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Gerald Segal

Gerald is the founder of FNG and is one of the most experienced writers covering the online trading sector. Prior to starting FNG, Gerald founded Forex industry B2B news website LeapRate.com in 2010, selling it in 2018 to publicly traded Catena Media plc (STO:CTM). An avid skier, cyclist and ice hockey player, Gerald was previously an investment banker for more than a decade at Bear Stearns, Robertson Stephens, and Merrill Lynch. Gerald holds an MBA from Columbia University in New York and a BCOM degree from the University of Toronto.

2 Comments

  1. aram
    December 13, 2021 @ 2:16 pm

    eToro has some of the worst operating margins in the FX/CFD space from what I can tell. How on earth can they be worth $10bn when Plus500, a far more efficient company, which makes almost the same in revenue terms, is only worth £1.3bn or when IG Group, which makes more than them in revenue, is only worth £3.4bn. Arguably CMC, which has more AUM than them in its Aussie stockbroking business ALONE, should be worth more than them, even if they’re not making as much in revenue terms. Not to mention that all of those companies are actually profitable, unlike eToro. Rubbish company, annoying leadership that pretend to be woke for better PR, and dishonest in how they go about their business (eg. claim to be ‘commission free’ but then list all their revenue as from ‘commissions’ in their financial reports.)

    Reply

    • Robert
      December 14, 2021 @ 3:29 am

      Everything you say is theoretically correct however the Etoro valuation is based on user numbers not profitability. It’s arguably one of the hottest debates in the markets which has to at some point punish companies that cannot meet their profit expectations basis their lofty valuations. The valuation of Etoro shouldn’t be a mystery to anyone as its in line with other fintechs with similar user numbers. Fintech gets a much higher valuations on a per user basis than companies that make revenues from advertising for example. As the article points out the valuation comparison is Robinhood not IG, CMC or Plus. What’s perverse is that any of the ‘profitable’ CFD providers could have spent all their profits on advertising and done exactly what Etoro have done. However Etoro have very successfully tapped into a US tech story which arguably any other exchange would not have bought in the same way. Time will tell but it is no surprise they are having some difficulties, to be honest better this all plays out before they list than after, a la Robinhood!

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