Beyond Buzzwords: Rethinking UX/UI Design for Online Trading Platforms

In our industry, it’s often difficult to discuss certain topics. Not because they’re too technical and go over the heads of laypeople. Not because there’s little interest in them or because no audience is willing to listen. It’s because, nowadays, marketers overuse words that end up becoming meaningless.

When a copy of a copy is sold to the public with the word “innovative” in the description, how can that word ever have the same impact when it’s attached to a product that is truly innovative?

If you’ve ever read any articles about UX/UI design in online trading, you may already be calling to mind the kind of language that’s often used all too carelessly to describe these elements in a finished product.

Aside from innovative, how about: “intuitive,” “functional,” “ergonomic,” “seamless,” “customizable,” “tailored,” “bespoke,” “efficient,” “easy-to-use,” “familiar,” “attractive,” “easy-on-the-eye.” This is just a preliminary list, but we’re certain you can come up with several more of your own.

The truth

The truth about UX/UI design in online trading is that it has tended to not really be any of the above. An “if it ‘ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality has, in many ways, been the guiding principle. This was initially due to a number of very well-placed first-movers that then became incumbents, whose initial success has not motivated them to evolve.

What has tended to follow is a myriad of copycat platforms that have been released in their wake without ever questioning whether the original design choices of those incumbents ought to be reimagined.

When we created our software products, such as DXtrade and DXcharts, one of our abiding principles was to question everything that came before, to keep only that which works, and to rethink everything else in light of the technological and market developments that have come about since.

“Customizable”, “tailored”, and “bespoke” 

To this end, DXtrade was developed as a blank slate, and, in many ways, the finished product is also a kind of blank slate onto which any kind of trader can create their own look, feel, and workflow.

So, when we say “customizable,” we truly mean it. No two instances of DXtrade will ever look the same after each user has gotten to grips with the platform and familiarized themselves with how deep the different features go.

We’re not talking about merely being able to resize windows or to change the color scheme. What we mean when we say “tailored” or “bespoke” is that your version of DXtrade will look as though it was designed explicitly for the assets you trade, the methods of analysis you favor, the various indicators and maps that you use to keep abreast of individual assets and the broader market, as well as your own preferred style of visualization.

DXcharts, our advanced financial charting library, is designed to work seamlessly with DXtrade to offer unparalleled customization. Where DXtrade provides a flexible trading environment, DXcharts enhances it with deep, dynamic charting capabilities.

Our library allows you to build and modify charts that fit your specific trading needs, whether you’re focusing on stocks, forex, or crypto.

So, for example, as a stock trader, you can customize the chart layout to simultaneously feature six of your preferred stock charts, a news feed pertaining to this asset class, a heatmap of all the best and worst performers, as well as a detailed, to the minute, economic calendar listing everything from conference calls to imminent stock splits.

These elements can be placed anywhere on the screen, in any order, and sized according to your own wishes. 

“Familiar”, “attractive”, and “easy-on-the-eye”

In our opinion, effective UI design can be summed up by the old adage: “less is more.” In trading, certain best practices have evolved over the decades that designers would do well to pay attention to. It’s not about reinventing the wheel or making a massive visual impact. As far as we’re concerned, it’s about getting out of the trader’s way.  

Unlike other online platforms, trading requires active attention and often a great deal of time spent studying. The markets themselves are the true stars of the show here, not the exchange or the brokerage, and certainly not the UI designer tasked with getting this sort of thing right.

This is why, for us, the best kind of UI design is simple, clean, and inoffensive and allows all the rich features and customizability that we detailed above to really come into their own.

Do we have a light/dark theme? Yes, of course, but it’s not about these things. It’s about creating a familiar environment that the trader can be immersed in for long stretches of time without fatigue setting in.

The more familiar the look and feel of the platform, the easier it is to spend long stretches of time on it, which directly translates to improved engagement with the business and higher volumes traded over time.  

“Functional”, “ergonomic”, and “seamless”

In today’s multi-device, multi-operating system world, lip service is often paid to the idea of software offering genuinely seamless cross-platform functionality. Quite often, though, there’s a vast gap between getting the software to work on a variety of devices and having the experience on those devices truly be the same great experience, regardless of, for example, the screen size.

DXtrade comes packaged with different large and small monitor layouts that can be switched between via a simple button, ensuring that the user doesn’t have to move everything around every time they want to log in to their account from a different device.

The platform also allows users to create and save their own layouts for when that added bit of functionality is required. Also, in order to avoid the pitfalls of a substandard mobile experience, the platform is also available as a full branded mobile application for both Android and iOS.

DXcharts enhances the DXtrade platform by providing interactive charting solutions that work seamlessly across different devices. Whether you’re on a large monitor or using mobile apps, DXcharts ensures that your charts remain consistent and functional.

When working with touchscreens, DXcharts allows users to use gestures like pinches to operate the charts more efficiently without tapping specific buttons, avoiding fat-finger errors.

Interested?

Sometimes, things have to be seen (and interacted with) to be believed. If you’d like to take DXtrade and DXcharts for a spin to see if they’re right for you, get in touch with our team!