Ins & Outs of Trading App Development

Mobile applications have become an integral part of user experience and we can see why. They get in everywhere – as we listen to music or watch movies, use maps, call a taxi, expose our lifestyle, communicate with each other and even work. The list could go on and on but what we must acknowledge is mobile apps change the way we used to live.

Mobile trading today

The day after day mobile application development penetrates virtually every industry seizing also financial and stock sector. Trading on mobile gives market players total freedom leaving behind the times of sticking around one location behind a desktop computer.

These days, if you have a smartphone – who has not? – and a good internet connection, you can trade via mobile phone, watch your symbol list, learn news from the market, make your technical analysis using indicators on the chart, run your strategies and much more.

The latest mobile platforms are available both on smartphones and tablets with fully-fledged terminal functionality including order management and price charts analysis. As a result, there’s an unstoppable rise of users eager to trade on-the-go.

But what other advantages does mobile trading offer? And are there any drawbacks of such kind of trading?

Mobile Trading Pros & Cons

Sure thing that one wouldn’t trade via smartphone all the time. Not likely mobile apps would fully replace web apps, but alongside with desktop trading, mobile trading ensures such benefits:

• Pocket-size devices ensure traders with anytime access which is very convenient;
• A trader is able to connect to the Internet via any mobile network available;
• Fully-fledged trading terminal functionality available;
• Mobile device battery is designed for a longer operating time compared to a laptop;
• Additional features such as alert notifies about the transaction outcome.

Yet, trading on mobile has also some disadvantages:

• Small screen size makes it difficult to analyze price charts. Still, it’s easily compensated by zoom function;
• Internet connection can be unstable sometimes;
• Standard set of indicators without the possibility to install additional ones.

Still, with current technologies, all these gaps can be easily eliminated in the nearest future.

First and foremost, mobile trading is an excellent solution that facilitates traders life. Mobile device gives an opportunity to be always aware of the market situation and to timely prevent loses.  

So, now you know the highlights of mobile trading and that mobile apps are part and parcel of everyday life. With this in mind, it seems to be a cool idea to create own trading mobile app with the full suite of resources for traders.

But before we learn the basic essentials of a well-functioning trading app from the bottom up, let’s go over a brief overview of top trading apps that provide a great experience to millions of traders today.

What Competitors Offer

It would be insane going into the trading app development stage without researching the market and learning competitors benefits & drawbacks. Otherwise, it can cost you brand-damaging mistakes. Here’s a quick list of top trading apps that can aid in crafting an outstanding powerful trading mobile app:

• E-trade

Being a US pioneer in trading E-trade is considered to be one of the best investing application, that gives traders the possibility to build a strong and versatile portfolio.

➕ user-friendly;

➕ great customer support;

➕ access to research, data & tutorial tools;

➕ good fit both for newbies & professional traders;

➕ $4,95/trade commission if 30+ trades are made per quarter;

➕ 60 days commission-free trades under $10k deposit.

➖ $500 account minimum amount;

➖ $6,95 commission.

• Stockpile

This app-based brokerage makes it easy and accessible to invest in the stock market, being an especially good fit for the younger generation.

➕  allowing users to buy fractional shares of stock;

➕  the minimum investment is only $5;

➕  gift card options;

➕  simple UI;

➕  low commissions on trading.

➖  doesn’t allow to buy stocks of companies trading below $6;

➖  poor research & analysis tools;

➖  little securities available;

➖  no order routing options.

• Acorns

Designed for investment beginners and college students. The trick is rounding-up spendings and turning spare change to investments. E.g if you buy a donut for $2.75, the app will round it up to $3.00 with $0.25 will goes to investment.

➕  no minimum investment;

➕  free for college-aged users;

➕  provides educational content;

➕  automatic cash back;

➕  an easy way to save money.

➖  high fees for small balances;

➖  limited investments options;

➖  little account types.

• Robinhood

Free-trading app that appeals to millennials and first-time investors who want to trade stocks, ETF and cryptocurrency.

➕  well-designed app;

➕  easy-to-use;

➕  zero commission trading;

➕  strong referral program;

➕  no minimum deposit;

➕  market news notifications.

➖  limited customer support;

➖  not intuitive;

➖  no retirement accounts;

➖  little to no trading/research tools;

➖  no mutual funds or bonds.

Of course, the list is not full since there are many other competitive apps within the trading industry. Still, by learning strong and weak sides of the top-notch products you will know areas to focus on while developing own mobile app.

So how to make a trading app so powerful but easy-to-use? What are the key features? Let’s find out!

Key Features & Technologies of a Robust Trading Mob App

The investors on-the-go love using smartphones or tablets with the app’s full package of advanced features. This includes access to real-time quotes, stock and ETF screeners options, and various trading tools availability. Let’s explore what features and tools must be available via the mobile app.

1. Dashboard
2. Streaming of quotes and charts in real time
3. Data portfolio with an update option
4. Market situation updates
5. Stock schedules, notifications, and alerts
6. Stock filters
7. Watchlist
8. Money transferring

A mobile app that provides real-time data research tools access will benefit traders a lot.

There are various technologies options to craft an advanced mobile app for trading. For Android developers, it’s Java, Kotlin, C# or JavaScript languages, when iOS developers may use Objective C, Java or Swift.

To save delivery time, you can also use developments kits and APIs. Android SDK, JDK by Java, RestKit, Core Data and much more may be applied depending on project complexity.

There are several core elements mobile trading back-end structure consists of:

✅ User/account management

✅ Payments

✅ Newsfeed

✅ Notifications

✅ Historical data storage

✅ Workspace storage

✅ Scripting engine (for auto-trading, scripting, and alerts)

✅ Broker connection module

For notifications, Google Cloud Messaging or Firebase services would be the best choice for Android developers, while APNS integration is a great fit for iOS devices.

Costs and Peculiarities of Trading App Development

Mobile app development is not an open-and-shut case. It requires a lot of important stages, like deep market research, defining marketing strategy, developing an appropriate architecture, choosing platform, prototyping and other.

But building a skilled team is most significant and is no easy task.

Even if you cut back on features of your trading app you’d need at least 2-3 developers, 1 designer, and a tester. Due to heavy workload, it may take at least 3+ months to build a full-fledged mobile trading app. You already know, there’s no need to rush when you developing something stand-out.

Next step – costs. No one can precisely tell you how much money you need to lay out, but once you decided to develop own app it’s not time to scrimp.

At a rough estimate you gonna need around 400 hours of back-end development and around 500 for native app development. Plus, over 100 hours on app design, quality testing, and assurance.

So when making calculations, you need to consider the following:

• specialized skills of developers;

• about 1000 hours of development;
• an estimated €100/hour of development work.

That’s shaping up into quite a big number, huh?

So the question is – is it possible to optimize and reduce costs on such a project? And the answer is – yes, of course!

The software world – is the frameworks world.

When you build an outstanding project you will obviously use a whole frameset. Out-of-box solutions can significantly reduce costs sometimes as well as provide with an expertized team. This means a team with the experience of a similar development will spend less time on implementing the project.

You might think that trading app development is a great challenge. Well, it depends a lot on your desire, persistence, motivation and technological partners you’ll surround your project with.

Fintatech as Your Technological Partner