Mobile technology is forever changing the way in which we access the internet, pay our bills, communicate with people, make purchases, and pretty much conduct our daily routines. The financial trading industry has traditionally kept traders tied to their desks in case immediate action was needed in moments of high volatility or unexpected movement, but today’s market is changing and the FinTech industry is playing major catch-up with tech providers launching mobile trading platforms so traders can take their trading wherever they go. This is particularly useful for the Forex industry, in which changes in market conditions can occur 24 hours a day.
Guest post by Yael Warman, Content Manager at Leverate
In order to predict where the use of mobile in financial trading is going, let’s see what the use of mobile in general looks like today.
In 2015, 33% of internet connections happened from a smartphone, the device with the highest use for internet searches, followed by laptops at 30%, tablets at 19% and desktops at 14%, according to a study by Ofcom Technology Tracker. These mobile uses don’t occur exclusively while people are “mobile”, however. According to the same study, 16% of the internet used on a mobile device was used while the individual was at home, while 66% of respondents said they use their mobile devices to access the internet both at home and outside.
By the year 2020, it is expected that there will be 2 to 3 times more smartphones than PCs. With this in mind, the financial industry has been bracing itself for big changes in the development and implementation of mobile platforms.
While in 2013 only 15% of mobile trading logins resulted in the opening of a trade, today those numbers have more than tripled. A recent study conducted by ORC International for the investment firm Fidelity revealed that 56% of mobile users surveyed in the United States, are accessing financial apps for more sophisticated investing tasks, like conducting technical analysis, charting, conducting fundamental analysis, reading reports and trading.
Mobile platforms that intend to serve the future trader must have the ability to work seamlessly across devices. The trader of the future is not committed to one platform and may jump from their phone, to their tablets, to their Pcs. In order to serve this MO, features such as one-wallet and one-login will become a norm.
With increased competition, mobile trading platform providers must strive to provide engaging, innovative and attractive environments. Social trading integration, native applications, customizable features and branding will be just some of the offerings we will see available to brokers looking to offer mobile access to their traders.
As the financial trading industry joins the mobile revolution that other businesses have begun, mobile apps will stop being a “nice to have” and become a “must have”.
Share
