Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange have started allowing mobile trading.
Starting September-October 2010, the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange have started allowing mobile trading, thereby broadening the base of online equity transactions across the country.
The new mode may be just a month old, but broking houses like Angel Broking have already recorded "an increase in the number of people subscribing to mobile trading," says Vinay Agrawal, executive director (equities broking). And, it is bound to click, he says, as the mobile phone market, which has 652 million users as of today, is deluged with affordable smartphones, which have increased the number of potential mobile trading customers.
"Major telecom players have introduced affordable and innovative GPRS plans which have increased internet access through mobiles. The commencement of the much-awaited 3G services soon will give a better bandwidth to mobile trading products," says Agrawal. And the market open to them is immense. "Of the 8 million investors in India, about 3.5 million (52%) are cash traders. The online trading segment constitutes just 12-15 %," says Vishak Raman, regional director, India and Saarc of Fortinet, which provides network security appliances. Conventional traders are sceptical. And so are security experts who feel that it's just a matter of time before cyber crime plaguing the PC space spills onto the mobile domain as well. Here is an analysis of how users perceive mobile trading and the risks involved in the same.
How to go about it
* BSE is now offering trading through its mobile application software called Fastrade while NSE's software is called NOW.
* Handset-makers like Blackberry and Samsung have started customising their services to extend mobile trading to customers. BlackBerry has several customisable apps like the Blue Mobile which helps one view real-time prices from stock, currency, commodity, energy, precious metals, exchange-traded funds and futures markets around the world, according to Satchit Gayakwad, PR manager, India, Research In Motion. And the most compatible ones for online trading are the Black-Berry Torch, the Bold 2 series and the Storm 2 series, he says.
Samsung is also in the process of extending this facility to its users. "We will be working on making these applications available on the phones, either through third-party developers or if some banks/broking houses make these applications available," say Ranjit Yadav, director (mobile & IT), Samsung Electronics. Most of the handset manufacturers are ready with the hardware to make online trading customisable. On the hardware side, all Samsung open OS phones — whether they have Windows/Android or Bada OS — are GPRS/java-enabled. This can support the 'mobi trading' applications," says Yadav.
* There are several intermediaries, like broking houses, which facilitate trading. Angel Broking, for instance, offers Angel Swift to enable customers to trade in equities and commodities from mobile phones. The app hosts real-time quotes and charts and single-market watch for equity and commodities. Users can also monitor and manage order book, trade book, net position and fund view on the mobile on a realtime basis. It also offers hot keys for faster trading (special shortcut keys). Phones need a GPRS connection to access this facility.
Things to look out for
Connectivity: An uninterrupted session is essential to ensure that a financial transaction is complete. "It is up to the service provider to ensure that seamless sessions," says Vishak Raman.
Timing: "Since a trading transaction has to be completed within the quickest possible time, the transaction per minute capability has to be high," explains Vishak. This may need a dedicated bandwidth and it is up to the service provider to make this possible.
Traders' perception: Despite the ubiquitous use of mobile phones, traders are still very conventional in using this for trading. "Traders, particularly those in the commodity market, prefer to check out the fundamentals of a company through traditional methods. Many of them are still not too tech savvy, and are risk averse," says Manav Garg, CEO of Eka Software, a provider of Commodity Trading and Risk Management (CTRM) software. "It may take another 3-4 years before this becomes a popular form of trading," says Manav, who was once an active coffee trader. "One of the main worries expressed by traders is the threat of a session snapping because of a signal drop," he says. "India is still a long way off from streamlining its entire infrastructure to offer seamless service . This involves substantial costs," he says. "As a first step, live quotes and live comments could be introduced on the mobile platform. Split information, that is a comparison of rates between exchanges can also be displayed ," he says.
Enter tablets
With many traders finding it difficult to execute financial transactions on small screens, the next platform which may gain acceptance could be notebooks and tablets. Even the highly-recommended BlackBerry Storm 2 has a screen size of just 3.2 inches. "This will not only overcome the screen size problem, but also ensure that there are no interruptions. The only deterrent here will be the cost factor," says Manav. Eka Software, for one, is already working on notebooks customised for online trading, which they hope to release within the next 6-10 months.
The new mode may be just a month old, but broking houses like Angel Broking have already recorded "an increase in the number of people subscribing to mobile trading," says Vinay Agrawal, executive director (equities broking). And, it is bound to click, he says, as the mobile phone market, which has 652 million users as of today, is deluged with affordable smartphones, which have increased the number of potential mobile trading customers.
"Major telecom players have introduced affordable and innovative GPRS plans which have increased internet access through mobiles. The commencement of the much-awaited 3G services soon will give a better bandwidth to mobile trading products," says Agrawal. And the market open to them is immense. "Of the 8 million investors in India, about 3.5 million (52%) are cash traders. The online trading segment constitutes just 12-15 %," says Vishak Raman, regional director, India and Saarc of Fortinet, which provides network security appliances. Conventional traders are sceptical. And so are security experts who feel that it's just a matter of time before cyber crime plaguing the PC space spills onto the mobile domain as well. Here is an analysis of how users perceive mobile trading and the risks involved in the same.
How to go about it
* BSE is now offering trading through its mobile application software called Fastrade while NSE's software is called NOW.
* Handset-makers like Blackberry and Samsung have started customising their services to extend mobile trading to customers. BlackBerry has several customisable apps like the Blue Mobile which helps one view real-time prices from stock, currency, commodity, energy, precious metals, exchange-traded funds and futures markets around the world, according to Satchit Gayakwad, PR manager, India, Research In Motion. And the most compatible ones for online trading are the Black-Berry Torch, the Bold 2 series and the Storm 2 series, he says.
Samsung is also in the process of extending this facility to its users. "We will be working on making these applications available on the phones, either through third-party developers or if some banks/broking houses make these applications available," say Ranjit Yadav, director (mobile & IT), Samsung Electronics. Most of the handset manufacturers are ready with the hardware to make online trading customisable. On the hardware side, all Samsung open OS phones — whether they have Windows/Android or Bada OS — are GPRS/java-enabled. This can support the 'mobi trading' applications," says Yadav.
* There are several intermediaries, like broking houses, which facilitate trading. Angel Broking, for instance, offers Angel Swift to enable customers to trade in equities and commodities from mobile phones. The app hosts real-time quotes and charts and single-market watch for equity and commodities. Users can also monitor and manage order book, trade book, net position and fund view on the mobile on a realtime basis. It also offers hot keys for faster trading (special shortcut keys). Phones need a GPRS connection to access this facility.
Things to look out for
Connectivity: An uninterrupted session is essential to ensure that a financial transaction is complete. "It is up to the service provider to ensure that seamless sessions," says Vishak Raman.
Timing: "Since a trading transaction has to be completed within the quickest possible time, the transaction per minute capability has to be high," explains Vishak. This may need a dedicated bandwidth and it is up to the service provider to make this possible.
Traders' perception: Despite the ubiquitous use of mobile phones, traders are still very conventional in using this for trading. "Traders, particularly those in the commodity market, prefer to check out the fundamentals of a company through traditional methods. Many of them are still not too tech savvy, and are risk averse," says Manav Garg, CEO of Eka Software, a provider of Commodity Trading and Risk Management (CTRM) software. "It may take another 3-4 years before this becomes a popular form of trading," says Manav, who was once an active coffee trader. "One of the main worries expressed by traders is the threat of a session snapping because of a signal drop," he says. "India is still a long way off from streamlining its entire infrastructure to offer seamless service . This involves substantial costs," he says. "As a first step, live quotes and live comments could be introduced on the mobile platform. Split information, that is a comparison of rates between exchanges can also be displayed ," he says.
Enter tablets
With many traders finding it difficult to execute financial transactions on small screens, the next platform which may gain acceptance could be notebooks and tablets. Even the highly-recommended BlackBerry Storm 2 has a screen size of just 3.2 inches. "This will not only overcome the screen size problem, but also ensure that there are no interruptions. The only deterrent here will be the cost factor," says Manav. Eka Software, for one, is already working on notebooks customised for online trading, which they hope to release within the next 6-10 months.
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