Mobile-led retail platform technology from the institutional sector as CME embraces Apple Watch, adds QuikStrike to mobile apps

For a number of years, retail FX brokerages have become absolutely reliant on mobile technology in order to engage traders and drive volumes up by removing the static nature of trading platforms and placing the ability to trade into the hands of users at all times.

Due to its very nature, the institutional and commercial trading sector has not followed suit, largely due to the nature of the business in which professional traders, working for large companies which employ HFT and algorithmic practices to trade proprietary accounts sit at desks in the heartlands of Chicago or New York.

Many proprietary trading companies and professional investment managers operate in a manner that is completely contrary to the way in which retail trading is conducted, that being that instead of encouraging trading at all times regardless of location, firms which employ traders often ensure that the traders do not access the systems outside of their working hours, thus negating any need for mobile platforms.

Research conducted by Andrew Saks-McLeod three years ago demonstrated very little drive toward the development of mobile institutional platforms which offer full trading functionality for this exact reason, and the professionals of Chicago and New York often relied on mobile platforms for data aggregation, messaging and analyses, using third party solutions such as Thomson Reuters Eikon, or Bloomberg Terminal.

CME Group looking toward empowering retail traders?

Today, things are somewhat different, especially with regard to how the large exchange technology companies and derivatives venues such as CME Group Inc (NASDAQ:CME) are now actively furthering the development of fully functional mobile devices, with every trading functionality integrated into multi-device platforms for handheld tablets, smartphones and wearable technology.

Why would CME Group develop full trading functionality for Apple Watch and tablets? Both devices are the preserve of retail traders, not employees of proprietary trading firms or algo traders.

It may well be worthy of consideration that CME Group is another institutional venue looking to further its reach toward retail traders.

Two weeks ago, at the FinTech Exchange 2016 event in Chicago’s institutional electronic trading heartlands, a very distinct pattern had become evident in that companies across the entire spectrum, from market data to trading platforms connected to North America’s most prominent venues, retail customers are well and truly on the agenda.

CME Group’s new addition to its product range as of today, includes the company’s QuikStrike set of options valuation tools to the company’s mobile applications.

The QuikStrike tools, which include data on active strikes, volatility, open settlement, commitment of traders and open interest profile, are now fully live on Android and iOS devices, and can be syncronized with CME Group’s Apple Watch application.

Taking a look at the way in which CME Group angles its Apple Watch application toward its audience, further allusion to developing its retail audience is apparent.

Whilst trading cannot be performed from the watch, only from the mobile or desktop devices, CME Group specifically points out that the rationale behind the Apple Watch application is to provide updates on portfolios without checking a handheld device. This language is clearly aimed firmly at retail traders with exchange traded options portfolios.

As America’s giants continue to innovate, technology and access to trading environments that have until recently been the preserve of the professional are now increasingly making it into the hands (or onto the wrists!) of retail traders.

Images courtesy of CME Group