securities trading. Anyone who makes trades via a social trading platform gets the benefit of the community's collective knowledge. That means groups and individuals can collaborate with each other, enlist the help of experts, follow investors who have years of experience, and otherwise work together to make profitable trades.

What are the unique advantages for those new to the securities markets, namely anyone who doesn't feel fully comfortable navigating the market all alone? The benefits are many, and they help explain why social trading has become the major trend of the decade for investors, speculators, and curious entrepreneurs who want to buy and sell securities with a little help from those who know. Here are some of the things a laymen trader can look forward to.

Ability to Leverage the Knowledge of Experts

Using the expertise of others is what social-based investing is all about. No longer do you need to feel all alone when making decisions. When you can see detailed breakdowns of how others have earned profits based on their documented activity, it's much easier to just follow along or add your own ideas to theirs and select securities that can boost your portfolio's profitability.

Success-Based Decision Making

Suppose you specialize in tech stocks and are in search of candidates for swing trading. You can choose to do all the screening on your own or select someone who's already been involved in the tech segment for a while and demonstrated a high degree of success. Within any given segment, it's possible to copy the trades of people who have the highest accuracy at the very thing you're trying to do. In a way, it's like on the job training alongside a veteran employee. All you have to do at first is imitate. Then, after you gain enough experience you can branch out and add your own ideas to the mix.

Choice of Risk Level

Account holders have so many options when it comes to making decisions about what to trade, how much to place on a single order, when to pull the trigger, and the level of risk that works for them. One of the key features of this new form of buying and selling is risk choice. On the AvaSocial platform, for example, it's possible to review the various risk levels of anyone you wish to copy. That means you always know the history of the person you're copying before you put your own funds into a particular transaction.

Access to Multiple Trading Strategies

When you have access to the entire community's knowledge base, it's like being on a team. There are plenty of different strategies out there, some of which are riskier than others, older than others, and simpler than others. The beauty of the social approach is that you can experiment with whatever techniques appeal to you and see whether they give the results you're looking for.

For example, some seasoned investors use nothing but technical indicators to come up with strategies. It's also possible to base an entire profit-seeking philosophy on fundamental analysis, news cycles, seasonal economic patterns, and more. In the end, when you have access to dozens of different approaches, you can pick what suits your own risk tolerance, goals, and ideas about the best way to make your account grow.

Power to Influence the Market

There is power in numbers. When hundreds or thousands of people put their funds in the same securities at the same time, it's possible to affect the entire market. That means you can use social trends, coupled with your own investment, to directly influence whether a given security rises or falls in price. Institutions have had this sort of influence for decades. Now, in the era of democratized investing, individuals can join together and have the same effect.

Elimination of Personal Bias

If you've ever been the victim of your own personal bias when making stock trades, you know how important it can be to eliminate that. When you follow a market leader or community expert when choosing investment candidates, you entirely eliminate the pitfall of emotional bias. Anyone who discovers a way to keep their emotions out of trade decisions has a key advantage over the majority of solo investors. There's no need to feel pulled by stocks you like or prefer. Putting your money on the line should be about objectivity, not feelings.