Creating a trading platform website is an amazing business idea. More and more people want to start trading online, since it has been proven to offer some great results. Of course, nothing is guaranteed, but with the right expertise and know-how, you can actually earn quite a bit of money just via developing a trading platform. There are a variety of things to consider if you want to create a trading website, as you will notice below.
What type of trading platform do you want to create?
Before you hire any development team, you want to decide what kind of online trading platform you want to make. The truth is that you can go in different directions. So it makes sense to narrow down exactly the type of platform that fits your requirements. In some cases, the platform type might be simple, other times it can be a bit more complicated.
- A traditional trading website will focus on precious metals, stocks, currencies and ETFs. It’s usually the more common type of site where people trade, and it can be a solid option to take into consideration. On top of that, you will also want to have this type of trading platform because it can be catered to a specific audience. You can trade all of those, or maybe just metals. Narrowing down to a niche can actively help you, so keep that in mind.
- Cryptocurrency trading platforms are designed to focus only on crypto trading. That means you will trade crypto like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and many others. It’s designed to help you streamline the process, while offering a much better and more cohesive experience.
When you create a trading platform, you always want to study the competitors. The thing is, you don’t want to copy them, instead try to offer something new. It’s the reason why we said narrowing down to a niche can actively help, because it does provide you with a much better outcome in the end. Use that as an advantage, and you will see how much that can help.
What features should you focus on?
Figuring out how to create a trading platform app can take quite a bit of time. However, you want to know exactly what your audience expects feature-wise. Depending on the type of trading you want to do, the feature set might differ. Yet we made a quick list with the type of features you should have, be it for an open source trading platform or even a paid one!
- Focus on the authorization process and make it secure. Things like Touch ID, having a 2 factor authentication, all of them can help enhance security. Even the transactions should be encrypted if possible. That way, you ensure no data leaks and everything is going to be ok.
- Having a user page is important, because you want to manage the personal data of your customers.
- In addition, you want to have a news feed, since it will allow you to inform the customer. It can direct people towards trades that are very good right now, or at least share relevant info for their trading niche.
- It also makes sense to add a list of updatable portfolios.
- Make sure that you have a payment and transaction system too. Here you want to narrow down the right type of payment gateway that fits your requirements, as it will help direct the process and streamline it in a very effective manner. Some payment gateways will offer services specific to niches, so keep that in mind.
- You also want to allow people to check the status of their deposit. Being able to check all that info and eliminating any possible downsides is exactly what you need to consider as much as possible.
- Quote monitoring is another major feature. It allows users to see quote updates in real time. That alone can be very effective and it can end up saving time for the users, which is super important.
- Searching is obviously necessary, because you want to allow users to find the right trade that fits their needs. A search feature is pretty much mandatory for any stock trading platform!
- During the stock trading app development, you also want to focus on analytics. Most people that trade stocks will also want to have results for trades, transactions and so on. Having a system that helps generate reports and charts can be extremely helpful, to the point where it will save a lot of effort.
- When you have tons of stuff to trade, that can be very hectic. A search function helps, but you also want to add a filtering and a sorting system. That kind of system is very good because it can make it easy to navigate on the stock market, while also outputting data in a way that’s very user-friendly.
- People won’t always be online and ready to trade when there are the best opportunities. That’s the reason why you want your trading platform to have push notifications. It’s a great idea especially for mobile devices, but pretty much any type of trader too. Whether you are trading mutual funds, gold or anything, you want to have access to the relevant info. And that alone can be very useful when it comes to taking the right trading decisions.
Of course, these are only a few of the many features that you can add to such a system. The main focus is to know your audience, understand what they trade and also how they trade. Once you know that info, it becomes much easier to start trading and the focus becomes on enhancing the trading experience as well. All of that can be incredibly powerful and highly effective in the long term.
Should you only have an online, browser version or a mobile app as well?
Generally, when you create a trading platform, you also want to take into account a mobile version. Even if you don’t have funds for a mobile version right now, you will most likely add one down the line. That’s because a lot of people trade from their phone. And even if they might be ok with a responsive website for your trading platform, they still prefer a native, mobile experience. That’s why, even at the start of the development process, you want to think about having or considering the creation of a mobile app.
The trading platform development process
Usually, there will be 3 stages to focus on here. You have the mobile development process planning to start early on. That means figuring out the menus and layout, but also the programming language that you need to use here.
In order to create a great trading platform, you must have a very solid backend solution. A backend specialist matters here, because they can help you with the architecture, databases, software logic and all the server tech. You will also need to take into account transactions, alerts, signing in and having a proper database to store everything.
And we also have frontend development too. This particular part matters just as much, because you need to create the web interface, the website design, along with the menus which people interact with. In this case, the developer you hire needs to have great CSS, JavaScript and HTML knowledge. Ajax is also helpful, along with React and Angular knowledge.
Developing a trading platform requires a lot of different types of talent, and usually you will have different people tackling everything. Having a developer or a team of devs focusing on the frontend, some on the backend and others on the mobile part is a great idea. That way, you have every part taken care of, while also being able to save quite a bit of effort and time as well.
Designing the best trading system
Since trading on financial market has a very specific approach, you do wat to ensure that the trading system design is suitable for that. The UI needs to be clear, and you still need to offer direct access to all the information and details, something that can help quite a bit here. Moreover, you also want to prototype and offer some incredible tools which will assist the users in taking the best trading decision.
Also, you need to undergo a lot of testing to see how people react to the trading platform, if it fits their needs or if it lacks the resources or tools they want. It can be hard to create the best trading platform without a lot of testing. Nailing everything on the first try is not easy, in fact it can be quite impossible as a task. Yet if you handle things right, the ROI can be extremely good, and that’s what matters.
Think about legal aspects
Legality is an important part of the trading platform development process. You will need to acquire a license to actually work in pretty much any country. There will be regulatory bodies like the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US. Ensuring that you abide by their rules is very important, and it truly is one of those things that can help you quite a lot.
Moreover, you want to build a great reputation. That means figuring out the best exchange commission and not surpassing the overall market average if you can. It always matters how you present your services and how you connect with others. Because the faster you do that, the better it will be in the long run. That alone is one of the top things to consider, so make sure you check it out for yourself.
How much does it cost to build a trading platform?
One of the main questions when you create a trading platform is how much will the platform cost. And that is a genuine concern, because costs will add up quite a bit. Most developers will be paid by the hour, or you can end up paying them for the entire project.
If you create a native app, the total amount of hours can be anywhere from 2700 to 5000 hours of work, and based on the hourly rate, that will give you a good idea of how much you can expect cost-wise. If you want to have just a website done, this can still end up being anywhere from 1600 to 3000 hours of work.
Of course, these are just estimates, but it is something to focus on. In general, a stock trading app will cost roughly $65000 on average. But it does depend on the feature set, it can also go up to $100000+ or cost you less than $35000. You want to know the average cost because it gives you a starting point. But the truth is that you will never know the exact cost unless you create a list with all your requirements. Those will all have a price attached to them, basically, and then you add up those quotes from developers to see what works for you.
And aside from that, you also want to focus on testing the trading platform. Even if it seems ok on your side, you need people to test it out and give you feedback. Receiving much-needed feedback is something that matters a lot, because it will showcase problems which you might not know about. The more you learn about the potential issues, the better.
Conclusion
Creating a great trading platform is not easy. It requires a lot of hard work, planning and commitment. Plus, you also want to listen to the audience and see the type of trading tools or features they want. However, starting with a great plan will always matter, and then you just go from there. It will eliminate any issues, while saving plenty of time and effort. Make sure that you always test your trading platform and ask your audience for feedback. It will allow you to iron out problems, but also figure out the best way to grow your platform and push it to the next level!
