Gerald Fenech speaks to Rob Brockington, CEO of Finatext UK about their new product and how it attempts to re-ignite confidence in the space.

Finatext, one of Japan’s leading trading brokerages, has invested £2 million to support the launch and development of a new and educational FCA-regulated crypto and Forex trading app, designed to make trading more accessible to a new generation of users.

One of Asia’s leading fintech companies has invested £2 million into the development of a UK-based trading platform, demonstrating confidence in a post-Brexit Britain.

Japan’s Finatext Group has invested the funds to support the launch and ongoing development of Pipster, an FCA-regulated currency trading platform that will provide a simpler, smarter and more responsible way of trading while improving financial literacy for those who have no trading experience.

“Cryptocurrency has recently become something of a dirty word, but we still fundamentally believe in the benefits of decentralised currencies and the technologies supporting them, both in terms of trading and more obviously, as viable currencies”, he said.

So what was the idea behind Pipster and how did it develop?

“Before we even set about developing Pipster, we discovered that for a lot of cryptocurrency owners, this was their first time trading on the value of a product - as you might with stocks, shares or currencies. Naively, some bought-in big from the outset, without any real understanding of markets and how trading works. However, Blockchain and cryptocurrencies did spark an investment mindset that has technology at its heart, bringing with it a new demographic of investors to the arena. Our platform allows people to invest in Crypto via CFD products and as such, within a fully secure and regulated environment”.

What was your vision in this regard and how does it change the game for cryptocurrencies in the current bear climate?

“Our vision was to create a retail trading platform that also leveraged the advantages in technology institutional trading systems benefitted from - While still focusing on simplicity, user-experience and most importantly of all - risk awareness. We also want to take a step forward with our platform and encourage a culture of ‘open-source-attitude-traders’. One where users are happy to talk about their strategies and help the community learn from their experiences - their losses as well as their wins! We want to open up a previously closed demographic of investors that feel daunted by the complexity and approaches of existing platforms”.

What does your technology bring to the table? Has the mayhem of late 2017 died down at last?

“As do many, we believe that the technology underpinning Cryptocurrency is a solution for the future, not a problem. The abandon with which it was being bought towards the end of 2017 could only really have produced one outcome - and the bubble did burst. Still, Bitcoin is back at the price it was in the months leading up to the boom and relatively stable. So we think it is time we approach trading it differently. As well as our intuitive guides, content and community hubs, we’ve developed our own Social Sentiment Indicator (SSI) for Bitcoin, which monitors and analyses large amounts of social media posts in near-real time. In short - we can identify upcoming trends in value, often hours ahead of time, to give our users a real advantage with their Bitcoin trades”.

There’s been a lot of talk of late around the security aspect of things in the crypto space. What about regulation?

“Full transparency at every stage for trading costs and fees, is another of our core pledges - as this is something that can trip up a lot of newcomers to trading. Finatext UK is FCA regulated, and we take our commitment to responsible trading incredibly seriously.By making this initial £2m investment into the development of Pipster in the run-up to Britain leaving the EU, our Japanese parent company Finatext Group has made its stance clear – the UK crypto and forex trading markets are still developing and still enticing. We’re putting our money where our mouth is and banking on becoming the platform for a new generation of smarter traders. There is much to come from us over the next year to show how new technologies - outside of blockchain - can help to mature retail trading as we know it.”

Pipster launched with a virtual ‘Pioneer’ mode, enabling users to practice trading and familiarise themselves with the market and their strategy using virtual funds risk free, before committing any real money.

A unique analysis tool for Pipster is Finatext UK’s unique live Social Sentiment Indicator (SSI) powered by Robota Intelligence, which monitors social media posts in near-real time and can identify upcoming trends. Details of this tool can be found here.

The insight provided by the tool can give users an idea when to both buy and sell, maximising returns by allowing profits to be made in both rising and falling markets.

Pipster goes above and beyond new regulations which limit leverage and trade values, allowing even lower entry and trade sizes for new investors. This helps new users to trade without having to invest large values at high-risk. Full transparency with pricing is also a significant element of Pipster’s pledge.

On-platform video and tutorial content, alongside forums and chats, will enable users to discuss strategies and trends on a peer-to-peer basis, opening up what has traditionally been a very closed community. It is hoped that this open forum will promote healthy discussion and support networks between traders, mitigating the stress that many conventional traders suffer from.

All users will also have access to curated financial and business news, can see summarised indicators - both technical and fundamental, and have access to learning materials if they want to better understand the concepts and basics of trading.

Pipster is designed to supplement an income as part of an investment portfolio, rather than replace a full-time job. Most trades are quick, short-term activities completed within a few hours or a day, as opposed to longer term strategies that require investment to be locked up for months or years.

Finatext UK recently announced its partnership with Z.com Trade, which is an affiliated company of the world’s foremost provider of Forex, GMO CLICK Securities Inc., who as a group process around one trillion dollars in trading volume every month. Their provision of world-class executions services, global reach and experience serving as a perfect match to help Pipster’s arrival in the sector be as seamless as possible.