ETX joins the iTrade party with new app
SPREAD betting and contracts for difference (CFD) provider ETX Capital this week joined its peers in bringing out a customised iPhone app to let traders alter their positions on the go. ETX now joins IG Markets, City Index and GFT as one of many brokers with an iPhone-specific trading platform. And, judging by the others’ experiences, the app will soon jumpstart its mobile trading.
City Index launched its app nearly two years ago and today, 25 per cent of its clients places at least one trade via a mobile each week, with 15 per cent of total trades placed through phones. And with 90 per cent of City’s mobile trades involving an iPhone, its app was essential in expanding the market.
IG Markets, meanwhile, launched its app in August this year and, in just its first month, saw over 12,000 downloads. Even before the platform specifically designed for the iPhone went live, the broker saw 110,000 mobile trades per month (out of a total of 5m), placed through a variety of phones using its PureDeal platform. But with an iPhone app in play, that number jumped quickly, adding another 65,000 mobile trades to August’s figures.
IG’s David Jones says: “Before the app came along we’d seen a steady rise in mobile trading and the iPhone has kicked it up to another level.” He puts it down to the iPhone’s large display and ease of use, which enables clients to take full advantage of IG’s auto-refreshing charts (connection speeds are too slow for a live-streamed chart to make sense).
Most apps aren’t currently able to display charts, although many have functions beyond the bare minimum – often including a news ticker, for example. And as brokers ratchet up their mobile trading facilities (at least one firm is already working on an app for Google’s Android platform), trading is only going to get faster and more accessible.