Tactic
Encouraging investors to learn and implement
trading strategies with confidence.
Role
UX/UI Designer
UX Researcher
Team
2 UX Designers
2 Developers
Duration
12 Weeks
Overview
Tactic is a trading strategy education app designed to encourage beginner and intermediate investors to learn new strategies through module and simulation learning based on historic market data.
Problem Statement
Beginner investors can feel intimidated when using riskier maneuvers when buying and selling in the market, with many unsure about accurate strategy information found online. Many financial education tools use unfamiliar jargon, unrealistic returns, and lack a clear pathway for new users.
The Strategy
A trustworthy education app with a clear onboarding flow designed to encourage users to explore further learning modules that combine real world market examples, data, and price movement.
Constraints
Trading strategy information found online can be misleading and must be found from trusted sources. Learning the fundamentals of the market in a crunch. Visualizing mass amounts of data in coherent chunks.
Discovery
We started with a kick off meeting to define what was in and out of our project scope, audience, current trading strategy tools on the market, and what our possible minimal viable product could be:
Beginner investors will be using the app as a fundamental reference point on the concept of trading strategies, intermediate investors will likely use the app to double-check strategy names, and backtest potential strategies.
Many trading strategy apps on the market have poor ratings and don’t implement backtesting
Tools that do provide accurate and trustworthy market information can cognitively overload the user .
Lean Canvas
Before any research began, our team filled out a lean canvas board together to make sure we were all on the same page about our target users and audience, assumptions, and expectations.
User Interview
To ensure we were receiving accurate information we organized a meeting with a professor of finance and accounting who currently invests himself and is experienced with price movement, and other market strategies. The qualitative insights revealed two common themes circulating trading strategy education.
1. Beginners must first reflect on their personality, and how they deal with risk and loss within the market before implementing strategies into their portfolios. This could be converted into the app through an onboarding flow and survey. Many trading strategy apps on the market have poor ratings and don’t implement backtesting
2. Clear-cut guidelines are a necessity for strategies, such as when to buy or sell. This is the most powerful tool an investor has, and should be highlighted clearly to users to build trust and confidence
Our team conducted a thorough analysis to examine how beginner trading applications currently offer educational content and support strategy learning. Our findings revealed that chunking information is vital for structured learning tools; most of the apps reviewed were either significantly simplified or jargon-heavy; and written and visual language is used to encourage learning.
User Flow
With the information gathered so far, our team got together to coordinate a trading strategy learning module flow beginning from download to module completion.
Development and Iteration
We started with a kick off meeting to define what was in and out of our project scope, audience, current trading strategy tools on the market, and what our possible minimal viable product could be:
Feedback based on mid fidelity variations:
Implement a settings page for the practice simulation.
Add a text field for users to make notes of what went well and what they can improve after the practice simulation.
Adjust the module progress bar to visualize linear progression better.
Include the option to change learning goals.
Design Decisions
Tactic faced the challenge of turning dense information into beginner-friendly modules, risking a loss of clarity in formative knowledge. Development and design operated within strict boundaries to ensure a transparent goal was established.
This module-based structure introduces beginner traders to scaffolded information and offers the option to test their knowledge in a controlled trading simulation based on historical market data.
Reflection
Prioritizing clear criteria and guidelines for information that involves certain levels of risk is essential when structuring an educational resource. Observing the amount of distrust surrounding market investment and the sharp learning curve to break into the practice encouraged our team to provide a secure and structured environment for beginner traders.