Currensee

Currensee was a financial-services and financial-technology company founded in Boston in 2008 by software developer Asaf Yigal and foreign-exchange trader Avi Leventhal. Its central proposition was to make retail foreign-exchange trading more collaborative and transparent by connecting traders through an online social network. Rather than relying solely on commentary, simulated accounts, or anonymous trading claims, Currensee allowed members to link live brokerage accounts and display information about actual trading activity. Users could discuss strategies, compare performance, share market views, and organize themselves into online trading teams. The company emerged during the late-2000s recession, when its founders identified foreign exchange as an alternative asset class and saw an opportunity to apply social-networking concepts to a fragmented retail-trading market. Retail FX traders commonly operated independently and faced difficulty assessing the quality of other traders' ideas or distinguishing live performance from results generated in demo accounts. Currensee attempted to address that problem with a system built around real accounts, real trades, and near-real-time information. Its positioning was summarized by the phrase “Trade Together,” while the related message “Real trades. Real traders. Real time.” emphasized the company's transparency-oriented differentiation. Currensee's platform combined community features with analytical and automated-trading tools. Its leaderboard ranked traders according to historical and real-time performance. The proprietary Trader Authority Index incorporated performance, risk, and experience into a single measure used to assess traders. The platform also offered Currensee Social Indicators, which aggregated network activity by currency pair and displayed information such as trading volume, the proportion of long and short positions, and winning or losing positions. A feature called Tweet My Trades allowed members to automatically share open and closed positions through Twitter, extending the service's reach into the broader online foreign-exchange community. The company's most significant product was the Trade Leaders Investment Program, launched in October 2010. Currensee used an internal algorithm to identify potentially suitable high-performing traders from its network and assessed candidates using historical performance, risk management, and return-related criteria. Investors could select one or more Trade Leaders, allocate capital, and create portfolios whose trades were automatically mirrored in their own brokerage accounts. The arrangement resembled a mutual-fund-like selection and allocation model, but applied to individual FX traders and foreign-exchange transactions. Investors could see the trades being followed and executed in their own accounts. By 2010, the Currensee community reportedly included members from more than 80 countries. The reference material describes a community of approximately 7,000 members and annual trading volume of about $50 billion at that time. These figures are historical claims associated with the operating period and should not be interpreted as current activity. The company was funded by North Bridge Venture Partners, Egan-Managed Capital, and Vernon & Park Capital, and was associated with the National Futures Association and the United Kingdom's Financial Services Authority. Currensee competed in an emerging social- and copy-trading field that included eToro, FX Copy, and ZuluTrade. Oanda Corporation acquired Currensee in September 2013. Oanda subsequently announced in October 2014 that Currensee and the OANDA Trade Leaders Program would cease operation on October 31, 2014. The brand is therefore defunct, although its social-trading concepts—live-account transparency, trader ranking, portfolio following, and automated trade mirroring—anticipated features that later became common across online investment platforms.

Currensee was established in Boston in 2008 by Asaf Yigal and Avi Leventhal. Yigal brought a software-development background, while Leventhal was an experienced foreign-exchange trader. Together they pursued the idea that retail FX trading could become more useful and transparent if traders were able to work together, observe actual trading activity, and evaluate strategies through a network rather than relying only on isolated research or informal online discussion. The company's founding took place during the late-2000s recession. The founders viewed foreign exchange as an alternative asset class and sought to create a service for the large population of independent retail traders participating in the market. Currensee's response was a social network centered on linked live brokerage accounts. Members could share trading ideas, preferred currency pairs, economic indicators, and strategy information while allowing other users to examine real trading performance. The service deliberately distinguished linked live accounts from demo accounts, reflecting its emphasis on observable trading behavior rather than simulated results. Currensee developed a collection of social and analytical functions around this network. Traders could form online trading teams and communicate in real time. A leaderboard ranked participants using historical and current performance information. The Trader Authority Index, a proprietary scoring system, attempted to combine performance, risk, and experience into one comparative measure. Currensee also developed Social Indicators that aggregated the network's activity by currency pair, including directional positioning, trading volume, and winning or losing activity. Through Tweet My Trades, users could automatically publish trading events to Twitter, helping distribute the network's activity beyond the platform itself. The company reported substantial early international reach. Reference material states that by 2010 the community included traders from more than 80 countries, with approximately 7,000 members and about $50 billion in annual trading volume. Currensee was financed by North Bridge Venture Partners, Egan-Managed Capital, and Vernon & Park Capital. It was associated with the National Futures Association and registered with the Financial Services Authority. Dave Lemont served as chief executive officer during the company's operating period. In October 2010, Currensee expanded beyond discussion and information sharing with the launch of its Trade Leaders Investment Program. An internal algorithm selected and evaluated potential Trade Leaders from the community. Eligibility was based on factors including historical results, risk controls, and returns. Investors could then choose individual leaders or combinations of leaders, allocate funds, and have the selected traders' transactions mirrored in their own brokerage accounts. The model gave investors visibility into the trades being followed and was presented as a structure comparable in some respects to selecting holdings in a mutual fund. Currensee operated in an emerging social-trading segment alongside services such as eToro, FX Copy, and ZuluTrade. Its distinctive proposition was the combination of social interaction and account-level evidence: users were encouraged to judge traders through live performance and risk information rather than through claims based on hypothetical accounts. The platform's “Trade Together” identity captured this combination of community and execution. Oanda Corporation acquired Currensee in September 2013. After the acquisition, Oanda operated the service and its related OANDA Trade Leaders Program for a limited period. On October 9, 2014, Oanda announced that both services would cease operation on October 31, 2014. Currensee consequently became a defunct brand. Its operating history remains relevant to the development of social and copy trading because it brought together live-account transparency, network-based trader discovery, quantitative ranking, and automated replication of foreign-exchange trades before those concepts became broadly familiar in online investment services.

1. 2014Service discontinued

   Oanda announced that Currensee and the OANDA Trade Leaders Program would end on October 31, 2014.

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2. 2013Acquisition by Oanda

   Oanda Corporation acquired Currensee in September 2013.

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3. 2010Trade Leaders Investment Program launches

   Currensee launched a service through which investors could select traders and automatically mirror their transactions in linked brokerage accounts.

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4. 2008Currensee is founded in Boston

   Asaf Yigal and Avi Leventhal founded Currensee to combine foreign-exchange trading with online collaboration and social networking.

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A transparency-oriented social-trading platform for retail foreign-exchange traders, combining live brokerage-account data, community collaboration, trader analytics, and automated trade mirroring.

• Currensee Social NetworkForeign-exchange social network

  The core platform connected retail FX traders from different countries and allowed them to link live brokerage accounts, discuss strategies, share market observations, and organize into trading teams. Currensee emphasized actual account activity rather than demo-account results, giving users a way to inspect trading behavior and performance within a community setting.

• Trade Leaders Investment ProgramAutomated social trading2010

  Launched in October 2010, the program identified and screened potential Trade Leaders using Currensee's proprietary analytical process. Investors selected leaders, allocated funds, and had the leaders' FX transactions mirrored in their own brokerage accounts. The service combined trader selection, portfolio construction, visibility into individual trades, and automated execution.

• Trader Leaderboard and Trader Authority IndexTrader analytics

  The leaderboard ranked traders using historical and real-time performance information. Its Trader Authority Index was a proprietary score intended to combine performance, risk, and experience, helping users compare participants and identify traders who might qualify for the Trade Leaders program.

• Currensee Market Watch Social IndicatorsMarket analytics

  Social Indicators aggregated trading activity across the Currensee network. The service presented information by currency pair, including trading volume, the balance of long and short positions, and winning or losing activity, allowing members to observe collective positioning and the behavior of trading connections.

• Tweet My TradesSocial-sharing feature

  Tweet My Trades enabled members to automatically share open and closed trading positions through Twitter. When an order was executed, Currensee could publish a corresponding message on the trader's behalf, extending the platform's social activity into the wider FX and online-trading community.

• Trade Together

  International online foreign-exchange market

  Currensee used “Trade Together” as its central brand message, presenting foreign-exchange trading as a collaborative activity rather than an isolated pursuit. The positioning supported its social network, trading teams, live-account sharing, and mirrored-trading products.

  Outcome. The message became a concise expression of Currensee's community-oriented social-trading proposition.

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• Real trades. Real traders. Real time.

  International online foreign-exchange market

  This message highlighted Currensee's differentiation from online communities centered on hypothetical performance. The platform encouraged members to connect live brokerage accounts and share observable trading activity.

  Outcome. The message reinforced Currensee's transparency-focused identity, although the service was ultimately discontinued after Oanda's 2014 closure announcement.

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• 2014Closure of Currensee and OANDA Trade Leaders ProgramStrategy

  Following the acquisition, Oanda decided to discontinue the Currensee service and its related trade-leader product.

  What changed. Oanda announced on October 9, 2014 that both services would cease operation on October 31, 2014.

  Aftermath. The Currensee brand became defunct and no longer operated its social network or mirrored-trading service.

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• 2013Oanda acquires CurrenseeM&A

  Currensee operated in the developing social- and copy-trading segment of the retail FX market.

  What changed. Oanda Corporation acquired Currensee in September 2013.

  Aftermath. Currensee's service continued under Oanda for a limited period before being closed in 2014.

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• 2010Launch of the Trade Leaders Investment ProgramProduct launch

  Currensee sought to extend its social network from information sharing into investment execution by allowing users to follow experienced traders.

  What changed. The company introduced algorithmic identification and screening of Trade Leaders and enabled investors to mirror selected leaders' trades in their own brokerage accounts.

  Aftermath. The program became Currensee's principal investment product and was later operated in related form as the OANDA Trade Leaders Program.

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• 2014Oanda announces the closure of Currensee and the OANDA Trade Leaders Program

  Oanda announced that Currensee and the OANDA Trade Leaders Program would stop operating on October 31, 2014.

  Other
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• 2013Oanda acquires Currensee

  Oanda Corporation acquired Currensee, bringing the social-trading service into the foreign-exchange broker's product portfolio.

  M&A
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• 2010Currensee launches the Trade Leaders Investment Program

  Currensee introduced a program allowing investors to select designated Trade Leaders and mirror their foreign-exchange transactions in the investors' own brokerage accounts.

  Product launch
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1. Currensee