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The popularity of online shopping can be explained by its convenience as well as lower prices due to reduced operational expenses of the businesses that sell goods and services. This trend expands to online trading software development that offers financial services and products. E-trading is a great alternative to traditional trading companies that allows buying and selling financial products using e-trading platforms. Anybody who wishes to start making money through trading can access these platforms.
E-trading develops so fast that these platforms often offer real-time trading services.
There are two types of online trading platforms – traditional type and cryptocurrency type. Traditional online trading platform focuses on traditional trading funds, stocks, currencies, precious metals and so on.
Cryptocurrency type of platform focuses on trading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum etc.
How do trading platforms work?
E-trading or online trading platforms are complex software solutions that enable traders of all levels buy and sell stocks, monitor accounts and build financial portfolios remotely. These are real time trading activities that can be done for your own purposes or you can act as a trader on behalf of investors. Online trading develops rapidly, which means that more and more people turn away from traditional trading organisations in favour of e-trading. Online trading offers a much better control over transactions, transferring funds, additional services (for instance, live terminals), advisory services and direct investment into IPO and mutual funds. In addition, e-trading is time efficient and requires no documents to start making money. The platform is a comprehensive tool, which is highly secure and easy to use.
Here is how the platform works in simple terms. You start with logging in and placing your order with an online broker. Your order then goes to the platform’s database that checks the market offers and suggest the best selling and purchasing price for you. When the seller and buyer match, your order and the price become visible to the investors. The platform then sends out a contract for each party and keeps record of this transaction for future reference.
Before we dive into technical side of building a trading platform, let us think about the core features a trading platform should have.
Search engine – to enable searching for relevant information in a fast and efficient manner.
Portfolio – to monitor and update user’s portfolio in real time and use filters to narrow down the information.
Deposits – to access and monitor extended user’s deposit information in a convenient manner.
Newsfeed – to get the most recent updates about the online trading platform.
Alerts and notifications – to get information and messages about the current news or actions that need to be taken.
Transactions – to view and prepare transaction reports online.
Quotes monitoring – to view and monitor all quotes online.
Sort by and filter features – to enable easy and convenient navigation through the platform.
Placing trades – to view and amend financial data on the platform.
Analytics – to illustrate dynamics and transactions flow in a visual form, like charts, graphs, tables etc.
The above are the main features that allow users performing their tasks on the platform. You can add more features though, that will let your platform stand out.
Trading is a very particular area. Before building a trading platform, you need to consider the following factors:
UX Design – Plan thoroughly. Think over design from a user’s perspective. Make sure the platform is usable and coherent; pay special attention to the characteristics, work processes and environment. It should be easy to navigate to ensure you get and retain your customers.
UI Design – Your platform should have a clear structure and a content that is easy to understand. It should be visually appealing, consistent and have a concept that will be visible through the platform’s architecture.
Frontend Development – This part implies that your developers work on the client side of online trading platform. This covers structure, user’s interface, web pages and so on. Everything a user sees, including animated effects, visuals etc. comes from frontend developers input. Using technologies like HTML/CSS/JavaScript, jQuery, Bootstrap or Foundation, React or Angular, frontend developers build e-trading platform to meet your needs.
Backend Development – This is the ‘behind the scenes’ part that platform users cannot see. It covers servers and databases that store information about the user’s profile, transactions and so on. This part of the mechanism supports smooth run of the online trading platform and uses technologies like Python, .Net, PHP, SQL- and NoSQL- databases.
Testing – Every software requires testing before launching. This stage ensures that the platform meets all the quality requirements related to functionality, usability, ease of use and seamless performance. Experienced QA specialists check that all of the above are there and the platform is ready for launch.
Another thing you need to consider is whether you want to build a website based platform or a mobile application platform. As more and more people become smartphone users, the latter may be a better option to attract more customers. Ideally, you should build platforms that are suitable for both iOS and Android users.
Time wise, it takes 5-9 months to build a website platform, and 6-10 months to build a mobile app.
Remember to pay special attention to the safety features of your platform. Financial services is a sensitive area that requires extra efforts to ensure the platform is secure and protected.
Financial services is a highly regulated field, in order to start working in this business you will need to receive a license in the countries where your online trading platform will be available. A state regulated body will monitor your business activity. Therefore, be prepared that all data that you possess will be thoroughly checked.
Now that you have an idea of what it takes to build an online trading platform, it is about time you choose an experienced team of developers who will implement your ideas into a unique product.
Magnise has the expertise in building online trading platforms. Contact us and get more information on how to implement your ideas into a trading platform that really stands out. Send Request.
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