There are several different trends emerging for the gamification of the trading markets. Among them are social trading features which allow users to share trades and communicate with each other. Games are also becoming a solution to educate traders about stock markets and other asset classes.
Among the earliest entrants into the gaming and trading education market is Singapore-based TradeHero. Using their virtual trading mobile app, TradeHero allows users to learn about the investment markets as well as manage demo accounts. As part of its business, TradeHero offers its product to stock exchanges, brokers and banks as a branded app that can be used to educate its customer bases.
Announcing its latest partnership, TradeHero has joined forces with Macquarie Capital Securities (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (“Macquarie”) to launch WarrantHero for the Bursa Malaysia market. Available on iOS or Android, WarrantHero is a virtual market and educating app that covers the fast growing structured warrant market on the Bursa Malaysia.
Entering the structured warrant market as an issuer and market maker in the Bursa Malaysia in October 2014, Macquarie has been responsible for vastly boosting the product’s Liquidity . According to figures jointly shared by TradeHero and Macquarie, volumes of structured warrants on Bursa Malaysia have risen from $1.3 million to $29.9 million (RM5 million to RM115 million) since October 2014, with Macquarie composing 61% of those volumes.
Barnaby Matthews, Head of Derivatives for Southeast Asia at Macquarie, explained that he believes the volume growth is due to several factors including the improvement in market making services, increased transparency and tools online, and the introduction of foreign index warrants.
As part of the introduction of WarrantHero, Macquarie is also creating a trading competition to raise awareness of the product, on which Matthews commented, “The aim of the contest is to improve investors’ understanding and awareness of structured warrants in Malaysia. Macquarie sees education as the key to continued market growth and the WarrantHero contest is the latest initiative in our drive to develop the market.”
For TradeHero, in addition to the current release of WarrantHero which they are also partnering with Bursa Malaysia, the firm has also created versions of their app for other Asian stock exchanges, including the Singapore Exchange (SGX). Dinesh Bhatia, CEO and Co-Founder at TradeHero commented, “There is an increasing need to promote financial literacy, particularly among millennials and aspiring investors, and what better way to achieve this than with a gamified, risk free and social environment.”
