How traders can get the most out of their mobile application?

Welcome to the 21st century where it is now hypothetically possible to order a drone to deliver dog food because Spot is wearing a smart watch that knows when he’s hungry. Yet for some reason, one thing that you will tend to not find people doing is simply trading from their mobile. Seems inconsistent? Well it is. While the technology certainly exists, studies continue to show that mobile adoption for trading is a dismal 30% lower than the industry standard.

The reality is a mobile platform could be to a trader’s enormous benefit, your traders are busy people for whom finding the time to trade can be tough.  As a broker it’s in your interest to enhance your trader’s opportunities to trade wherever possible, be it whilst on their way to work, at the gym, or for that matter, whilst walking Spot. In this article we discuss features on how to design your mobile platform so that traders are likely to use it and maximize the time they have available.

Social Trading

Social trading presents as the ideal match for the mobile trader, for a number of reasons; it increases the frequency of the trades deposited, the trader is less reliant on a swag of charts and then, no less importantly, it’s just an enjoyable way to trade. Aside from its suitability for the mobile device, there are multitude of benefits to social trading, such as there being a shorter learning curve for a new trader wanting to test the waters without bearing too much risk. It is also presents as a great way to get a pulse on market sentiment as it provides a snap shot of trader movements.

Ideally, the app should have the means to be switched between a standard trading mode and a social trading mode. The social trading mode needs to display all the master’s that a trader can copy and their profile data. In Sirix, this is in a vertical list that can be “spun”. In both modes, the trader should still be able to see the information that is most relevant to his trading interests by displaying currencies or commodities that tend to be preferred.

Tutorials

In order to increase an app’s adoption rate, provide short and quick tutorials that show traders how to use the app. Instead of having one long tutorial that explains all the different functions and uses of the app, traders may get more out of your mobile platform if you have a series of short tutorials that are triggered once the user clicks on the relevant icon. So for example, you need to have one quick tutorial on how to place a trade, another tutorial on how to access and use the charts, a short tutorial on how to use and maximize the social trading mode, etc.

This is important as the most common reason that traders are reluctant to start trading on mobile, is because they believe that they don’t have the same resources and tools otherwise available to them on a desk top. If you can demonstrate that these features are available, and also importantly, are easy to use, then you’re effectively removing a significant barrier. 

Push notifications

Traders are often attracted to the world of forex because it has that appeal of a ripe opportunity for money to be made. A mobile app can address that underlying appeal with push notifications. If traders have a mobile app, they can be alerted to ideal opportunities to trade with push notifications and take advantage of the stock markets so much more effectively. In a simple process, traders receive messages that update them of developments in the market, letting you know if a particular currency is expected to plummet or if the value of a commodity is due to rise because of surrounding circumstances. Being aware of events happening in the markets will enable traders to take advantage of prime opportunities and more effectively implement their trading strategies.