Analysis reveals surge in online trading in Europe as younger traders and investors log on

Online trading is growing across Europe with nearly half of online traders worldwide based in the continent, new analysis from Blockchain-based derivatives trading platform CloseCross  shows.

Its analysis of industry data shows around 13.2 million of the 29 million people estimated to be trading online globally are based in Europe and the number trading online in Europe has doubled in the past year.

The UK is home to the most online traders in Europe followed by Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands with Romania, Poland, Sweden and Norway making up the top 10.

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Younger investors are leading the way – it is estimated around 58% of the online traders globally are under-35 with around 15% aged between 18 and 24. Around two-fifths (42%) have $500 or less deposited in their trading account.

CloseCross says with the changing demographic and value-set of the new investor class, increasingly convenience, transparency and trustworthiness rule the parameters against which trader and investor choice is based on. The new-age trader/investor is looking for the easiest way to profit from market movements across all asset classes, without having to deal with the hassle of legacy financial infrastructure. What remains constant is the need for a trustworthy avenue for their trading to be executed. Self-sovereignty (or the desire to remain in control of their own finances as against trusting a bank) is another emerging trend that needs to be observed.

Platforms are noticing these trends and addressing these from different perspectives. CloseCross enables traders to have a chance to generate returns simply based on price predictions in any direction for all asset classes from crypto and stocks to commodities. The platform claims to have the simplest interface for traders to commit their predictions in 3 clicks.

Vaibhav Kadikar, Founder and CEO of CloseCross said: “CloseCross is about unprecedented transparency, free access to the crowd wisdom and offering potentially outsized returns without the need for leverage. But it was extremely important to us that we deliver all the benefits in the simplest of interfaces so that neo-traders can tick all their boxes. We oppose unnecessary jargon and overwhelming interfaces – they are just not needed.”

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“Online trading was already building strong momentum before COVID-19 but the imposition of lockdowns has accelerated growth particularly in Europe with people spending more at home.

“The analysis shows traders are now younger and investing smaller amounts. CloseCross enables a level playing field for traders and opens up derivatives trading to more people.  The global market is worth around $1200 trillion a year but has always been highly concentrated and exclusive with issues around complexity, difficulty of use, high costs and unquantified risks stemming from leverage and margin call liquidations. All these are absolutely unnecessary.”

Its analysis estimates around 3.1 million people are trading online in the UK compared with around 1.6 million in Germany and nearly 1.2 million in France. The table below shows the top online trading countries in Europe.

COUNTRY ESTIMATED NUMBER OF ONLINE TRADERS 2019 ESTIMATED NUMBER OF ONLINE TRADERS 2020
UK 1,508,618 3,117,708
Germany 785,308 1,622,917
France 578,648 1,195,833
Italy 537,316 1,110,417
Spain 413,320 854,167
Netherlands 392,654 811,458
Romania 248,000 512,500
Poland 247,900 512,000
Sweden 134,329 277,604
Norway 109,529 226,353

 

CloseCross is regulated under MIFID II rules offering increased protection and transparency for customers. Traders can invest through an intuitive three clicks process of selecting an asset, predicting price-bracket(s) and committing funds to these predictions, for a variety of asset classes including crypto, stocks, indexes, commodities, forex pairings, etc.

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Unlike other trading platforms, there are no participation fees for using CloseCross, and its patented multiparty model ensures that leverage is not needed to achieve potentially outsized returns. Money placed on incorrect predictions is lost, but you never lose more than what you put in as there is no leverage needed or possible on the platform. You can participate with as little as $1 so there is no need for large capital. Users pay facilitation fees, only on their winning trades, giving them significant savings when compared to traditional trading platforms.

The platform includes CloseCross Crowd Wisdom which provides real-time data on the views and investments of other traders enabling investors to make a more informed forecast based on increased transparency. People can choose to follow the crowd or go on their own views.