I’ve been in the online futures trading industry since 1997, and I love it. I love how futures offer one-stop exposure to virtually every meaningful asset class on earth and how futures traders are among the most engaged and interesting people you’ll ever meet.
So after leaving online futures broker Open E Cry, which I’d founded and ran for over 10 years, I knew I’d eventually get back to futures trading. Why leave what you know and love?
What I didn’t know is how I’d be doing it. I certainly didn’t want to spend any time or money creating another me-too futures broker. To be worth doing at all, my next venture would have to tap into everything I've learned about futures traders to deliver a user experience unlike anything they’d ever had before.
If you visited us at the Tradovate office, you’d hear us talking about “user experience,” or “UX.” A great UX is simple to understand but difficult to create. It is what spurs the emotion and engagement of someone using some product or service, and is behind everything from the explosive growth of Uber, which makes going from point A to point B with a total stranger enjoyable, to Apple, which has made even the unboxing of a computer a joy.
That’s the kind of UX gold standard that Tradovate will hold itself to.
As I write this, we have incredible designers focused 100% on designing and creating a unique, refined online trading experience for futures traders. An experience that makes futures traders’ lives better, that saves them time, and that helps them implement successful futures strategies. We believe we can make futures trading a lot more fun and engaging.
Tradovate’s UX mission can be summarized in four main characteristics:
1. Clean – I’ve written about it before, but online brokers – especially online futures brokers – present traders with a cluttered mess of tools and data. This is intimidating for new traders and distracting for experienced traders. Tradovate will provide a futures trading experience focused on what traders really use, not a catchall screen filled with unnecessary bells and whistles.
2. Simple – We make it easy for futures traders to perform common tasks, with controls that tie everything together. We will also feature a consistent look and feel across our trading technology will minimize any learning curve.
3. Seamless – Regardless of which device you use when to access Tradovate – iPhone, iPad, Android, laptop or desktop – the experience will be integrated from one screen to the next. And the seamless nature will extend to the operational side of the business, where futures brokers have for years fallen short, with one unified experience for trading, opening an account, funding and support.
4. Cost-effective – If user experience is about emotion and engagement, then costs certainly have to be a part of the equation (after all, no one likes to pay too much). Tradovate will significantly reduce the transactional component of trading costs, a critical element of the incredible experience we will offer.
Those four characteristics – Clean, Simple, Seamless and Cost-Effective – have never been combined into one trading platform, but that’s what we’re going to do.
To be the first to see Tradovate when we pull back the curtain, please share your email address with us – and you’ll be eligible to be in our first group of accepted traders.
Rick
