Tom Higgins sums up the world of armchair FX trading succinctly. “How many people are experts in foreign exchange? Very few. How many people think they know enough to have a punt? An awful lot.”

As chief executive of FX software vendor Gold-i, Higgins has a front row seat for the social media revolution that has quietly swept retail FX trading over the past couple of years. The phenomenon is changing the way people invest in currencies, say experts.