KaChing: Social Investing on Steroids

Think you can pick stocks better than experienced fund managers? Maybe you can...and here's your chance to find out.

KaChing is a stock-picking website which just launched today. The goal? Find the best investors out there...and, experienced or not, help them make more money.

It's somewhat similar to sites like Zecco, Wikinvest, PersonalRIA, CoVestor and several others. KaChing is a little different in that it has brought in thousands of users through the use of social networks.

The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) has designated KaChing to be a registered investment adviser. In 2009, the site will start allowing users to make actual stock trades.

All you need to do is join the site, add your fantasy portfolio, then provide details about your overall investment strategy and rationale for picking particular companies. KaChing compares this information to the stocks’ actual performance in the market. Then KaChing uses behavior-based software to figure out which investors are performing best, based on a set of criteria it has developed.

The company has gained more than 350,000 users already, largely from its Facebook app. As other app developers have already done, KaChing has turned its Facebook users into users on the site during today's launch.

When the stock-trading portion of the site goes live next year, top investors will be able to make actual money. KaChing will charge a 1% fee for stock trades conducted through the service and split the revenue with the investors who others emulate.

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