Modern traders are tech-savvy, confident, and independent

Key Takeaways

• Today’s generation of financial traders are tech-savvy and demand access to self-service financial tools.
• They want to operate the way they choose, personalizing systems, customizing their own strategies, running their own reports and executing their own analyses.
• Successful fintech vendors will support these traders by giving them the latest tech and financial tools to grow their businesses.

The traditional perception of traders is that they’re not tech-savvy, that they are routine-focused, happy with the status quo, and uncomfortable with change. However, today’s newer generation of traders have broken that mold: they’re tech-savvy, independent thinkers who prefer to personalize and customize their trading platforms; and to have direct access to raw data to do their own analyses.

The trend parallels the rise of algo-trading worldwide, forcing traders to understand and work with technology to compete successfully. From predominantly manual trading, daily growth in the number of trades using algorithmic methods has tipped the balance. In the United States, Europe, and Asian markets, some 60–70% of the total institutional trading volume is now electronic.

Today’s financial services technology users show a strong preference for self-service financial tools. They also want transparency, and access to raw data, which allow them to analyze data for themselves.

Today’s professional traders seek tools that enable them to customize financial reporting, too. They want to create their own dashboards, track personalized metrics, and run scenarios based on their specific business requirements, rather than relying on generic reports.

Technology is part of their every day

This generation grew up with digital technology. Across society, as people spend ever-more time on their computers and other digital devices, they become more adept with using technology in their daily lives and at work. Today, most people are comfortable with email and often use self-service data-driven platforms, such as e-commerce, entertainment, financial services, and social media.

Indeed, personal technology has become nearly ubiquitous in developed nations worldwide. Almost 75 percent of the population in the top 10 developed countries own a smartphone. Globally, some 90 percent of mobile phones – over 7.2 billion instruments – are smartphones. In other words, most of the world’s 8.2 billion inhabitants own one. The business-to-consumer sector has capitalized on this trend, with an estimated 8.93 million apps ranging from communications platforms and games to online banking, healthcare services, and retail vendors (2024 statistics). Moreover, mobile operating systems and mobile app developments are continuous, with upgrades and new features added constantly. Users are accustomed to constant change in technology.

By comparison, the business-to-business sector has lagged behind this far technological revolution. For example, many financial technology platforms evolved in the early 21st century. So, for example, a platform developed between 2000 and 2005 (that is, long before the advent of the iPhone) is up to 25 years old. Users are looking at platforms that haven’t changed over the passage of time. Naturally, there are different economies of scale at play, especially in niche areas such as the financial services sector where the user base is counted in the tens of thousands (not the consumer billions).

Trust and total transparency

Trust is a key factor in financial services, and today’s generation of traders places a high value on transparency. A 2024 Charles Schwab survey in the US showed that many people today are more likely to trust the Internet as a source of information than before. Moreover, many prefer platforms that allow them to view raw, unfiltered financial data so they can verify information independently.

Individuals who are technologically adept and possess the requisite analytical skills appreciate access to raw data for deeper analysis. There is also evidence that today’s financial services professionals use raw data to build custom financial models or integrate their data into third-party applications for more in-depth reporting.

Self-service financial tools

They are increasingly turning to self-service tools that provide personalized insights, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs); Power BI to build dashboards that equip to manipulate, present, and interpret data; and APIs to write Python queries.

Modern traders also appreciate financial technologies that automate workflow across the trade lifecycle. They also want tools that provide transparency into the algorithms used and allow them to customize or adjust the automation based on their own analysis of raw data.In fact, this generation of financial services technology users also shows a strong preference for self-service financial tools that provide transparency, and access to raw data. They increasingly use APIs, and data analytics platforms to pull raw data, create custom reports, and perform their own financial analysis.

Technology must cater to these trends

These trends must shape how financial services providers develop products and cater to this digitally native, data-savvy generation.

Conversely, financial services providers underestimate this generation of traders at our peril. It’s crucial to ensure that we are developing the right technology to equip our customers with the tools they need to build successful businesses.