CEO of eToro Yoni Assia: Bringing Financial Trading for the People
Author: Iliya Talman (6 Articles)
Iliya is currently a grad student at the Sofaer International program in Recanati School of Business at Tel Aviv University. Prior to his studies, Iliya was involved in a number of entrepreneurial ventures, while staying an avid follower of the capital markets in Israel and across the globe. He plans to enter a fintech startup following his program at Recanati.
Thanks for returning to FinTechIsrael! Have you already subscribed to our RSS feed?
Yoni Assia, co-founder and CEO of eToro, an international financial trading company with customers from over 80 countries and local offices worldwide, will be one of the keynote speakers at our February 3rd event. eToro’s product is a groundbreaking Forex trading platform that overcomes the technological barriers preventing novice traders from entering the Forex market.
Yoni founded eToro in 2007 (together with his brother Ronen Assia and another founder) and directs the company operations from eToro’s local US office. Mr. Assia is a former software group manager with over eights years of experience in the fields of software development and management. He has accumulated over 10 years of experience in financial investment and Forex trading. Assia holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science and Management and an MSC in Computer Sciences.
Before we had our talk, Yoni gave me a small tour in the local Israeli R&D office. As we started talking, it was Yoni who came up with the first question:”If you had to pick one thing that acted as a country’s stock, what would it be?” “Well,” I said, “an index or some equity market is representative of that country.” “No, it is the country’s currency,” he replied, “A nation exhibits its equity value as in terms of the relative worth of its currency. The daily turnover of the FX market is over $3 trillion, far greater than anything we can grasp. There are only a few global markets that are widely known, such as equity markets, debt markets and commodity markets, but it is only the currency market that everyone comes into contact with on a regular basis.”
“Unfortunately,” he said “financial trading is usually not accessible to the masses, which seem to be confused and intimidated by the complicated charts and financial jargon common in the industry. The introduction of the Internet into the equation provides the solution: simplified online trading that provides easy access to the global markets. The internet allows us to treat each trader individually, whether they are new to financial trading or an experienced Wall Street veteran. The company has developed an open trading arena that allows traders to communicate and share their thoughts and opinions through their online community. The company has minimal entrance requirements that enable traders to enter the financial markets with as little as $50 and get unlimited trading practice in our demo mode with live market rates.”
I met Mr. Assia the week that he visited Israel, after a trip to Australia, where eToro recently launched a new local office. eToro plans to expand their offices even further in an effort to increase their presence worldwide. With 32,000 current traders, eToro is one of the leading Forex service providers in the world. Starting with 10 employees in 2007, today the company employs over 120 people. These employees are carefully selected by eToro to maintain and promote eToro’s innovative platform while staying true to eToro’s unique user focused vision. Clearly, the company is here to stay and will be an integral part of how individuals trade Forex and think about the Forex markets in the future.
Mr. Assia is a strong believer that FinTech is the next big thing:
“Thanks to the internet we have a huge opportunity right here in Israel, and we have highly educated people to provide us with the knowledge we need as well as the Israeli temperament to push us forward. We have the right industry people who understand finance and software. All in all, I believe we are heading straight to the top. “
Line BreakAuthor: Iliya Talman (6 Articles)
Iliya is currently a grad student at the Sofaer International program in Recanati School of Business at Tel Aviv University. Prior to his studies, Iliya was involved in a number of entrepreneurial ventures, while staying an avid follower of the capital markets in Israel and across the globe. He plans to enter a fintech startup following his program at Recanati.
