Intelligent Trading Platform

Tradespoon is a brand owned by a Chicago-based company Superdome LLC. The goal of this trading platform is to level the trading playing field for independent investors.

Superdome’s array of financial tools and services uses quantitative science to make it easy for self-directed investors to find and manage high-return trade opportunities typically available for hedge fund managers and institutional-grade analysis.

Trading Playing Field

Retail investment mostly relies on traditional technical analysis: simple math formulas, common deviations, and well-known statistical formulas. These formulas, when applied to elaborate real-time market data, fail to offer a truly competitive edge to investors. The stock market is extremely volatile, full of noise data and behind-the-scene relations.

Tradespoon uses artificial intelligence (AI) that is capable of ongoing self-learning and hyper-fast data processing. The system also makes use of such advanced components as Adaptive Harmonics, Statistical Spectral Analysis, and Digital Filtration.

The intelligence trading platform’s main goal is to close the gap between retail and institutional investors, equipping the former with complex quantitative and real-time predictive systems to help them make well-informed trading decisions:

• Find undervalued stocks and rank them based on the probability of a rise in value.
• Generate short- and long-term predictions for open and close prices.
• Estimate the probability of a stock closing between or outside of target lows and highs.
• Scan seasonal trends and spot optimal entry and exit points.

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The Client’s Request

Recognizing Velvetech’s expertise in building investment management solutions, Superdome asked Velvetech to develop three key components for its flagship product — Tradespoon:

• Forex Forecasting Tool
• Metastock Extension
• Seasonal Charts

We also provided support for other, previously developed, parts of the solution:

• Stock Forecast Toolbox
• Portfolio Toolbox

Finally, we had to complete the platform with a companion iOS app that provides traders with on-the-go access to full platform functionality.

How We Did It

Our collaboration with Superdome started in 2012. Since then, we have been happy to work on multiple features for the trading platform, making it more appealing to the target audience — self-directed investors.

Forex Forecasting Tool

Our team has developed the Forex forecast tool (FX tool) that lets the user quickly find profitable Forex trades. Using the most powerful predictive analytics available, Tradespoon can accurately pinpoint currency price trends for both daily and intra-day timeframes.

This tool identifies currency trends with a “wave” structure. Applying a series of advanced algorithms, the FX tool deciphers the trends and data to predict high probability points of where the next price move will begin.

The main features of the Forex forecasting module in Tradespoon are:

• Real-time currency pricing
• Custom historical price charts
• High-precision price forecasts
• One-click data Export

Metastock Extensions

MetaStock software offers award-winning charting and analysis tools, powerful trades, and proprietary scanning, robust customization, comprehensive back-testing, and revolutionary forecasting.

Velvetech has developed an add-on for Tradespoon that works right inside the MetaStock application. The add-on integrates directly with MetaStock and provides access to Tradespoon features in the familiar MetaStock Interface.

Exclusive to MetaStock, Tradespoon’s stock forecast toolbox is the only add-on for MetaStock that lets users easily spot buy and sell signals with specific entry and exit prices.

The stock forecast toolbox will forecast stock price trends, turning points, movement vector directions, and “buy-sell” signals with stunning accuracy for both a short- and long-term investment strategy.

Seasonal Charts

Another piece of functionality our team developed was a block with graphs depicting the historical performance of each stock to help forecast its future performance. The user can see how a stock has performed historically and will likely fare under different political, economic, fundamental and technical conditions. This tool helps:

• Decide which side of the market to take
• Estimate longevity of up and down trends
• Approximate tops and bottoms to set buy and sell stops
• Determine which price “blips” are indicator whipsaws that might produce trading losses

Trading App Development and Modernization

In 2013 Velvetech developed the first version of the iOS mobile application for Tradespoon. The initial scope of work for the first Tradespoon’s app included its integration with some of the website’s features and tools.

Since then, a number of technologies have come to life. Apple devices and iOS mobile operating systems have significantly evolved revealing the need for streamlining the app.

In 2018 it was decided to refurbish the app. The idea was to:

• Enhance the app with new functionality
• Upgrade the app to support iOS 11 and later versions
• Update the look and feel of the app to improve UX

What We Did

One of the most significant functional changes was adding Stock Forecast Toolbox and Seasonal Charts to the app.

An inevitable step to update the mobile app was rewriting the source code due to the new App Store requirements. In iOS 11 Apple has officially dropped support for 32-bit apps, which was the case of the first Tradespoon app version.

Developing any iOS app requires using Xcode that you can compare to a pen and paper for app development. The application was deployed with the latest version of Xcode available at that time. Finally, we have also updated the app API.

Another issue calling for attention was design improvements. With the help of professionals on the side of Superdome, we have redesigned the app. All the layouts were adapted for iPhone X and later devices, providing a more consistent and intuitive user experience.

The development of the app and its further update went off without a hitch. It was published to the App Store, engaging more audience in smart trading on the go and helping them make accurate decisions about purchasing stocks.

Challenges

We had to work with the existing code because the initial version of Tradespoon was developed by some other team. Eventually, our engineers needed to spend more time to make themselves familiar with the project. Luckily, Superdome’s CEO is well-versed in software engineering. Vlad Karpel was able to assist our lead engineers during the discovery phase.

After examining the existing code base, our team proposed to update it to .Net Framework version 4.0, which we eventually did, with the client’s consent. That update allowed us to pick up the pace with the development of the new functionality for the product. Another benefit of the update will also streamline the support and maintenance of the product.

Outcome: Intelligent Trading Platform

The new features developed by the Velvetech team equipped Superdome with an edge over competing trading platforms. Joined efforts of our companies resulted in Tradespoon becoming a Finalist of the Benzinga Fintech Awards.

What Now

We continue our collaboration with Superdome by enhancing trading platform feature set. Tradespoon excels at enabling individual investors to trade on a professional level. And Velvetech is happy to assist the company on its noble mission.