Interactive Investor (ii) has launched its own social media app, ii Community, and has also added two new investment tools to its main platform.
The new ii Community app allows users to discuss investment tips, stock picks and compare portfolios free of charge, The Daily Mail and other publications have reported .
The app enables users to chat with other investors, as well as share ideas and investment strategies. ii aims for it to connect with the growing influence of social media on DIY investors.
Research conducted by Opinium on behalf of the firm last year found 30% of working age Britons see social media as a useful investment information source.
The release of ii Community follows the introduction to the UK of similar social investing features by rival platforms such as eToro.
Popular simplified investment app eToro allows users to share and copy each others’ portfolios, a concept known as copy trading.
Copy trading has been around for decades, first being introduced to the mainstream by Covestor in the US (now owned by Interactive Brokers).
Another platform that allowed social investing was Shares.io, which closed its UK operations to focus on their domestic French and EU markets earlier this year. It previously allowed users to follow each other’s investments.
On platforms unregulated in the UK, there can be a dark side to copy trading. Scams are rife, including social media personalities paid by brokers to introduce clients to these platforms.
New platform features
The launch of the ii Community app comes alongside the addition of two new graphical features to the Interactive Investor platform: Market Buzz and Fundamental Insight.
Market Buzz shows users which stocks are trending through bubbles highlighting the amount of mentions they are getting in news and media.
Fundamental Insight provides a simple breakdown of complex data in the form of graphs.
It also incorporates scores by research portal Trading Central on key factors affecting investments, alongside a single ‘Quantamental Rating’ summarising 20 data points.
Robin has more than six years of experience as a financial journalist, most of which were spent at Citywire, and covers the latest developments in the investing, trading and currency transfer space. Outside of work, he enjoys reading literature and philosophy and playing the piano.
You can contact Robin at robin@goodmoneyguide.com
