About the Client Established in 1991, Eugene Investment & Futures has emerged as one of South Korea’s leading financial services providers. The firm focuses on providing specialized derivatives, including brokerage services in domestic and international futures markets.The firm is also a derivatives trading provider to a leading South Korean mobile payment app. Its integration into the app’s ecosystem allows the company to provide users with U.S.-listed options and market data. Business Challenge The client’s goal was to bring complex options trading in US equities and indices directly to the South Korean retail market within the mobile super app. Offering an advanced options trading product tailored to a retail audience came with certain challenges and constraints. The product had to be accessible to a non-professional investor class using these services on mobile devices, specifically through their super app. This involved developing a trading interface aligned with both South Korean UX/UI standards and the app’s own branding requirements. As such, requiring the user to navigate away to a separate trading interface was not acceptable to the client. The client required the app’s interface to be Capable of handling complex options, Accessible from within a third-party app, without requiring the end trader to navigate away, Designed to follow brand guidelines and match the look and feel of the parent app, Engaging, making complex options trading understandable to a retail clientele. The client also required: Real-time risk management system to track risk on every option position and prevent accounts from having a negative cash balance due to insufficient margin coverage. Broker’s user interface to monitor customer accounts, configure risk parameters in real time, and trade on behalf of a customer when needed. Market data was also required, including historical data and calculations of options Greeks, implied volatility, and implied option price points. The solution had to be low-latency, hosted on-premises, and scalable. The app in question boasts an impressive pre-existing user base. Solution Devexperts provided a version of the company’s newly built UI framework. This solved the challenge of the trading frontend having to be part of the parent app. Devexperts built a mobile UI for trading complex options that can be embedded in the parent app, with trading functionality powered by the DXtrade platform’s extensive backend capabilities. Devexperts’ proprietary transport layer was selected to connect the custom front end to the DXtrade backend. Devexperts reused the existing DXtrade OMS, options risk management module, and a user management interface for brokers to access all the customer account, position, order, and trade data in real time. Market data was integrated via dxFeed, a Devexperts subsidiary. The integration provides a low-latency OPRA options and US equities data feed directly from exchanges via South Korea’s AWS. Results The collaboration between Eugene Investment & Futures and Devexperts proved incredibly fruitful for both parties. Devexperts gained extensive localized experience in the South Korean market and, through its technology, enabled the first-ever trading of complex options in South Korea. The client had singled out Devexperts for its domain expertise and long-standing experience in the US markets. As a result of the partnership, the client launched multi-leg options trading across US indices and equities. We, together with Eugene, developed a front-end configured specifically to meet Korean market requirements, whilst providing a truly innovative solution that offers an advanced and engaging trading experience for end-users. The product is available via a leading payments app, meaning a large proportion of retail options traders in South Korea will be able to benefit from this immediately.— Jon LightSenior Director of Product Management at Devexperts This service, which allows individual investors to strategically engage in options writing, requires a trading platform capable of precise margin calculations and a variety of strategy-based order types. At a time when developing such a system domestically was virtually impossible, Eugene boldly sought a global solution and entered into a service partnership with Devexperts, a partner recognized for its technological superiority and expertise in both the U.S. and global markets.— Sookoo LeeCEO of Eugene Investment & Futures
