eToro – Forex Trading Forum

[Macedon]

From 24th December 2008
I’m going to make my long story short.
At around 4:01pm and 4:41pm I have placed 2 positions of EUR/AUD pair. Both of them were BUY positions with invested amount of 50$ with 10000 units and x200 leverage. Open rate for the first one was at 2.0451 and 2.0449 for the second one. Both of them were set at a closing rate at 2.0440 so the overall loss would eventually be around -20$ per position.
Now before we go into a debate let's remember that picture is worth a thousand words :

1.
For Full size image Copy/Paste the link in your browser (use keyboard shortcut if right click doesn't work) :
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii301/dikibloo/1eToroIDONTTHINKSO.jpg

2.
For Full size image Copy/Paste the link in your browser (use keyboard shortcut if right click doesn't work) :
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii301/dikibloo/2eToroIDONTTHINKSO.jpg


Let me also point that right before "this happened" I was being disconnected several times from the platform while waiting to close both my positions in a stage of + profit. When that happened I was getting the message that eToro is under some update.
None the less, what is super interesting here is : FIRST, how is it possible that the stop loss option didn’t trigger as it was set at a closing rate at 2.0440 in case of loss and SECOND, how is it even possible to fall in a loss of -3223.83$ ( -6447.66% ) at position 1 and of -3222.25$ ( -6444.50% ) at position 2 in the first place with a total account balance of something over 2.750$. THIRD and maybe the last, how is it possible to set such a huge loss rate on an account balance of 2.750$.
I guess there are two things to suspect :
Either eToro company does this on purpose, or the platform doesn’t operate properly.
If you think I’m happy my loss was done on my demo account, I’m not actually. I was in fact hoping eToro would deliver and I would eventually invest some real money into it. Like many of us here I like the simplicity around which eToro gravitates, both in visual and expert mode. It would've been great if it executed that well.
Now if falling over 12k in the pit is not much for you ( ?!?!? ?? I like to meet such a person btw.) imagine what would have happened if the positions were created with 500$ investment ("just" one 0 more), or even more ???

I guess when eToro says: “ Merry Christmas “, they obviously really mean that.

[Admin-Support]

Hi,
First I would like to thank you for your post, we are always happy to see traders take an active part in the eToro community whatever the feedback is.

A for your question: I'd like to stress that the error you report was on a demo account, naturally the real account is kept on a standalone, much stronger, tightly monitored servers.

The case you describe happened because eToro has been testing its new SQL Server Cluster with the new Per Customer Configuration system on a small group of its Demo customers.
The purpose of those tests on demo users is to make sure that all the problems that might occur on because of the system upgrade are solved before the new version is launched on the real trading accounts.

Demo accounts are re-credited every time they are depleted so you could continue practicing your trading skills without a problem, if you feel that you should be reimbursed for the error please contact support@etoro.com and a representative will take care of the case and credit your demo account with virtual money.

Wishing you all an excellent 2009,

[Macedon]

I appreciate the reply from the admin. It really means a lot to me and I value that the user support and care is responsive. Considering that this might have been isolated case I've placed a poll so the other users can share their opinion. Fair enough I think.
I suggest the eToro team to inform it’s users before or soon after such maintenance activities go in progress in the future.
Keeping proper track is crucial for trading as we all know and I would be thankful if you can reset my account, all to zero, or roll it back to my previous state.
I’m still a fan of eToro and I hope such errors won’t give me problems in the future.
Thanks in advance and Best wishes to everyone for the upcoming 2009,
Have a Bullish One !
Macedon