Disaster Recovery Solution for a Multi-Asset Brokerage February 18, 2022 About the Client The client is a Middle-Eastern social trading and multi-asset brokerage company operating worldwide. It provides financial services and copy trading with a broad asset offering, including FX, cryptocurrencies, and stocks. Business Challenge The client provides services through its proprietary trading platform, which is sometimes unavailable due to maintenance. During downtimes, the client offers traders workaround software as part of a disaster recovery strategy. However, this workaround software faces performance limitations, so the client needs an upgraded and scalable solution. The new solution needed to meet the following requirements: Act as a fallback trading app for end-users when the trading platform is downOffer a straightforward and seamless way to submit requests to cancel orders and close positionsHelp the client’s authorized personnel to process the above-mentioned end-user requestsSustain a high load reliably for several hours Solution The client approached Devexperts with a request to solve the business issue described above. We provided them with an outline of the scope of work and solution architecture. As a result, we landed the project. In the course of development, we delivered the following: Front-office web trading appServer-side software integrated with the client’s databaseBack-office web app for the client’s dealing desk employees We developed the front-office web trading app with a responsive layout. That way, it works smoothly on desktop, tablet, and mobile screens. Following the client’s request, the app can work from an iframe. This allows the client to display it inside another web app or website. To access accounts, the client’s end-users can use their existing credentials. We achieved this through the integration with the client’s authentication system. They can use the front-office web trading app to close positions and cancel orders. We connected the front end to the back end via the REST API. A back-office web app allows the client’s dealing desk employees to see and process end-users’ requests to close positions and cancel orders. System architecture Security Measures Availability The front-office application and its server-side software can be elastically scaled. They can also sustain a load of 500,000 concurrent users for at least four hours. To confirm this number, we conducted load testing before the deployment. Monitoring To ensure high availability, scalability, and health check monitoring, we employed the Azure Kubernetes cluster. Confidentiality and Integrity All client-server communications and data integrity are encrypted according to industry standards and best practices. Results We delivered a disaster recovery solution for the client, so their end-users and dealing desk employees have a workaround when the main trading platform is under maintenance. The fallback solution provides the client’s end-users with a straightforward and seamless way to submit requests to cancel orders and close positions. Meanwhile, the client’s authorized personnel get to process the end-user requests using their back-office web app. The delivered solution can reliably sustain a high load for several hours, which we were able to confirm through load testing performed before the roll-out. The client received the source code of the entire solution.
System Design of a Mobile Trading App for a CFD Broker December 22, 2021 About the Client The client is a European multi-asset broker that provides trading in FX and commodities through CFDs. The broker works with retail and institutional customers and offers two dozen trading tools and over 150 trading products. The client’s business is regulated by CySEC, FCA, DFSA, and FSCA. Business Challenge The client has a legacy mobile app that serves as a source for analytics, market news, and other trading-related content. Yet, their app is in dire need of an on-the-go trading functionality. The client’s current trading servers should serve as trading engines, and the trading UI should offer simplicity and an overall good user experience. Putting it all together, the expected trading solution must: Include the features of the client’s current mobile app Provide trading functionality Be integrated with the client’s trading platforms on the account level Support real and demo trading accounts Be available on Android and iOS platforms The performance requirements encompass 5000 concurrent users. Solution The client requested Devexperts to design a system that reimagines their app and conforms to all their requirements. After analyzing them, we came up with the following: The client’s existing app uses a mix of native-app code and cross-platform technologies. That can lead to severe issues with usability, performance, and maintainability. The mobile trading platform should be written using native technologies which are more reliable than cross-platform ones. That’s due to the trading UI’s nature, which constantly experiences load due to a permanent flow of quotes and chart data, as well as position and account metrics data. Therefore, we suggested a complete rework of the current client’s mobile app into new native iOS and Android apps. DXtrade Mobile, our mobile trading solution, could serve as a basis for the new apps, so we wouldn’t need to develop an app from scratch. We also proposed taking the DXtrade Mobile code, forking it, and building custom apps on top. That would allow a swift implementation. DXtrade Mobile also includes a mobile gateway, which is a server-side application feeding mobile apps with quotes, charts, account data — real-time and historic — and other content. In a clustered deployment, the mobile gateway acts as a load balancer. Our implementation scheme also has a server-side product that enables easy integration with the broker’s ecosystem — in our product line, Gate45 plays this role. The client owns 14 trading servers with real and demo trading accounts. The setup we suggested is flexible: we can change the number of trading servers in the future, without affecting the overall architecture and approach. Implementation scheme The Entire Process We’ll backport the client’s existing app into the native mobile trading platform. The mobile gateway will serve as a central connectivity point for the mobile front-end, the client’s CRM, and Gate45. The solution requires the following high-level scope of work: Forking DXtrade Mobile’s code Reimplementing the existing app’s functionality Integrating with the client’s trading servers via Gate45 We propose designing all systems for high availability across instances. Front-end services should be deployed using a content delivery network, while back-end services use auto-scalers or containerization. All systems are horizontally scalable. The middleware back-end sets up multiple connections to the client’s trading servers. That way, the system would still work even if the primary connection is down. The broken connections undergo restoration while the reserve connection is being set up. Results We delivered a system design for the new mobile trading app. It adheres to all the client’s functional and performance requirements and preserves the functions of their existing app. Since the legacy app was written with cross-platform technologies, we don’t advise implementing the trading functionality into it. That’s because some issues with usability, performance, and maintainability could arise. The new applications will be written using technologies native to iOS and Android, providing high-end performance and a smooth user experience. The resulting solutions will have the following load characteristics: ParameterValueLogin rate150 per minuteOrder rate1500 per minuteChart rate350 per minuteWidget message rate150 per minuteAccounts1 per userMax concurrent users online5 000Load parameters for the mobile trading platform We designed the new mobile apps to be scalable for future growth. For the sake of swift delivery, we proposed using our mobile trading platform DXtrade Mobile as a basis for the new solutions. It’s a client-server set of applications that allows trading on the go. It has real-time portfolio monitoring, market data streaming, risk management tools for traders, and external analytical content such as news and charts. Our native mobile trading front-ends for iOS and Android give traders high-end performance through proprietary technology and a smooth user experience.
Developing a Spot Cryptocurrency Trading Platform for a Turkish Company December 8, 2021 About the Client The client offers a spot cryptocurrency trading platform based in Türkiye. The platform allows users to immediately exchange cryptocurrencies for crypto and fiat currency–Turkish Lira–and vice versa. The client’s business adheres to Turkish regulations: it’s registered with the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce and falls under the tax control of the Ministry of Finance. Business Challenge To launch the business, the client required a robust and reliable crypto trading solution where their customers can easily exchange currencies and place trades for immediate execution. The Turkish market is very competitive, so the solution had to stand out from the crowd by offering smooth and straightforward trading and simultaneous management of funds through a customer portal. The crypto trading solution also needed a special risk management feature because the client planned on offering trading pairs with the Turkish Lira. It’s an exotic currency that calls for hedging the risk associated with traders’ orders. Solution The client approached Devexperts due to its track record of developing financial software solutions for Turkish companies. Devexperts have relevant expertise and crypto solutions ready to be customized for the client’s needs. First, we developed a crypto trading platform available both on the web and as a mobile app. We equipped it with a customer portal, where the client’s traders can easily deposit and withdraw crypto and fiat currencies. For this client specifically, we integrated the customer portal with: BitGo–for the sake of custodial wallets that store client’s funds in crypto-assets and for secure processing of customers’ deposits and withdrawals on the blockchainA time-based one-time password algorithm, resulting in a two-factor authentication via Google Auth and SMSKYC/AML providersA payment gateway for processing fiat deposit transfersA Turkish SMS provider Then, we implemented a hedge conversion feature developed specifically for the client, since they wanted to offer trading pairs with Turkish Lira (e.g. BTC/TRY), while liquidity on the external market is expressed in FX pairs relative to USD and other major currencies (e.g. BTC/USD). The hedge conversion feature does the following: Converts the incoming market data (quotes and/or L2 ladder) from USD to TRY, using a controlled USD/TRY conversion rate.Hedges at least the “major” part of the risk by hedging client orders of BTC/TRY in pre-trade mode with BTC/USD orders to the liquidity provider (or accepting that risk by using B-Book execution here).Hedges the conversion part of the risk (or accepts this risk by “B-Booking” that conversion). In 2020 it took us 10 months to complete the project. The client swiftly received the solution, opened the project to the public, and started onboarding customers. Results Devexperts delivered a spot cryptocurrency exchange platform where traders can easily exchange their currencies and place trades that are immediately executed. We equipped the platform with a custom client portal and multiple integrations, so traders get to manage their funds seamlessly and securely. This robust solution made the client a competitive player among other crypto exchanges in Türkiye and allowed them to launch their business. A month after the launch, the client reached the point of seven hundred concurrent users in peak hours, and over seven thousand users registered on the platform. The number of new customers keeps growing.
Equities and Derivatives Trading Platforms on Web and Mobile for Osmanlı November 12, 2021 About Osmanlı Yatırım Osmanlı Yatırım Menkul Degerler AS is a company based in Türkiye that provides investment solutions. The company offers brokerage services, asset management, custodian, investment advisory, and online trading platforms. It provides access to various capital instruments, such as shares, bonds, foreign exchange, futures, options, and mutual funds. [case_study_company_logo] Business Challenge Osmanlı Yatırım aims to provide all sorts of online trading platforms for their customers to trade in all asset classes (options, classical OTC offerings for FX and CFD trading, and equities). To satisfy the demands of all types of Turkish investors, the company needed to integrate equities and derivatives trading platforms on web and mobile. Solution Osmanlı Yatırım requested us to develop custom trading software tailored to its needs. We prepared a business proposal, the company approved it, and we started the development. The base for the project was our trading platform dxTUR, which we developed specifically for the Turkish market and trading on the Borsa Istanbul Exchange. Over the years, dxTUR has proved its safety, scalability, stability, and high performance. It has a modular structure that facilitates flexible customization, rapid implementation, and effortless addition of new asset classes and widgets. After six months, we finished developing branded front ends for mobile and web platforms with delayed, real-time, and market-depth data, including brokerage analysis. Osmanlı’s clients are now able to trade equities and derivatives on Borsa Istanbul (BIST) through web and native Android and iOS apps. We deployed the trading platforms on the client’s premises along with customer relationship management (CRM) and the required third-party system integrations. Mobile platform We also integrated the market data of Turkish securities, which is provided by dxFeed, our data distribution division. This gave registered traders access to historical and real-time market data for a specific symbol and a certain period straight from Osmanlı’s new trading applications. Web platform We also provide maintenance and support services for the delivered trading platforms upon request. During the uncertain times of the global pandemic, we want to be the prop and stay for our clients. We’ve been investing in our technology since 2010, to ensure our clients have access to the Turkish financial market and are comfortable with our service. We value our clients’ trading practices and instruments and we try to provide different trading platforms tailored for different needs. Ms. Pınar Çakılkaya, General Manager at Osmanlı Yatırım Menkul Degerler Results We developed a web terminal and native Android and iOS apps for Osmanlı Yatırım, so it could offer trading equities and derivatives on Borsa Istanbul (BIST) and extend its offer of asset classes to the fullest. Furthermore, we deployed the trading platforms on the client’s premises along with CRM and the required third-party system integrations. In addition to development services, we integrated the market data of Turkish securities, which is provided by dxFeed, our data distribution division. The platforms are already live and maintained by our support team.
Horizontally Scaling a Risk Calculator for a US Broker-Dealer August 17, 2021 About the Client The client is a US broker-dealer that provides financial assets trading through its proprietary platform, which was released back in the 90s. Their offering includes common and preferred stocks, futures contracts, ETFs, Forex, options, cryptocurrency, mutual funds, fixed income investments, margin lending, and cash management services. The brokerage serves 11 million customers with over $1 trillion assets under management. The trading platform processes over 500,000 trades each day. Business Challenge The client’s trading platform had a legacy risk calculator that was experiencing stable logarithmic account growth. On top of that, they expected their accounts to double due to a recent merger. The risk calculator had already been operating at near-maximum capacity, and the client had exhausted all computing resources and possibilities for vertical scaling. This led to performance issues caused by the allocation of large memory blocks (hundreds of gigabytes per Java process). Considering all of this, the client needed a solution to increase the system’s performance and reduce risk calculation latency from two minutes to 15 seconds. The latency value is assumed from the moment an account joins the risk calculation queue to the moment the operation is complete. Solution Devexperts had previously worked with the client, so we were aware of the system’s specifics: steady account growth and the associated performance slowdown. The client gave us free rein to explore new technologies and algorithms to solve their performance and latency issues. The client used to distribute their tasks among dozens of hosts. After thoroughly researching the matter, we decided to reshape the in-memory data grid solution by Apache Ignite, and apply the update to the client’s legacy system. This solution would enable the client to drastically increase the number of hosts, enhancing performance and reducing latency. The in-memory data grid solution can unite hundreds of hosts for joint task work. In our case, this was useful for the accounts’ risk calculation. With this solution, the client would be able to efficiently and uniformly distribute task parts among hosts and then request their calculation results. The latter is called map-reduce, which enables the client to leverage the API of Apache Ignite to make calculation requests that will be sent to a large network of hosts. Each host will reply with their part of the data that complies with the user’s request attributes. Introducing this solution allowed the client to process a significantly larger number of accounts, providing lasting opportunities for horizontal scaling. When we decided to introduce the in-memory data grid solution, we knew it was not a turnkey fix or a silver bullet for this case. We went to considerable lengths to adapt it to the client’s needs and goals. Devexperts team of top specialists made it possible to successfully fine-tune the in-memory data grid solution and transfer the calculation algorithm and all accounts to the new risk calculator. Performance metrics and hardware requirements before and after implementation Legacy risk calculatorNew risk calculatorHardware8 huge servers, 48 CPU cores each, hundreds of gigabytes of Heap allocated on each server40 general-purpose servers, 16 CPU cores each, 80 grid nodes total, 48Gb Heap per nodeNumber of Accounts2M5MLatency2 minutes1-2 secondsGC pauses15-25% of the time2-3% of the timeAvg. CPU utilization (i.e. efficiency)30-40%90-95%Dynamic, horizontal scalingxvFault-tolerantxv Results The client’s legacy system had been limited by dozens of hosts, while the in-memory data grid solution expanded the limit to hundreds. On top of that, we were able to preserve the client’s algorithms and accounts. Ultimately, our work reduced the allocated heap memory and the number of accounts per host. This made the calculations much faster for each financial account. The fewer accounts per host, the quicker the system can process it. The client’s initial latency value was 2 minutes, and they needed it to be less than 15 seconds. With the in-memory data grid solution and meticulous research and development, we were able to achieve the 1-2-second latency. The client’s system now processes tens of millions of financial accounts.
Implementing SPAN Margining for a US Broker July 19, 2021 About the Client The client is a US-based broker that offers services to individual and institutional traders in the US and worldwide. They offer one-click access to all major US exchanges and market centers through their analysis platform. This allows their customers to monitor, automate, and backtest custom equities, options, and futures trading strategies. Business Challenge The client was set to add options and futures instruments to their product offerings but encountered issues with implementing SPAN margining into their existing trading platform. The client did not want to introduce SPAN as a major update to their trading platform. Instead, they wanted to introduce it as a seamlessly integrated service. The client also required complex portfolio calculation rules that would combine SPAN margin with different algorithms for outright futures. In addition, the client was concerned about the amount of time the calculations would take: it needed to be limited. SPAN margining creates a combinatorial explosion: the more orders and positions, the longer the algorithm takes to analyze the portfolio. Meanwhile, the portfolio also requires continuous reassessment with special heuristics according to order execution. The client decided to seek guidance from an experienced software vendor for advice on margin calculations and development. The client ultimately wanted an outline of the margin calculation logic for: The current margin requirement of a portfolio (with householding master/sub-accounts support) Pre-trade order validation What-if analysis They also required support for futures and futures options instruments from the following exchanges: CBOT, CFE, CME, COMEX, EUREX, ICEBS, ICEEU, ICEUS, and NYMEX. Solution The client hired Devexperts because of its reputation for having high-end professionals with relevant expertise and experience in implementing similar services for top US companies in the industry. Devexperts proposed developing three standalone services to fulfill all requirements and for the sake of simple integration with the client’s existing system: A Margin Service responsible for all the logic of margin requirement calculations in the scope of the Futures Options project: SPAN margin for SPAN-eligible products Outright future margin for SPAN-ineligible products Day trade margin relief configured for an account/product Margin scale-ups configured for an account A Position Grouping service responsible for algorithmic and custom manual grouping of positions in the client GUI terminals. An Options Pricing service providing theoretical prices for Futures & Options markets. The Margin Service needed to support both SPAN and outright futures margin. The SPAN algorithm implementation was to be based on CME’s methodology. The service needed to be able to calculate margin requirements for a mixed portfolio of SPAN-eligible and -ineligible instruments. Devexperts designed the Margin Service as an internal component that could communicate with the client’s system backend to receive configurations, positions, orders, margin settings, conversion rates, master/sub-account relationships, and theoretical options prices. Devexperts outlined all technical details of these integrations along with supported APIs, data formats, and use cases. Devexperts designed the Margin Service as an internal component The Position Grouping Service was to be responsible for the algorithmic and custom grouping of positions in client portfolios. It was designed to communicate with the client’s system backend to receive position portfolios by re-using the same integration endpoints and protocols designed for the Margin service. The Position Grouping Service required persistent storage for the client’s custom groupings Due to illiquidity in the Future Options markets, the Margin service needed to use theoretical Options prices to calculate Net/Short/Long Options Values for illiquid options contracts. For this purpose, the Options pricing service was implemented as a separate endpoint to make theoretical prices and Greeks available to client’s other in-house risk tools and end-user trading UI applications. For the options pricing, Devexperts proposed the cloud service dxPrice from its subsidiary dxFeed. The service consumes options market data and provides arbitrage-free theoretical prices and Greeks as a streaming output. dxFeed has market data available for all the exchanges that have to be supported according to the project’s scope. By implementing these three services, the client would be able to introduce options and futures instruments with SPAN margin for SPAN-eligible products and outright future margin for SPAN-ineligible products. They also guarantee support for the whole range of required exchanges. Results Devexperts provided a comprehensive system architecture design for the client to add options and futures instruments to their offering, supporting SPAN margin for SPAN-eligible products and outright future margin for SPAN-ineligible products. It included high- and low-level design, blueprints, and data flow diagrams. The project design comprised three separate services that would cover all the client’s requirements for the current margin of a portfolio, pre-trade order validation, and what-if analysis. These could be seamlessly implemented into the client’s existing trading platform and provide support for the entire range of required exchanges.
Custom Web Trading Terminal for a Retail FX/CFD Broker May 27, 2021 About the Client The client was an online trading pioneer: they have been around since 2006. The company was founded through the collective efforts of finance specialists working in the commercial Internet area. Their goal was to equip private traders with the best working conditions through world-class technology. The company is now one of the most secure FX/CFD brokers in the industry and works under seven regulations across six continents. Business Challenge The client wanted to differentiate themselves from competitors and provide traders with more value. They commissioned Devexperts to create a unique web trading app that would be convenient for both beginners and experienced traders. The UI was to be easy to understand and fully functional. Devexperts had already implemented a custom mobile app for this client. Given there were users who did not wish to install it for some reason, the web app needed to run smoothly both on desktop and mobile devices. Another challenge was to implement an interface, which would support left-to-right and right-to-left languages. Solution The client wanted a unique UI so Devexperts created the trading interface from scratch rather than customizing a standard one. Cost-saving was attained by reusing the backend code of the mobile app. The majority of the work was on the frontend. The client had many ideas and needed hands-on experience to test them. For this purpose, a web app prototype was created. As soon as it was validated, subsequent iterations required additional functionality. A thorough approach at the design stage allowed the developers to consider all the tiny details for different language versions such as different button lengths and so on. The unique interface required creative solutions. For example, the order entry element wasn’t a pop-up window as usual. Instead, it was designed to be a side panel. The main benefit of this solution is that after opening an order entry, the user will continue to see everything on one screen: chart, watchlist, list of positions, and the order entry. Moreover, in the order entry, the client decided to get rid of the limit order and market order terminology to simplify things for inexperienced traders. In the next stage, Devexperts developed the web app functionality. The frontend was implemented with React technology. The desktop and the mobile versions were rolled to different URLs. Devexperts intentionally didn’t implement responsiveness because the UI for web and mobile were too different. Devexperts reused the frontend code on both platforms to help achieve economies of scale. Results Devexperts successfully launched the innovative web trading platform for traders looking for a simple and uncluttered interface. All platform services are available on one screen, making this solution quite a novelty on the FX/CFD market.
DealBook® 360: Pioneering the International Retail Forex Industry with Technology April 15, 2021 GFT Markets wanted to pioneer the international retail Forex industry, so it needed a powerful trading platform. Devexperts took on the development, and that’s how legendary DealBook® 360 emerged. About the Client GFT Markets was a brokerage company established in 1997 in the USA. It provided its customers with the opportunity to trade in a broad range of markets, with offices in Sydney, London, Singapore, Grand Rapids, New Jersey, Tokyo, and Dubai. The brokerage held leading positions worldwide in retail Forex, spread betting, and contracts for differences. It offered trading services to traders directly, as well as via dozens of institutional partners through white-labeled versions of its renowned Dealbook platform worldwide until it was acquired by GAIN Capital in 2013. It was registered with numerous regulatory bodies, including the CFTC, NFA, FSA, JFSA, and ASIC. [case_study_company_logo] Challenge The case goes back to 2002 when GFT used to be smaller and was based solely in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They had ambitions of expanding globally and pioneering international retail Forex markets. To do that, they needed a flexible modular trading platform from a reliable software partner. New functional and performance software requirements would emerge along with GFT’s business growth and a steady increase in their retail and institutional customer base. Due to this, they required a software services partner to be able to scale the development according to their growing demands. For international expansion, a software vendor also had to adapt a trading platform and the development process to various international regulations and business continuity and governance standards. Solution Devexperts took on the development and successfully delivered DealBook® 360, a platform for Forex and spread bet trading. It was a complex trading solution intended for the global business community (banks, Forex brokers, hedge funds, financial services companies, etc.). The platform equipped all groups of users with advanced and feature-rich software interfaces for the most intelligent business approach by automatic trading strategies, flexible permissions, real-time risk management, and a customizable software environment. In the course of operations, the Devexperts modified the trading platform for easy and fast white-labeling that was based on: The platform’s flexible architecture, which required little development work to replace all application text variables and skins without additional costs. Easily tuned application settings: the platform provided a fine-tuned interface that could be flexibly customized according to personal and business requirements. Devexperts and GFT Markets grew together with the industry. The client’s extensive use of white-labeling quickly made it one of the top three US Forex brokers. GFT Markets’ business model of having many local partners (introducing and omnibus brokers) provided successful global expansions with a presence in Europe, Japan, Australia, and the Middle East. At its peak, Devexperts supported over 300 white-labels of DealBook® 360 in 25+ languages and 120+ countries. This in turn allowed GFT Markets to stay within the Top 7 worldwide brokers with an average monthly trading volume of 200+ billion USD. Timeline Stages of the platform’s development and client’s business expansion: 2002 Devexperts implements multi-currency accounts, as GFT starts operations in Japan and opens its Tokyo office 2003 Devexperts releases a major platform update (branded Dealbook2) and introduces Chart Studio IDE—a development environment for technical analysis with custom indicators and automated trading 2006 The platform is updated with CFD/SB trading for multi-asset trading capabilities aimed at UK clients CFD/SB 2007 Devexperts introduces a major update, and the flagship trading platform is rebranded as Dealbook360 Devexperts delivers the web trading platform DealbookWEB 2011 A new asset class, FX options, becomes available for traders in the trading platform FX OPTIONS 2012 Devexperts releases the Dealbook Mobile platform developed natively for iOS and Android 2013 GAIN Capital acquires GFT Markets Results Devexperts developed the platform that became the gold standard in trading and made GFT Markets a leader among forex brokers. The client served a customer base in over 120 countries, and their results were overwhelming: GFT Markets partnered with hundreds of institutions by building up to 300 white-labels of the platform localized in 20+ languages. Since the inception of GFT’s worldwide expansion strategy, and for over 10 years, Devexperts was solely responsible for developing and maintaining the entire trading technology and hosting infrastructure. In addition to the mentioned white-labels, Devexperts provided integrations with 15+ liquidity providers (including Tier 1 banks such as Deutsche Bank, Citi, UBS, DrKW, etc.). DealBook® 360 was also integrated with the Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange. Devexperts helped the client successfully navigate all trading platform audits and guarantee the highest level of the business continuity standards for international expansion. Thus, GFT Markets and Devexperts pioneered and shaped the retail Forex industry through its longstanding partnership for DealBook® 360. The platform paved the way for GFT Markets to become a large global enterprise with hundreds of thousands of retail customers and dozens of B2B customers. 300 trading platform white-labels delivered 120 countries covered 10+ years of cooperation on the project 200+ billion USD in average monthly trading volume
Risk Management Tool to Protect Traders in AvaTradeGO and WebTrader October 26, 2020 About AvaTrade AvaTrade is a Forex and CFD broker with a reliable track record serving their clients since 2006. It offers a full suite of trading platforms, which includes WebTrader, a web trading terminal, and AvaTradeGO, a mobile app. Their clients benefit from personal account managers, a comprehensive collection of educational material, and multi-lingual client support. AvaTrade accommodates traders of all levels and ensures secured trading with advanced encryption and fully segregated accounts. AvaTrade is regulated in Europe, Australia, Japan, the British Virgin Islands, and South Africa. [case_study_company_logo] Challenge AvaTrade looked into enhancing WebTrader and AvaTradeGO with a feature that will make them stand out among competitors. Also, the company’s ongoing strategy is to put client success and satisfaction first. AvaTrade decided to implement a risk management tool that would be beneficial for traders. The aim was to improve customer retention and onboarding of new customers, including new traders. Solution The client chose Devexperts to develop and implement a new risk management tool because Devexperts developed the original AvaTradeGo app and proved to be a trustworthy brokerage software partner for AvaTrade. The new tool for AvaTradeGO and WebTrader is aimed at protecting traders from losing on their trades. Each trader’s position can be protected from a loss if a trader purchases protection and defines its duration. Thus, if a trader has an open position that has negative value by the end of its protection, AvaTrade will reimburse the trader’s account. The only expense for a trader is the protection fee. Hedging position is in turn covered in the background by AvaTrade’s FX options trading platform Sentry. The new tool was named AvaProtectTM. Users in different regions require different features. Sometimes it’s due to their habits; other times it’s because of regulation. The standard approach is to create a lineup of white-label mobile apps. The problem is that it comes with extra costs for building and testing these apps and significantly slows the pace of product delivery. Besides, the support becomes troublesome. We decided to use a different strategy to overcome this and create a single worldwide application that configures itself on the fly depending on the user’s region.We created a much more sophisticated system than a set of feature toggles based on the user’s country. The region-specific configuration starts before login; we even present the relevant information for users who’ve just downloaded the app and don’t have an account. For example, we show the onboarding screens and the workflow tailored specifically for the user’s location. Thus, we deliver the best user experience from the very first moment. By merging several mobile applications into one, we substantially improved the performance of the CI/CD system. We no longer spend resources on building several applications with different bundle IDs. Now, we build apps and deliver them to the QA team faster. Additionally, instead of testing a bunch of applications, we need to test only one, reducing the development costs and delivery cycle time.Pavel, Head of Delivery Unit at Devexperts Results Devexperts developed the new risk management tool AvaProtectTM aimed at protecting AvaTrade traders from losing on their trades. It has been rolled out in AvaTradeGO and WebTrader and appears to be a unique feature among competitors in the market. AvaProtectTM serves multiple purposes: Onboarding new traders without fear of losing money while they gain experienceRetention of existing customersProviding a unique feature that makes the broker stand out among competitorsMaking AvaTradeGO and WebTrader compliant with the broker’s strategy of putting client success and satisfaction first.
Chatbot to Deliver Trading Signals and Onboard Clients via Messengers November 13, 2019 About the Client The client is a large financial services group founded in 1995. They specialize in banking and brokerage services, offering to trade stocks, bonds, options, futures, and Forex for over 400 000 retail investors in Eastern Europe. They are a registered member of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as a Trading Floor broker, the Moscow Stock Exchange (MOEX), the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Eurex. “Online communication with clients in messenger dialog boxes has become firmly established in our lives. We are confident that chatbots can compete with classic web solutions. It was comfortable to work with the Devexperts team. We saw the expertise in designing user scenarios and interest in creating new level interfaces.” Client’s Quote Challenge Engagement, retention, and attraction of new clients is an ongoing challenge for stock and OTC brokers. Due to the fierce competition for X, Y, Z generation traders, and stringent regulatory requirements, brokers are constantly seeking new solutions that help to acquire new clients and increase the LTV. This time the broker was looking for a vendor who would help him verify two hypotheses: Free trading signals (“investment ideas”) delivered via Telegram would generate inbound leads for a paid service. Onboarding through messengers or voice assistants would have a user conversion rate comparable to other channels. The broker wanted to engage a technology provider who would implement a chatbot inside the Telegram messenger and integrate it with the emerging APIs of the broker. The proof-of-concept would be a feature-rich software with the embedded statistics and controls. The chatbot functionality would be designed to improve lead-generation processes, analyze user behavior, increase trading volumes, and promote their brand new copy trading services. Solution The client chose Devexperts for our expertise in software development for brokers, for our experience in designing chatbots, and above all, for our existing Devexa trading assistant. Case 1: Delivery of Trading Signals The client has their own marketplace of investment ideas from independent stock market analysts; each idea comes with reasoning, entry/exit conditions, and a time horizon. The marketplace tracks records of a particular analyst and calculates his/her rating. Devexperts took Devexa, our AI trading butler, and integrated it with this marketplace API for publishing investment ideas & open account API. To test the hypothesis of disseminating trading signals through a messenger, Retail traders received an opportunity to: view all actual trading ideas and their details, and filter them by providers or tickers subscribe for a paid service to get premium signals or auto-follow a particular provider seamlessly switch to a mobile trading app to place a trade Examples of investment ideas in the chatbot. The user learns more about the signal. Design of the Chatbot’s Workflow Thorough work has been done around the UI and UX. The workflow of a user’s dialogues with the chatbot had been redesigned based on the Devexperts designers’ input and data gathered by Devexa during the usability and functional testing. The broker manages the current list of trading signals on their end. This is a dynamic list, which is regularly being updated. Some signals have already been fulfilled and need to be removed, while others have just arrived and need to be added. Devexperts reconciles this list for the chatbot and designed how the user filters and scrolls signals based on author or instrument; the user learns more about the signal, then refers back to the index. The designers modeled every step for the user, so they will never find themselves in a dead-end. Designing a workflow of a user’s dialogues Case 2: Onboarding and KYC For the 2nd hypothesis, Devexperts engineers needed to verify if it is possible to onboard new traders through messengers with voice assistant capabilities. Smart speakers, without screens, cannot provide the necessary level of security for KYC (know your customer) procedures as of today. Therefore,this scenario was abandoned from the very beginning. After regulators reconsider the security standards, it may be possible to explore this case again. That’s why we needed a voice assistant inside a messenger. The technical challenge was to satisfy regulatory requirements, which demand personal data questions to be asked on a secure web page. Since messengers are not considered a secure environment for submitting personal data, we needed to process the voice requests of a user and forward them to a broker’s web page to fill in the necessary fields. In order to test the hypothesis that users would open new accounts through messengers, the chatbot received the following functionality: show market data for top stock tickers including current quotes and historical price charts find answers from their FAQ about the services and the company in general go through the KYC questionnaire and submit an application for a review With this pilot project we needed to test the user experience of those who start communicating with a broker through voice assistants. This is a common use case for people with disabilities, and we expect in future there will be some progress with security procedures. For now, even when we created fully compliant onboarding through voice assistants, it is subpar, as the user has to switch to a browser and cannot stay within one messenger application. The hypothesis was checked, but with the current regulatory requirements, it is not worth doing. Results The pilot project took two months, was successful, and the system has been published on Telegram and Yandex Alice. By delivering trading signals via messengers the broker is able to attract a younger generation of traders, where they can be converted into paying customers.
