Cover All the Bases with a Web-based Trading App from Panda

Back in the day, if you wanted a highly functional online trading platform, your best bet was to install a piece of software on your desktop. It was still early days as far as software as a service (SaaS) was concerned, and HTML 5 hadn’t even been released yet. Your next option was a mobile trading platform. These took off in the mid-to-late 2000s with the explosion of smartphone usage and the popularity of trading on the go.

Web-based trading applications have also been around for years, but it took them a while longer to become viable alternatives to locally installed software. Today, however, with high-speed internet, reliable cloud services and a host of dedicated tools for web-app development, there are many reasons to make your trading platform an entirely web-based affair.

Cross-platform and device compatibility
If we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that keeping things simple is key. Trading is complicated enough all on its own, without needing to introduce other external frictions.

One of the real advantages of a web-based trading application is that it works instantly whether the user is on Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, or whatever else.

Furthermore, it’s truly what users want nowadays. The respective Web 2.0 and mobile revolutions have raised the bar for every kind of online business. Nowadays, users expect to be able to do everything either through a smartphone app or via the browser itself. The idea of being required to switch device, or to navigate download sections for appropriate desktop versions will seem to many of your prospects like a throwback to a bygone age.

Allow your clients to jump right in
How many steps a prospective client has to go through before being able to try anything out has also been a traditional point of friction in online trading.

Historically, they were required to register an account, verify their registration, navigate to the download section, select the desktop version compatible with their hardware, install it, set the server configuration up, and only then would they get to have a look at an actual chart!

Web apps do away with all of this. Essentially, if your client’s device is connected to the internet and comes equipped with a web browser, then they’re all set.

Fewer steps lead to fewer drop-offs
From a marketing perspective, web apps are a real game-changer. We all know that it’s a numbers game. You inevitably lose people on each and every subsequent step they have to go through before getting their hands on the platform.

It’s the same story with your registration forms, adding extra steps is directly correlated to fewer successful registrations. Web-based applications smooth this process out because everything, from registration and verification to account management and trading itself, can be conducted through the same interface (the browser).

A web app also allows you to make registration itself a part of setting up the app for each user. This means that fewer prospects will drop off before being able to have a go, which is crucial because your target market’s patience and attention spans are only getting shorter as time goes on. But it also means that all the steps you require them to take are performed on the very application that they’re trying to get their hands on!

Enter Panda Web Trader
Just like our popular line of mobile trading apps. Panda’s Web Trader allows you to keep your existing MT4/MT5 infrastructure, while completely overhauling the front-end experience and workflow to your clients’ preferences. You can offer a powerful web-based MT4-like trading app that ticks all the above boxes, without having to invest in an entirely new back-end framework.

Additionally, the customisation options are endless. You can solve the cross-platform/ device/ drop-off issues mentioned above, while also differentiating your brand with a platform that’s entirely unique to you. You can even tailor different styles of start-up screens for different users. For instance, beginners, or clients from markets that prefer simplified trading can be greeted by a scaled-down version that keeps things simple until they get to grips with the platform.

In our experience, a correctly configured web app can really make a difference to a brokerage’s bottom line. It also levels the playing field. We’ve observed smaller, faster-moving brands taking market share from larger, slower-moving ones purely by virtue of all the affordable competitive advantages that our MT4/MT5-style web trading apps have to offer.

For more information on how to make our customisable web trader application the centrepiece of your offering, please contact one of our success managers who will be more than happy to help.