If you want to win a Nobel Prize in the arts or sciences, it’s important to be original. But if you want to make money in the stock market, originality is vastly overrated. In fact, there are a plethora of research services dedicated to following the trading moves of high-profile investors like Warren Buffett, Bill Ackman or Carl Icahn in the hopes of copying them.

The SEC requires that large, influential money managers report their trading moves by filing Form 13F within 45 days of each quarter end, which has created an entire cottage industry of 13F mining services that turn these reports into actionable advice. I’ve used research service GuruFocus for years to generate investment ideas and regularly browse others, such as InsiderMonkey.

There are even multiple ETFs dedicated to guru following, such as the Global X Guru Index ETF (GURU), the AlphaClone Alternative Alpha ETF (ALFA) and the Direxion iBillionaire Index ETF (IBLN). I’ve written about all three ETFs in past articles and consider all to be based on solid strategies. (See “Investing Like a Billionaire” for a rundown.)

Now, iBillionaire Capital, the manager of the iBillionaire ETF, is taking guru following in a very new direction, creating its own roboadvisor platform for the Apple iPhone and iPad. The app gives you access to the trades of the billionaire hedge fund investor of your choice and places orders on your behalf at a real brokerage account at a third-party custodian.

 

 

The rationale for the app—and for roboadvisors in general—is simple enough. Hedge funds run by master-of-the-universe investors tend to be expensive, generally charging 2% per year in management fees and another 20% of profits. And that’s if you’re lucky enough to get invested at all. Many of the funds of the very best managers are closed to new money. And even the ones that are open certainly aren’t open to ordinary investors. You’d need a seven-figure net worth and, often, a well-connected advisor to make an introduction.

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