Few industries are developing as quickly as the online trading business currently is. Brokers and trading platforms are quick to jump on all the latest trends and are not scared to adapt and adjust to fit new demands. But what does this change really look like and what are the industry-leaders doing to adapt to the future of online trading?
1. New Products and Services
The easiest and most obvious way that the trading industry is preparing for the future is by launching new products and services. For example, over the past five years, several of the leading binary options brokers decided to switch their focus from the dubious binary options market to the socially accepted forex market. This was done to avoid stricter regulation but also to meet a new demand among customers.
For another great example of adaptation in the trading world, we’ll take a look at the best CFD brokers in the world according to BullMarketz. Over the last two years, the CFD industry has jumped on the cryptocurrency industry and the few brokers that haven’t, have already been left behind.
What is even more impressive is that some of these brokers have taken it further than just cryptocurrencies as CFDs. In late 2017, IQ Option became the first CFD broker to start offering cryptocurrencies as securities. Then, in early 2018, they launched a complete cryptocurrency exchange called Hodly.
Only weeks after that, eToro announced that they too were planning to launch a cryptocurrency exchange. In this particular case, eToro had also found a loophole that would allow them access to the American market. Since CFD trading is banned in the United States, none of the leading CFD brokers are licensed there. However, cryptocurrency trading is perfectly legal in the United States, which means eToro will be able to reach one of the most prominent markets in the world despite their previous focus on CFD trading.
If that’s not a sign of great innovation and adaptation, then I don’t know what is.
2. Mobile Trading
Another massive switch in the online trading community has come from the uprise of mobile trading. A few years ago, mobile trading apps were so basic that there was no chance that they could even try to compete with the desktop platforms of the time. But today, the industry looks completely different.
In fact, the mobile trading apps today are good enough for most traders to handle all of their trading on them. They are no longer limited to basic analytic work and monitoring but can be used to analyze prices, open and close orders, and so much more. In 2017, some online brokers received close to 50% of all traffic on their platforms from mobile devices and that trend is set to grow even further this year.
3. Safety
As we spend more and more of our time online and on mobile devices, the need for good and reliable safety systems has become increasingly more important. All of the major markets have always been regulated, and regulation keeps getting stricter. For example, the ESMA decided to limit the use of leverage in Europe earlier this year and at the same time they banned binary options.
In addition, brokerages and banks are working hard to improve their own safety systems, making it harder for hackers to get into their servers.
Some brokerages are even limiting their customers access to certain securities that are considered too high risk. The latest example being Bank of America removing penny stocks from their brokerage.
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