What makes something a good platform? I think all good platforms share certain features, the most important of which is that they bring together the priorities of different parties and allow them to interact in a manner that is beneficial to all.
In the case of social media/blogging, these groups would be content consumers and content creators. In the case of Online Trading they are, of course, traders and brokers. With Status we have built a central hub from which a trader's entire relationship with their broker can be managed from one place - i.e. a platform that places a premium on three central features that both traders and brokers prioritize. These features are: integration, confirmation and education.
Most applications start off as fragmented, doing just one thing well
Integration
Integration is a big buzzword for businesses, particularly when it comes to different BI systems talking to each other. However, it's often overlooked when it comes to user experience, at least in the short term. Most applications start off as fragmented, doing just one thing well. Then, as the ecosystem evolves, you see integrations taking place where a number of different features can be leveraged to provide a bigger, more useful service.
WhatsApp initially only enabled its users to set personal statuses next to their contact details. That's it. Then, when Apple enabled push notifications, it slowly evolved into a rudimentary messenger service. Today it's the thread that connects what used to be two completely separate worlds; your FaceBook with your phone's contacts.
Reuters
Integration is good for businesses because it facilitates the flow of information. But it's also good for users because it enables them to get more done without having to switch away to a different interface, a different login screen, a different logic. The online services you use the most all share this feature, so why not your Trading Platform ?
This was our point of departure when creating Status, that it should integrate fully with the brokerage, allowing users to do carry out almost any interaction they would have with their broker, without ever having to leave the platform. This includes client area logins, KYC/AML, funding, livechat, notifications and third party services.
Through Status you can register, login, upload documents, deposit funds, trade, interact with customer support, use third party trading services and consult a trading knowledge base, all from within the platform, all without never having to click away.
Confirmation
One of the common mistakes that I see people making when designing products and services for retail traders, is to not take how they think into account. We have gone in the opposite direction with Status. The design decisions we have made throughout the development of Status prioritize trader psychology, almost above all else.
Trading is about having the fortitude to make risky decisions in uncertain and constantly changing environ-ments
Trading is about having the fortitude to make risky decisions in uncertain and constantly changing environments. One of the primary ways that traders handle this uncertainty is to look for confirmations that their appraisal of a market is realistic. Remember, there are no certainties, none of the tools we use to analyse markets are perfect predictors of future price action.
This is why traders often use multiple confirmations from different modes of analysis before risking any of their capital on a position. It's a smart way of dealing with too much data. Make sure that you're getting the same reading even if you slice that data in a number of different ways.
The easiest way to think about this is as different senses. Sure, you can trust that something is there when you hear it, but you can trust it much more when you can see it, hear it, smell it and touch it. Trading is no different. An entry point becomes way more solid in the mind of a trader when for example:
- Other traders are taking long positions at or around it
- It has historically been a strong level of support
- The RSI at is giving indications of an oversold market
- A bullish rumor is currently being digested by the market
Status provides the user with an easy way to slice the incoming data in any combination of these four fundamental ways. By pressing any combination of the four status buttons beneath the main chart window, a trader can view: where other traders are positioned, what professional analysts have identified as the trading session's key levels, how the price action looks with any of six pre-set technical indicators as well as economic news pertaining to the asset being charted and an on-chart countdown to its release.
Education
Some of the biggest websites in our industry specialize in finance-related content rather than trading services. I'm sure you know the ones, they're always among the first results when you search for a trading-related keyword. What's interesting about these sites when you look into them is that their traffic is almost exclusively organic. In other words, their success rests on the fact that a large number of people are regularly searching for things like “what is inflation?” or “how do pivot points work?”
Although not exactly a confirmation like the ones listed above, we believe that educational content increases trader confidence, and that a confident trader is much more likely to trade. You can think of education as a precursor to trading confirmations. A trader who knows what they're doing and has the ability to quickly brush up on something they're uncertain of, is much more likely to heed what their trading confirmations are telling them.
We have built the perfect way to distribute short and easy-to-digest educational content
With Status, we have built the perfect way to distribute short and easy-to-digest educational content. In the right-hand panel users will find a video playlist that is constantly reordered to present the user with useful videos that are cued according to the action being taken on the platform. Playing around with horizontal lines? The platform will recognize this and offer you a short refresher on support and resistance. Trying to apply Bollinger bands? The platform will see this and serve you a useful video explaining how they work.
Conclusion
It's been a long hard road but we made it. The entire team at Traders Platforms and I are all so excited about sharing Status with the world of brokers and traders. As always with these things, you have to get your hands on it before you can truly understand how it works, how it feels and what it can do for you. So, we would like to welcome you all to come and give Status a test drive in our experience room at booth ## of this years iFXEXPO. We look forward to seeing you there!
