I was cold called by a firm called "Analyst Online"  (also avoid if you are ever called). I was told about social trading where you follow professional traders and how "Analyst Online" provide regular feedback on which traders to follow. On the face of it all looked ok. They recommended opening a demo account with Ayondo  where you can practise following traders. All the trades made by the traders you are following are duplicated according to your risk settings and you monitor and practise on the demo account. The demo went well so I opened a live account. "Analyst Online" provided details of the recommended traders which I decided to follow. Ayondo gave me a 25% deposit bonus- all good with the proviso that I cannot withdraw funds until 250% of the bonus has been earned via spread conversion otherwise the deduct the appropriate amount of the bonus from your account. Spread conversion is the difference between the buy and sell price of a trade and commission generated by Ayondo on each trade. After about 3 months of trading my account was up over 40%, not all trades were winners but overall great going but then things went bad and then worse. Before I knew it my account was back down to breakeven and the deposit bonus had been swallowed up in losses. I monitor my account regularly and change risk settings and traders accordingly but I was continually in a situation where the profits made were of a low value but the losses much higher. I am currently carrying a substantial loss and cannot withdraw funds for at least another 6 months until my trades have generated enough spread to cover the bonus (which has long since been swallowed up in losing trades). I realise that spread betting carries risk but when you are following alleged professional traders over a longer period you expect a positive return. I have not, others may have better luck and anyone trying social trading I wish them better luck then I have had. However my experience has been poor and I would not wish this experience on anyone else.