Set to make its first appearance at last week’s iFX Expo in Hong Kong was a product update to ChartIQ’s webtrader platform that was unveiled at the conference in 2015. In addition, ChartIQ was unveiling a mobile trader to complement their webtrader solution. However, the extreme weather on the east coast of the US made it a no-show for the first day of the iFX Expo and ultimately limited ChartIQ’s presence at the conference.
With the one-year anniversary of the webtrader and current updates, Finance Magnates took the opportunity to catch up with ChartIQ CEO Dan Schleifer about the progress of the product. Since the launch of their webtrader, MetaQuotes has also introduced a webtrader of their own as a simple solution for brokers.
Schleifer said that while the entrance of MetaQuotes does add a major competitor into the fold, it has also brought benefits. Schleifer explained that awareness of brokers of the overall webtrader product has increased thanks to MetaQuotes. As such, his firm’s work becomes focused on displaying to brokers that webtraders aren’t all equal and that they can produce higher volumes when customized to meet client trading needs.
In this regard, Schleifer described one European broker that tried their product with low expectations after seeing few benefits from previous webtrader rollouts. However, according to Schleifer, after deploying ChartIQ’s solution, they realized a 10x improvement in webtrader based volumes.
Brokers want an 'awesome' webtrader
Summarizing the current webtrader industry, Schleifer stated that you have brokers that “want to check the box and have a webtrader”. In addition, he added that “there are those that want an ‘awesome’ webtrader that can be customized and provide a desktop experience to their clients”.
ChartIQ’s current webtrader update is part of their goal to achieve a value adding experience for end users. As such, the update includes integration of additional technical indicators and chart displays such as range bars, point and figure and kagi charts. Schleifer explained that his firm aims to accommodate new trading trends and user habits, with feedback from brokers and traders relating that “range bars have become more popular”.
In addition to charting capabilities, ChartIQ has added statistic functions. For traders, the webtrader can produce reports such as user profitability for individual trading products. On the broker side, ChartIQ has added trader performance statistics. This data includes information on real time users of the webtrader and historical activity taking place on the product.
Beyond the webtrader, also being introduced to broker customers is a new mobile trader platform using their HTML5 charting foundation. According to Schleifer, the goal with mobile was to create a platform developed “in a purpose built mobile framework”. As such, the product was developed to be both simple to use on the small mobile screen, but also to provide many important trading features.
According to Schleifer, ChartIQ currently has 16 brokers who have gone live with their webtrader, with more in the deployment stage. For brokers, ChartIQ is offering their solution using several different licensing pricing plans, such as volume or fixed cost based.
Beyond updates to their charting platform, ChartIQ is also planning to announce new third party integrations. Similar to StockTwits and Estimize which can be integrated within the webtrader, ChartIQ plans to add third party solutions from popular Forex and CFD technology providers which many of their broker clients are already using.
