Why Apps Matter: Fueling Growth in Online Trading

The power of mobile trading apps 

The online trading industry has really moved to embrace mobile trading apps over the past few years. Technology providers like Panda have continued to lower the barriers to entry, making a professional mobile offering both more affordable and competitive than the options from incumbent providers in the space. 

Improved Client On-Boarding 

One of the key selling points that have made Panda’s iOS and Android trading platforms such a success, is the way these apps allow brokers to offer on-boarding, document verification, funding, account management and trading services all from a single app interface.  

This effectively makes our mobile apps an all-in-one onboarding funnel where new users can gain access to your services without ever having to move away from the app or to interact with any of your other online touchpoints.  

This may not have been such a big deal in an earlier version of the industry, when brokers didn’t pay as much attention to client churn rates or to maximizing every possibility to convert, but in a competitive market where every drop-off can have a direct influence on a broker’s volumes, these considerations are becoming all the more important.  

Unlike older generations of traders, Millennial and Gen-Z cohorts prefer interacting with businesses (particularly businesses related to personal finance) almost exclusively via an app environment. This has been key in many brokers’ strategies to start appealing to new demographics of traders. 

Better Branding  

Another attractive feature is the ability to brand these apps with your business’s colors and logos. Beyond this, the customizability of Panda’s products goes much further than just fonts and palettes. Our mobile app offering allows you to tailor your clients’ initial experience by setting up the various windows and widgets in a manner that you think best suits your traders. This gives you an opportunity to make a great first impression, while allowing more advanced clients to dig into the wealth of advanced features our platforms come bundled with. 

This also adds to the uniqueness of your offering, allowing you to stand out from an increasingly crowded market with an app style and interface that’s all your own. This may not have been a priority to many online brokers in years gone by, but nowadays that mobile is so important to your ability to keep converting, and in a market that’s growing increasingly competitive, an all-in-one mobile solution that allows you to differentiate yourself has been a game-changer for many of Panda’s brokers. 

Own Your Own Mobile Reputation 

Resilience is another thing that many online CFD brokers have had to consider in recent years, especially with Apple’s decision to pull MetaQuotes apps from its app store last year. This action revealed a vulnerability in existing mobile offerings that many brokers were not previously aware of.  

Panda’s mobile app customers were able to continue business as normal through the mini crisis with 100% uptime, and we have experienced increased interest in our mobile solutions ever since. This is due to brokers coming to understand the importance of having your own mobile app under your own company name that is not tied to the reputation and dealings of any other entities.  

Brokerage System Compatibility  

Last but not least, one of the main benefits of using Panda’s mobile applications is the added compatibility benefits you get by sourcing more of your brokerage components from Panda Trading Systems.  

For instance, used in combination with our best-in-class CRM business intelligence suite, your mobile apps become an incredibly valuable source of client behavior data, allowing you to segment different areas of your clientele and reach out to them with highly tailored content that’s most likely to convert, retain, and increase lifetime value. 

 
To Conclude 

 Mobile trading has quickly become a non-negotiable in the world of online trading. But even so, brokers must be aware of the benefits and drawbacks of different types of mobile offerings. Make sure you prioritize control over your own mobile products, so that they’re affected by no one’s reputation other than your own.  

 
You should also be able to have creative control about the look and feel of your apps, ensuring that you have chosen the screens and widgets your new signups will encounter first. 

 
More important than most considerations is the ability of your clients to enjoy an all-in-one experience directly from these apps without ever requiring access to any of your other touchpoints. 
Finally, consider compatibility. The benefits of your mobile offering will continue to accrue behind the scenes if these apps are fully compatible with your other brokerage systems, allowing your sales, retention, CS, compliance, and accounting teams to extract valuable insights from the data collected and to perform their best work for your business.