Tesla vs trading technology: If the old school auto industry can revolutionize, we can do it much quicker

The retail FX industry rose to prominence in the mid 1990s, which in the scale of any large industry, is very recent indeed.

The automotive industry dates back over 135 years to the pre-industrial revolution era, with Karl Benz working in a wooden outhouse on his own in order to perfect a horseless carriage with an internal combustion engine. Indeed so ancient is the automotive industry that it contributed to spearheading the industrial revolution itself with Louis Chevrolet and Henry Ford establishing their assembly lines with industrious Detroit engineers looking forward to a prosperous future.

Today, however, automobile manufacturing, like the manufacturing of any physical product, is a legacy industry, encumbered by logistical costs, staffing concerns, the need to operate large production facilities, long development cycles and the end result requiring the sale of large quantities of physical products, which if not sold, cost hundreds of millions of dollars in loss.

The electronic trading business, by contrast epitomizes the ultra-modern. No physical product, access to global markets within a fraction of a millisecond, no need for large factories or R&D departments which need to start designing a replacement product several years in advance of the obsolescence of the existing one.

James Glyde, Business Development Manager at trading platform company Spotware Systems, whose product range includes cTrader and cAlgo, concurs that there is too much obsolescence despite the electronic nature of the business. “The retail FX industry too is legacy driven and shares all of those same obstacles which ultimately affect a broker’s bottom line.

“That really shouldn’t be the case in this day and age. Too many avoidable costs associated with a the absence of open mindedness and desire to innovate. I loyally wrote everything I needed in MS Word since I first needed, I didn’t ask or even think I needed a word processor which is right there in my web browser, but here I am relishing that experience. Just is the case for trading platforms, even my wife or anything else, just because I don’t know about it/her yet doesn’t mean I won’t love it/her for ever” said Mr. Glyde.

Built-in obsolescence is a con

“Planned obsolescence is the biggest con in this world and it is prevalent in every industry, starting even early than the light bulb, from day one, the lifecycle of a lightbulb was considered too long! Huge investment went into reducing the life cycle of light bulbs rather than the logical process of improving them. Financed and enforced by an international cartel of businessmen issuing fines to manufacturers whose products exceeded 1,000 hours. A product which lasts forever is a fiasco for businesses, that attitude of short sightedness halted the world from progressing for decades” explained Mr. Glyde.

“That same attitude is blatant throughout the technology industry, not only gadgets but software too and clearly in FX & CFD trading platforms, with a series versions each with a new price tag and few more features phasing out its predecessor, it’s hard to understand that once you become wise to that pattern, why support it if other options are now available, I vote PaaS delivery method for anything, it delivers too much value, convenience and opportunities to be ignored” concluded Mr. Glyde.

Development cycles of trading platforms are short, and advancement is rapid, thus competition for technological superiority among FX platform vendors and proprietary trading system developers is at an all time high, further advancing the cause of pushing the boundaries.

That same attitude blatant throughout the technology industry, not only gadgets but software too and clearly in FX & CFD trading platforms, with a series versions each with a new price tag and few more features phasing out its predecessor, it’s hard to understand that once you become wise to that pattern, why support it if other options are now available, I vote PaaS delivery method for anything, it delivers too much value, convenience and opportunities to be ignored – James Glyde, Business Development Manager, Spotware Systems.

Tesla the greatest leap forward in 50 years. What is our leap forward?

Then along comes Elon Musk, an entrepreneur with no experience in the traditional automotive industry, and totally revolutionizes an age-old sector with his company, Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)

This car and the company behind it seem to have accomplished something many other manufacturers failed to do to this level, deliver an environmentally friendly alternative without forcing the user to compromise on convenience, usability, performance and the many other concepts which are important when choosing a car.

However great this car is, it is not only new and evolving technology it is a total integration of two industries which are notorious for rapid obsolescence – James Glyde, Spotware Systems.

Tesla’s Model S P85 is arguably the greatest advancement in personal transportation since the wheel was invented. An electric, high performance car with up to 691 bhp, 300 mile (480km) range, no traditional internal combustion engine at all, and an 80% charge taking only 20 minutes, this combines automated driving, a large screen in front of the driver which contains features never seen on any other car such as geographic recognition to allow it to raise its ride height automatically if it knows that it is in the area of a high curbstone.

No other motor manufacturer took the step to move totally away from the traditional model thus far, and the same is certainly true for many FX firms, despite their far shorter time in existence, and their access to a much quicker development cycle.

The ‘me too’ approach does not cut it so well in today’s environment of low spreads, high competition and increasingly adventurous end user who develops his own trading applications and wants open source, adaptable systems.

Tom Higgins and the Tesla

One particular innovator in the FX technology industry is Tom Higgins, CEO of Gold-i. Mr. Higgins is renowned for not following the technology crowd, and for providing his developers with total freedom to come up with new ideas which can lead the integration business forward.

It may be of no surprise, in that case, that Mr. Higgins drives a Tesla Model S P85. Mr. Higgins is one of this industry’s most well recognized technological innovators and thus the Tesla absolutely embodies the forward thinking ethos of Gold-i.

As avantgarde in terms of FX technology as his choice of personal transportation, Mr. Higgins was one of the first customers in the UK to take delivery of the Tesla Model S, which is still a relatively rare sight on European roads yet is leaps and bounds ahead of anything on four wheels.

Featured photograph courtesy of Tesla Motors Inc, Palo Alto, California.