Danish multi-asset brokerage Saxo Bank is starting to deploy to market a new trading platform that caters to institutional investors. The company dubbed the new tool SaxoTraderPRO. It is designed using HTML5 technology and will be available to clients worldwide as the launch starts from the UK and Denmark.

Saxo Bank targets SaxoTraderPRO at active traders and institutional clients but it is not restricting any of its clients from using it. The multi-screen trading platform has fully customizable workspaces and works with both Windows and Mac, replacing the legacy SaxoTrader platform.

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Saxo Bank will keep offering its proprietary SaxoTraderGO HTML 5 platform for those traders who do not require the full suite of features that SaxoTraderPRO offers.

Development and Details

The Head of Platforms of Saxo Bank, Christian Hammer shared some insight on the matter with Finance Magnates.

Is the platform installable or web-based? How did you come to the decision to develop a version for Mac?

The platform is downloadable but actually, it consists of HTML5 web modules in an Electron framework. We chose this solution to ensure that clients always have the latest software version available without frequent downloads, and to support the active traders demands for customizability across multiple screens. Finally, it helps us reduce cost and complexity in our IT infrastructure to have coded all our platforms in HTML5 and powered by a single REST-based API. Several of our clients have requested a professional and customizable platform for Mac.

What would be the criteria for traders to be able to use the platform?

We do not have fixed criteria for this but the platform is designed for our most active traders and institutional clients. These clients typically have several screens, using more advanced order types, run many positions in different asset classes, pays for Level 2 data and want to be able to customize the platform layout to their specific needs. The majority of our retail traders and investors will be better served by using the existing SaxoTraderGO web platform that is optimized for single screen usage.

How much did it cost to develop in terms of time and money and what were the biggest challenges to overcome during the development phase?

We have spent 2 years developing the platform involving at any given time +50 developers. We have worked with ongoing client feedback and early prototyping to ensure that what we developed actually fits the needs of active traders. We made early prototypes available to beta clients 10 months before launch and got a great deal of feedback and suggestions for improvements directly from the beta clients. We also did a number of focus group test in the UK with active traders.

Detailed Functionality

The new trading interface from Saxo Bank supports a slew of features. Starting from support for up to six screens on Windows and Mac the platform is configurable zoom, drag and drop, a right-click menu, link modules and others.

SaxoTraderPRO features some advanced trading tools to manage and execute orders and analyze market data. Algo orders and placement and management of trades in relation to the Level 2 order book in real time are also available with Time and Sales to view real-time exchange tick data.

Clients can also choose between “Real Time Netting” or “End Of Day Netting” of individual trades

Saxo Bank has also integrated a set of risk-management tools that include custom margin alerts and margin utilization breakdowns and quick-close buttons for positions & orders.

Availability for clients of Saxo Bank in the UK and Denmark will be followed by the APAC region. Deployment of the platform to the rest of the world will follow later in April and during May.