Best Startup
Trading Joe is the first trading platform in the UK to offer commission-free trades on global options, stocks and ETFs for the UK and European investors. We are a team of passionate traders with a vision to simplify access to financial markets and improve the way people invest and trade. Powered by cutting-edge technology, the platform offers fast and reliable access to global financial markets and a seamless trading experience.
Committed to resolving the issues in options and stocks trading, Trading Joe empowers traders and investors of all levels — from beginners to seasoned professionals — by providing them with the necessary tools and resources to make informed decisions and improve the way they invest and trade.
Tell us about yourself?
I am an ex-Financial Services Senior Consultant with over 8 years experience in financial services, Wealth and Investment Management. I have been trading stocks and options for a long time and experienced first hand the problems we are trying to solve. This is the reason why we started TradingJoe.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Start doing customer interviews very early in the process to validate the idea.
What problem does your business solve?
Our primary goal is to address the issue of high commissions faced by traders in the UK and the Rest of Europe when dealing with options, stocks, or ETFs. Through extensive research, we have also identified several additional challenges experienced by traders, including user experience, onboarding and deposits, market data, and tools. We are committed to resolving these issues and providing a seamless trading experience.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
We are a team of passionate traders with a vision to simplify access to financial markets and improve the way UK and European Retail Investors invest and trade. Our primary goal is to address the issue of high commissions faced by traders in the UK and the Rest of Europe when dealing with options, stocks, or ETFs.
What is your magic sauce?
We offer commission-free trading on global options, stocks and ETFs. We feature direct integration to UK and EU main banks, advanced trading tools such as options profit calculator, stocks and options scanner, AI-powered trades builder, multi-currency accounts. We understand the evolving market in the UK and Europe for options trading and the current difficulty to access it from an economical and technical point of view.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
TradingJoe targets to launch a beta version of the app and commence live trading by Q1 2024, followed by a public launch in Q2 of the same year.
Trading Joe anticipates gaining 1,000 users during Y1 of operation. The company projects scaling to 1 million users by Y5.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Challenges:
– Complex EU/UK regulatory frameworks, for which we have an expert compliance advisor on board, well-versed in the specific regulations of the EU and UK. We will conduct regular, thorough reviews of the platform’s operations to ensure alignment with all relevant regulations. We will communicate regulatory requirements clearly to users.
– Retail Investments market downturn due to external and unpredictable circumstances, which will be mitigated by encouraging users to diversify their investment portfolios across different asset classes and geographical regions, providing educational resources to help traders and investors understand market cycles, risk management, and strategies to navigate downturns, implementing risk assessment tools and questionnaires to determine users’ risk tolerance and investment goals.
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
We want interested UK and European Retail Investors to sign up on our waitlist on our website; we want trading and investing bloggers and influencers in the UK and Europe to start collaborating with us. You can follow us on Twitter.
