Online e-Trader for UAE stock market

The development of technology in the investment industry has made a large amount of information and tools available for stock traders. The Internet and online trading products have facilitated efficient stock online trading. These technologies are provided at a lower trading cost and at high communication speed (Gonzalez, 1999). The concept of online trading is defined globally as using a computer and the Internet connection to buy and sell stock orders with an online brokerage firm. With online trading, users have the option of placing orders at their own convenience.

To help facilitate online stock trading, many online brokerage firms are launching. E*Trade and Ameritrade, are among the most successful firms to appear on the Internet. There are also many online stock products and research tools (Barber & Odean, 2001). There are several recommendation systems available for trading stocks that look up the user preferences and profile then tailored a buy and sell advice (Gervasio, Langley, Yoo, 2003). Some of the most popular online stock trading programs are GCI Financial and Worden.

By monitoring the stock market, different demography has been observed. People with different genders and background can be found trading stocks. Buying and selling stocks isn't only for men, but women also have entered the stock market (CGTN, 2005). As people are becoming increasingly concerned about their financial futures, investors are entering the market at a younger age. While investors in their late 20s to mid-40s comprise the large part of those making trades online, a new boom in online investing is taking place among those 25 years old and younger (Galante, 1998).

A survey was conducted in UAE market to assess the need for online stock trading services and to determine the level of acceptance of such tools among investors. Results have shown that many investors are willing to use such tool for a variety of reasons (see Fig. 1) In addition; these tools will be useful for women, who represent a significant segment of investors in the UAE, while following up with their domestic responsibilities.

In the UAE, many banks and brokerage companies are shifting gradually towards online trading services by allowing its clients to buy and sell shares over the Internet. By doing that officials are hoping to reduce operating and administrative costs at the stock exchange and allow investors from outside the UAE to use this service (Sharif, 2005).

The emerging need for online stock trading applications in the UAE inspired a group of senior students who currently enrolled in a capstone project course at Zayed University. It has been proposed to develop a prototype system in that area to deploy stock online trading services without the need for a broker. The capstone team will develop a program that will help investors to trade stocks easily. The program would generate a list of recommendations to the investor with emphasis on good times to buy or sell certain stocks to maximize investors' profits.

The following are features that would be offered by the new proposed program (see Fig. 2):

Analytical charts: it displays different charts for a particular stock.

Buy and sell indicators: it displays a chart for a certain stock and the movement of the stock's price over a period.

Investor wallet: a portfolio of the investor's shares, quantity and price of each share.

Recommendation window: it provides a summarized analysis on what stocks to buy or sell.

Market view: it lists the stocks symbols available in the market and traces the price movement of these symbols.

Order box: it allows investors to place stock orders.

Financial News: it shows the financial news released from companies about the latest development in the market.



In summary, many investors of different age groups and genders in the UAE are becoming active in stock trading. Many of them don't have an advanced level of knowledge about stock trading. Investors mainly buy and sell using very little information and without evaluating the market or would have to use the help of brokers. As a result of that, many investors are losing profits in the stock market. Therefore, having an online smart trading service would be beneficial for investors as it would help them plan their stock trading and investment process in a better way.