Efforts by online trading companies to respond to the latest trend in mobile technology have led to another application for Apple Watch devices coming to life. Rakuten Securities, the subsidiary of Rakuten Inc (TYO:4755) that is on the verge of finalizing the purchase of FXCM Japan, has today announced the launch of an iSpeed application for Apple Watch.
iSpeed is the mobile application that corresponds to Marketspeed, the multi-asset trading platform offered to clients of the broker. Initially, the application will support trading in shares only, which is something that can be attributed to the nature of Apple gadgets themselves. If you own one, you must have probably paid attention to the fact that the default apps on such gadgets target those who monitor the stock market, not the Forex market.
Of course, all of these apps are usually adaptable and we can expect that Rakuten will offer some improvements in the future, so that the app supports various asset classes, including Forex. For the time being, the iSpeed app for Apple Watch is simply named “App for stock trading and investment information”.
The app for Apple Watch allows trading shares in various companies, receiving alerts about prices of selected shares, information about the “winners/losers”, and gives access to a live news feed.
Of course, due to the small size of the screen, there are some practical issues to solve. For instance, one can see the title of a news article, but to read the text body, one has to use the app through an iPhone or an iPad.
Clients of Rakuten Securities can start using the new app on Apple Watch from April 24, 2015.
Rakuten’s move comes on the heels of a similar announcement made by IG Group Holdings plc (LON:IGG), the UK expert in spread betting and CFD trading. IG is also set to launch a trading app for Apple Watch, with shares trading being a crucial part of the offering.
We are curious to see who will be the next to join the group of brokers making their names known on the newest Apple gadgets.
The official announcement of the upcoming Apple Watch app by Rakuten can be found here.
The app can be downloaded for free here.