GAIN Capital
This was the project that cut my teeth - and caught my interest - in design. The project predated the arrival of Figma, so all the design work was done in MS Powerpoint, including a 225 slide platform prototype!
GAIN Capital was acquired by StoneX Group in 2020 for $236 million.
Task
Build a trading platform to allow GAIN Capital traders develop and test automated pattern strategies, enter trades, and manage risk.
Collaboration
As the design lead for ActivateClients, I worked with GAIN Capital product owners and ActivateClients UI developers to build the strategy elements for the Gain Capital trading platform. Star Financial Systems (SWAN) provided the back-end integration. The platform was built in Microsoft Silverlight.
The project ran from 2011 to 2012.
Information share between ActivateClients and Star Financial Systems
Integration
The first step was to build the integration areas for strategy and trade signals into the GAIN Capital trade platform. Wireframes were used to identify the integration points between ActivateClients, Star Financial Systems and GAIN Capital.
TradeTimer
The first feature developed was a trade timer offering different levels of complexity to suit the broad range of experience of GAIN Capital clients. Trade rules encompassed technical rules (e.g. MACD) and common candlestick patterns. In all cases, a trader could receive an alert for a signal, and/or generate a trade from the signal. A chart would provide the central visual focus for signals, with backtested results returned in a table.
Basic Strategy
Advanced Strategy
Expert Strategy
MarketDNA
In addition to offering TradeTimer to traders, MarketDNA was a new concept in pattern matching developed using DNA matching algorithms as used by geneticists.
A trader starts by activating the MarketDNA tool, then selecting a 3-9 candlestick pattern on a chart. The system runs the pattern on the selected asset or watchlist and looks for prior matches.
Historic pattern matches appear on the chart as profitable (green) or losing (red) matches. A visual return of historic matches allows traders quickly gauge if a matched pattern is profitable or not. If the trader wasn't happy with their pattern, they could go into the chart and select a new one.
Signals
The meat on the bone for a trading firm is to encourage traders to trade. Between TradeTimer and Market DNA, traders may have to manage a large number of signals, so it's important to have this information readily available, and timely, so the trader can execute on the signal.
Signals can be sent via email or SMS. Emails include an actionable trade link to redirect to the platform.
The Signals page on the platform offered the easiest way to enter trades as signals triggered. The quality of the signal is determined by market conditions, so in addition to the signal, summary performance data allowed the trader trade the best signals.
Outcome
The platform was launched in 2012 as part of GAIN's suite of trading tools.