New challenge will harness Twitter power
IN RECENT months, spread betting and forex trading companies have begun to really make the most of the new technologies that are changing our lives. American firm GFT and London-based City Index both offer iPhone apps so that their customers can manage their investments while they are on the move.
Many other financial news providers and trading companies are also offering iPhone apps that allow you to carry out complex charting, or just keep up with the latest market moves, when you are away from your computer.
Now American spread betting, CFD and forex provider GFT is also harnessing the power of instant social networking site Twitter, as part of its new Trading Challenge. The competition, which started yesterday, is open to anybody who has a GFT account, or sets one up. There is a minimum account balance of £1,500 to enter.
PERCENTAGE PROFIT
The winner will be the person who over the three months of the competition makes the biggest percentage profit, who will pocket £30,000. The second-placed person will win £15,000 and the third £5,000. In addition, other prizes will be handed out randomly to participants.
Most innovatively, however, the competition will also be used to try to encourage traders to use Twitter, and to create a trading community to follow the competition. You can follow the accounts @gftforex, @gftuk or @fx360, which will all tweet about the competition, or in fact any trading matters.
To encourage traders to follow them, GFT is giving away prizes to followers, even to those who haven’t signed up for the main competition. All followers who use the hashtag #tradeGFT will have their names automatically put into a hat and each week one person will win a weekly prize, such as an iPod Touch specially loaded with trading applications.
In addition to all this, GFT will deliver a range of tweets, including trading tips and questions that it hopes will spark discussion about trading and traders.
For more information, see the GFT Trading Challenge website www.gftuk.com/trading-challenge