Active-Trader Engagement and Profitability: Not All Cash Is King
Report Summary
Active-Trader Engagement and Profitability: Not All Cash Is King
Even frequent traders have reservations about investing additional capital in today’s U.S. equity markets.
Boston, November 7, 2012 – A new report from Aite Group explores various facets of trader engagement, including trader demographics and asset-class profitability. Based on an August 2012 Aite Group survey of 644 U.S. investors, the report provides insight into the desires of retail traders, revealing to brokerage firms how to improve client experience, product offerings, and trader profitability.
Aite Group survey results paint a complex picture: Confidence levels in U.S. equity markets are highest among frequent traders, but even this group has reservations about investing additional capital in today’s U.S. equity markets. While many brokerage firms are sprucing up their trading platforms and introducing more tools, a long laundry list of what traders want and need in order to trade more regularly and more profitably falls outside traditional platform improvements. Self-directed traders have varying needs, depending on their trading frequency, and have expressed interest in training tools pertaining to trading strategy. Surprisingly, retail traders report a lower annual profitability from some cash products (stock indices, stocks) than from some leveraged products (options and futures trading).
“Many brokerage firms that are trying to keep up with an ever-expanding list of regulatory and technology changes are blind to trader needs,” says Javier Paz, senior analyst with Aite Group and author of this report. “Brokerage firms that address less-heralded trader needs, such as trading strategy education, stand to gain a competitive edge with traders and to earn additional trading-related income.”
This 37-page Impact Note contains 32 figures and one table. Clients of Aite Group’s Wealth Management service can download the report.