Industry Insights. Part 2: Brokerage Pain Points

Welcome back to the PandaTS blog and thanks for jumping back into our two-part series on industry insights. Last time we focused on some of the things we’ve learned by surveying online traders. In this article, we’ll be looking at some of the most common issues that our own clients in the online FX/CFD industry have been communicating with us. So strap in and let’s get started!

How do we stand out from the crowd?
One of the most common issues you hear from brokers is that MT4’s massive share of the FX/CFD brokerage market has led to a situation where it’s almost impossible for a broker to differentiate themselves. Opting for a different solution is a huge risk to take in a space where, as we saw last time, a sixteen year-old platform still dominates the mindshare of online traders. And it’s not just the fact that everyone’s hamstrung into offering the same trading experience. The very process of getting your clients to download and install the platform requires them to select your name from an enormous list of rival brokers, which you’ll all agree is not a good look for anyone.

How do we attract younger traders?
The fabled millennial trader has been discussed and expected in our industry now for at least a decade. Have they turned up? They have. However, many of them have ended up being converted by the crypto exchanges and zero commission stock brokers. What we find time and again, is that the issue we discussed in the previous paragraph is also related to the industry’s difficulty in attracting younger traders. The tried and tested platforms simply don’t cut it for them. They’ve grown up with a completely different kind of user experience and simply can’t (or don’t want to) get to grips with the platforms their parents were using to day trade in the early 2000s. It’s not an issue with your asset offerings, although we do advise our clients to focus on thematic baskets for this new generation of traders. After all, these are traders for whom passive indexation and story stocks have been the lay of the land since they were children. It’s UX that turns this new type of trader on or off. So, if you have to go with the tried and tested platforms, how about keeping the back end and giving the look and feel a much-needed update?

How do we simplify trading?
Here we go again, another common issue for brokerages that stems from platform choice, or lack thereof. The binary options craze in the early 2010s didn’t take place because there was anything radically new on offer. Binary options exploded because they were so damn simple that anyone could understand them! The downturn in that particular industry due to its excesses has, in some ways, hurt FX/CFD brokers as well because they were never forced to think about simplifying their own offerings in order to compete. Our research shows that there’s a large contingent of wannabe traders who simply find the leap to FX trading far too daunting. Up until now, most solutions to this problem have seen brokers flooding their websites with educational content and analysis. This is good and necessary, but it simply doesn’t cut it. If you want to on-board the hoards of traders-to-be sitting on the sidelines, you have to offer them something between the sheer simplicity of binary options trading and the full-blown MT4/MT5 experience. In this way, you have a path for them to move from complete novices to the real deal with all the bells and whistles. Remember, a client that you guide on this journey is a client who will remain loyal to your brand.

How Panda Can Help
We believe that we’re best situated to resolve any platform-related pain points your business may be experiencing. Not only do we offer branded white label solutions to start-up brokerages and IBs seeking to expand their operations; we’ve made a name for ourselves by keeping what’s best from the tried and tested solutions out there, while putting our own unique spin on them. Panda currently offers an entire suite of trading interfaces that harness the strength of the MetaQuotes stack. These include desktop, web-based, mobile and simplified trading solutions. We also offer our own all-new trading platform, PandaTrader, and for those among you who want to offer a completely bespoke trading experience, we also specialise on complete, from-scratch, custom developments.

To discuss these or any other issues raised in these of articles. Please get in touch with one of our success managers. They’d love to hear from you.