Comments on: Currensee partners with Thomson Reuters; Tweets Trades

By: Michael Greenberg

Michael Greenberg — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:49:39 +0000

Couple of interesting points there however I think you still confuse user interface and business model. Currensee doesn’t have a very attractive graphic interface, at least for now, and myfxbook is more sleek and 2010 if you ask me.

myfxbook and mt4stats share the same business model: advertisement CPM. This is the easiest and most straightforward business model however in my opinion it is not very sustainable and it’s a point I try to convey time after time: depending solely on broker dollars is problematic.

Currensee on other hand realized that it needs to diversify its income and therefore relies less on broker mercies and more on its own offering to the retail traders: be that IB or value added products it markets/will market. To me, that’s a more sustainable business model.

By: Anon

Anon — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:07:45 +0000

PS. I think mt4stats and myfxbook are better models than Currensee. For one, those sites understand that the commercially-minded players are the ones who want to share their trades. I think mt4stats and myfxbook will be successful, and to some extent they already are.

By: Anon

Anon — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:01:17 +0000

Fundamentally wrong? You are so confident! Anyway, let me debate some of your points. I think the link to Facebook, LinkedIn, etc, that you are making is weak. It’s probably the same story Currensee sold to North Bridge for millions. The main problem with this story is that people don’t like to share financial information. Even on a site that makes people as comfortable as Facebook, they still aren’t sharing financial information with eachother (I’m not a regular Facebook user so if I’m wrong on that please let me know). I would say that trades are even more intimate than regular financial info (like how much equity you have in your house), since it’s not only financial but also shows the trader’s decision. Trades are just a very private and intimate thing, and this well known by those who trade. Second problem with the story is that traders are generally more introverted than the average person. This is a headwind working against any “social network” that involves traders. I’ve always thought that there must be no experienced traders (and I mean like 5 years+) behind Currensee for them to think this idea would work.

Regarding your side note, let’s not split hairs on what is and what is not considered the “business model”. Currensee relies on traders sharing trades to make money. Yes, it’s indirectly, but still critical to the money-making process. Their main way of attracting traders to their IB services is this whole community sharey thing, and with nobody sharing there is no community.

Will Currensee be a success? I say no — not unless they change their model. They’ve gained very little traction over this past year and this is mostly what I’m basing my opinion on, even though the theory side also says they won’t find success with the model. Currensee is obviously filled with some really smart and motivated web people, and they have a few bucks left in the bank. If they get some real traders on their decision team, admit the “real traders real trades” idea is flawed (that will be the hardest part), and start grabbing some advertising dollars, I think they’ll be a contender in the years to come. Or they might find another path to success (just won’t be the path they’re on).

By the way, I would have never posted this if I had to attach my real name to it.

By: Michael Greenberg

Michael Greenberg — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:29:09 +0000

Hey Anon, you are fundamentally wrong: the Internet social networks revolution (Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, etc) has proven beyond any doubt that people DO like to expose information about themselves and many would go much farther than you can imagine. Forex traders, especially those who seek to gain a recognition, will expose their trades – some to show off, some just to have others look at it and some hoping that if they prove to be successful other, less successful traders, will appoint them as their money managers. Just watch them doing it on mt4stats and myfxbook and many other sites. Currensee’s platform just puts faces (or at least avatars) next to these boring stats.
As a side note: Currensee’s business model isn’t based on traders sharing their trades but rather is based on traders executing their trades through Currensee’s platform. The trades sharing functionality is just one of the features of the platform, not its income generator.

By: Anon

Anon — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:14:17 +0000

These Currensee guys are doing everything right — only problem they have is their business model relies on traders sharing their real trades. Anyone who knows Forex traders knows that this ain’t gunna happen. Forex traders will barely show an account statement! Only the signal sellers et al want to share trades, because they have an agenda. Currensee… great execution of a fundamentally flawed business model.