Research, context and challenges
Becoming a crypto exchange owner in 2019 is relatively easy: there’re many open source projects on Github, such as BitShares and Ettec. To launch, you just need to copy the code, change the style, place your logo (yeah, we’re leaving out the story of integration, regulatory requirements, payment systems, etc. — it’s more complicated, but you still don’t have to write an exchange from scratch).
Unfortunately, bugs are copied along with working scripts. Cumbersome interface solutions and complex forms frighten beginners, while unusual use cases frighten experienced users.
254 exchanges were registered on the market in 2019. 75% of all traders use only ten of them — giants like Binance and Coinbase, which hold large market shares. However, the leading players don’t cover the needs of all traders.
Growth point for the new trading platform: active young audience. Our job is to make trading accessible and easy for them at the beginning, and then teach them how to use advanced tools and gradually increase their trading volume.
We define current traders as the core and beginners as the target audience.
We formalize the strategies:
- To make the Monfex brand stand out in the market and attract an active young audience.
- Work on the UX/UI of the platform, making the product as easy to use as possible from the first steps.
- Retain the core of professional users by bringing the features and best practices of popular commercial platforms to Monfex.
Branding: differentiating from the competition
We’re updating Monfex’s identity to create a recognisable style that appeals to its target audience.
Interface: we train and simplify
We simplify the interface from structure to module to button.
To help users find their way around and get started quickly, we leave three main sections in the navigation: Markets, Portfolio, History.
Markets — trading
This is the most important and active section. This is where users make money on the difference in the value of cryptocurrencies, trade indices and company shares on the stock market, exchange currencies on the Forex market, etc.
Charts are clearer
By default we show a line chart because it’s easier for beginners to understand price movements and it’s immediately clear what to do: ’buy’ → ’wait for price to rise’ → ’sell’ → ’make money’.
Important — forward
The ’BUY’ and ’SELL’ buttons stand out: they’re the main ones here. To avoid any visual clutter, all additional fields are minimised and don’t interfere with trading, but are easily accessible.
This makes it easier for a beginner to decide on the first trade: all you have to do is guess where the value of the selected pair will go: up or down, and then place an order with the click of a button.
Fluctuations can be small, and fractions of a cent aren’t what people come to the stock exchange for. To make the effect of an investment more tangible, traders use multipliers. It’s important not to get too carried away when placing orders: using leverage can take trading into negative territory.
Beginners train in demo mode and gradually understand that to manage risk properly they need to move to the next level: for example, don’t close trades manually, but automate the process using TP/SL.
Market news next to the chart
Events in the world have a direct impact on the market: Musk published another tweet — Ethereum rose. This is why the news thread takes pride of place alongside analytical information. This allows traders to catch signals and change their strategy in time.
We mark the market reaction that appears synchronously with the news with branded elements to motivate and engage the trader.
Traders can customise the interface to suit their trading tasks, habits and monitor size: compact or expansive previews of any section.
Portfolio — all assets and orders under one roof
Monfex allows you to trade on almost any market: Forex, Stocks and Cryptocurrencies. Experienced traders can add other popular exchanges to Monfex, saving time and resources on switching between platforms and managing all their assets from their favourite Monfex account.
Users can also set automatic closing of a position at any time — determine the value of the TP order based on the amount of capital they are ready to take at the peak of the transaction or based on the asset price level.
History — all activities in chronological order
Lists and tables of operations are standard terminal functionality, but even a boring table can be made good and clear.
Score: 3 out of 3
The result is a modern crypto exchange interface that works for business and user convenience:
Easy trading + opportunity for mastery = Monfex
