Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on August 1, 2014 in New York City.

Future Finance showcases future trends related to the global financial system.

Story highlights

Commodities traders use Twitter to get inside info from farmers

One fund based all its trades on sentiment analysis of tweets

EToro is a social network for investing, letting users copy the trading strategies of others

CNN  — 

In a world where information is plentiful and abundant, traders are always trying to make money by finding that hidden advantage. Many are betting that 140 characters is all it takes to beat the market.

Some professionals in the world of high finance are relying on Twitter and other social media to try to get the edge on the competition.

Markets went into a spin last year when someone hacked the AP’s Twitter account and