Smartphone user trends push mobile currency trading

A number of technology experts have claimed 2013 will be ‘the year of mobile'. What they really mean is that we are at an inflection point in how people use computers. More of our everyday computing experiences (email, information search, news consumption, social media activity) are happening on mobile devices rather than desktop PCs. This year, for the first time, mobile devices are expected to outsell desktop computers globally, as noted in a report entitled ‘2013 UK Digital Future in Focus' published in March by research agency comScore in London.

The report states that last year, mobile devices outsold desktop computers for the first time. Smartphone ownership surpassed 31.7 million (64% of the population) and tablets were purchased by six million individuals in the UK, suggesting we have crossed into a ‘Brave New Digital World' of near-constant interconnectedness.

Increased connectivity and multiple channels is driving what internet visionary Mary Meeker describes in her 2012 Internet Trends report as "the re-imagination of nearly everything", as consumer behaviour moves from being "asset heavy" to "asset light". For example, data storage, payments, shopping and music have all adapted to the online world at a rapid pace. Not to be left behind, finance has adapted to mobile technology, with companies innovating and developing new platforms to deliver their products and services on a range of devices.

The "re-imagination" of currency trading
Foreign exchange trading is an example of how finance has adapted to fit the mobile trend. Previously, forex traders were desktop-bound to monitor price flows and trade from a fixed location. But technology progressed a few years ago to the point where brokers began offering a mobile version of their trading platforms. Now, mobility is changing how people trade. It's causing them to demand mobile trading apps with greater functionality and more features.

At Oanda, we have seen strong and steady growth in customer mobile use since we first made our trading platform accessible by mobile device back in 2007. As of January 2013, 30% of our client logins were made via mobile device. This represents roughly a 40% increase in mobile logins since the previous year.

Mobile trading faces a wider industry challenge, whereby individuals browse the internet on their smartphones but then switch to desktops or tablet devices to complete transactions – a theory known as ‘show rooming'. People tend to prefer the larger screen size for transactions, but they also fall prey to the belief that smartphone apps provide limited functionality.

Our own mobile user statistics back this theory up; as of January 2013 only 15% of mobile logins by customers resulted in a trade. The others were from customers who used the mobile app to monitor their positions throughout the day, to check their stop-loss and take-profit trigger points, and to exit a position quickly if the market turns against them. This figure, however, is a significant increase from January 2012, when roughly 9% of customer mobile logins resulted in trades.

What will push mobile trading past the inflection point is technology. Users are looking for a robust desktop trading experience on their mobile device. They want reassurances that their mobile trading app will perform, which in turn puts pressure on brokers such as Oanda to provide full desktop trading capability across devices.

Some have turned to iOS and Android to produce a mobile trading app that enables users to quickly monitor forex market activity as well as manage positions, control risk, and monitor account status and profitability while on the go. Its intuitive design makes the most of native iPhone, iPad, and Android capabilities to provide features that traders need to stay on top of the fast-moving forex market: advanced charting functionality, technical indicator overlays, full visibility into price action from a single screen, push notifications for limit orders, stop losses, and take profit actions, price alerts, and more.

Innovate or stagnate
The mobile industry is constantly adapting to our behavioural practices and reinventing itself to create bigger and better innovative technologies. With 4G having already been rolled out in Asia and the US during 2012, both regions are likely to start reaping the rewards of increased interconnectivity. Over the course of 2013, the rollout of 4G networks across Europe will create a more robust experience for all users, benefiting from faster connection speeds.

The comScore UK digital focus report shows that during 2012, 37% of time spent online occurred on mobile devices, with the remaining 63% of activity taking place on desktop computers. This figure is expected to reverse during 2013, with two thirds of online time likely to take place on mobile devices. A related trend is the blurring line between smartphones and tablets, which has spawned ‘phablets' that combine functionality.

App developers will need to stay on top of these changing technologies to ensure their devices stay relevant to customer demand. With iOS and Android currently leading the smartphone market share, they can expect stiff competition in 2013 from BlackBerry and Windows as they attempt to capitalise on advances in technology with their new platforms.