Twitter Teams Up with eToro to Expand Trading and Investment Options

Twitter has announced a partnership with Israeli-founded social trading and asset investment company eToro, aiming to provide its users with the ability to access cryptocurrencies, stocks, and other financial assets. This collaboration will significantly expand the financial information available on Twitter, making it easier for users to buy stocks and crypto. CNBC initially reported the news, which was later confirmed by eToro via its official Twitter account.

This partnership is a strategic move for eToro, which recently faced challenges due to difficult market conditions, including the cancellation of its SPAC merger and Wall Street listing, as well as a significant decline in revenue from cryptocurrency trading. However, the company managed to raise $250 million in a financing round that began in 2021.

The collaboration will expand the existing $Cashtag format on Twitter, allowing finance-inclined users to click a financial hashtag to see more data on specific stocks. The real-time data will continue to be provided by TradingView, a market tracker and existing eToro partner. Currently, Twitter users can view real-time trading data from TradingView on index funds like the S&P 500 and search for ticker symbols using the American dollar sign ($) instead of the traditional hashtag (#). The partnership is expected to expand these cashtags to cover a more comprehensive range of instruments and asset classes.

In addition to the expanded $Cashtags, the partnership will introduce an eToro button under live price charts, allowing users to view more information and potentially invest by navigating away from Twitter. Although anyone can access the stats, eToro will prompt users to create an account before they can invest.

Twitter's partnership with eToro follows the company's recent rebranding as X Corp, a privately-owned entity operating within the X Holding Co. This development came after the highly publicized acquisition of Twitter last year, which CEO Elon Musk described as "an accelerant to building X, the everything app."

Since Musk's appointment as CEO, Twitter has been undergoing significant changes, with 80% of the workforce being laid off in an effort to cut costs. An updated subscription model was launched, offering Blue ticks, fewer ads, and increased tweet visibility for $8 per month. Developers were also required to start paying for a basic API or lose access to the company's firehose. Over 500 advertisers reportedly paused their spending on Twitter following these changes.

With this partnership, Twitter aims to diversify its offerings and tap into the growing interest in financial information among its users. In the first quarter of 2023, there were 498 million tweets related to finance or business. eToro's collaboration with Twitter could potentially benefit the social media platform financially in the form of referral bonuses, although eToro is not directly integrated into Twitter.

eToro CEO Yoni Assia believes this partnership will enable both companies to reach new audiences and strengthen their brands' connection. He said, "Financial content on social media has provided education to many who have felt excluded by more traditional channels. Twitter has become a crucial part of the retail investing community - it's where millions of ordinary investors go every day to access financial news, share knowledge and converse."This collaboration showcases Twitter's efforts to become a super application that goes beyond the realm of social media by encouraging users to engage in trading activities. As Chris Riedy, VP of Global Sales & Marketing at Twitter, stated in a press release, the company is actively trying to provide "additional market insights and greater access to investment capabilities" for its users.