Wri​tten by: by Pa​na​gio​tis Cha​ra​la​mpous, Head of Co​mmu​ni​ty Ma​na​ge​ment of cTra​der at Spo​twa​re

Tra​ders Fir​st™ has been our mo​tto sin​ce the in​ce​ption of cTra​der. Whi​le many mi​g​ht think that this is just a mar​ke​ting tri​ck and a nice to hear slo​gan for tra​ders, Tra​ders Fir​st approa​ch is a way of living for us, and a con​ce​pt clo​se​ly asso​cia​ted with our bu​si​ne​ss mo​del and su​cce​ss. In this ar​ti​cle, I will try to explain why Tra​ders Fir​st is not just a ca​tchphra​se, empty of mea​ning, but ra​ther a so​lid bu​si​ne​ss stra​te​gy to whi​ch we re​main co​mmi​tted even a de​ca​de after we star​ted wor​king on this pro​je​ct.

So how does cTra​der pla​ce Tra​ders Fir​st? The co​mmon per​ce​ption wou​ld be that be​cau​se the​re is no fee char​ged to the tra​ders for using the pla​tform, then Spo​twa​re’s di​re​ct clien​ts are bro​kers. Thus it is their nee​ds that Spo​twa​re has to fu​lfi​ll as at the end they pay the bill. Whi​le the​re is a por​tion of tru​th in this sta​te​ment, in​deed bro​kers pay the bill and we care about them as much, what is not men​tio​ned is what the bill con​si​sts of. cTra​der is not offe​red on a tra​di​tio​nal so​ftwa​re li​cen​sing ba​sis, whe​re the client pays for a li​cen​se to the so​ftwa​re co​mpany and a su​pport fee to keep the so​ftwa​re up and run​ning. In​stead cTra​der is offe​red on a pla​tform-as-a-se​rvi​ce ba​sis and bro​kers pay fees ba​sed on the vo​lu​me tra​ded on the pla​tform. This means that the more tra​ders tra​de, the more mo​ney we make. And when do tra​ders tra​de more? Of cour​se when they are su​cce​ssful. Hen​ce, cTra​der aims to attra​ct su​cce​ssful tra​ders and ena​ble them to re​main su​cce​ssful in the long term. We want tra​ders to su​cceed, it is a win-win si​tua​tion for us.

So how do we put Tra​ders Fir​st in action? The pi​llars of our stra​te​gy are the fo​llo​wing:

• In​te​rven​tion-free pla​tform. We host and ma​na​ge ever​ything on our in​fra​stru​ctu​re. Bro​kers can​not mess with pri​ce fee​ds, your or​ders, your tra​ding and your tra​ding hi​story. Bro​kers just get a back end appli​ca​tion allo​wing them to se​tup accoun​ts, symbo​ls, co​mmi​ssions, sprea​ds, mo​ni​tor the activi​ty and, essen​tia​lly, do what a bro​ker’s job is to do.
• Fea​tu​re rich pla​tform. We aim to provi​de tra​ders a pla​tform with advan​ced tra​ding fea​tu​res that allo​ws them to have a co​mpe​ti​tive advan​ta​ge co​mpa​red to tra​ders using other pla​tfor​ms.
• Con​ti​nuous co​mmu​ni​ty driven deve​lo​pment. We con​ti​nuou​sly improve the pla​tform with en​han​ce​men​ts ste​mming mo​stly from co​mmu​ni​ty fee​dba​ck. We in​te​ra​ct with tra​ders throu​gh va​rious chan​ne​ls on a dai​ly ba​sis and we upda​te and upg​ra​de the pla​tform seve​ral ti​mes a year.
• Top no​tch in​fra​stru​ctu​re. We are not stingy when it co​mes to in​fra​stru​ctu​re. We host our pla​tform on high end har​dwa​re su​ppor​ted by a wor​ldwi​de pro​xy ne​twork en​su​ring a fast and re​lia​ble ope​ra​tion all around mar​ket hours.
• Tran​spa​ren​cy. We be​lieve in tran​spa​ren​cy. All tra​ding activi​ty is lo​g​ged and pre​sen​ted to tra​ders in an easy to un​der​stand man​ner so that they alwa​ys know what ha​ppe​ned with their tra​des.

Su​mma​ri​zing the above, we have bui​lt a bu​si​ne​ss dee​ply de​pen​dent on tra​der​s' su​cce​ss. This is why ba​sed on in​ter​nal re​por​ts the​re are about 35% more su​cce​ssful tra​ders on cTra​der, than the in​du​stry ave​ra​ge. For us, the more the tra​ders stay on our pla​tform, the be​tter. And the more su​cce​ssful they are, the more they stay. We have no in​te​re​st in scam bro​kers and we have no​thing to gain if tra​ders lose their mo​ney and aban​don the pla​tform. The​re​fo​re every tra​der shou​ld rest assu​red that cTra​der is on her or his side, alwa​ys pu​tting Tra​ders Fir​st.