Wealthbase's Founder On The Future Of Paper Trading

Wealthbase, a newcomer in the simulated trading space, launched last month with a mission of helping consumers invest better.

In an interview with Benzinga, John Rourke, the co-founder and CEO of Wealthbase's parent company Starburst Labs, elaborated on his intentions.

Rourke is a serial entrepreneur with experience in tech startups. Starburst Labs is home to ventures like Wealthbase and Wealthbox, a CRM for financial advisers.

What Is Wealthbase?

The core of Wealthbase’s functionality is paper trading. Rourke said he took note of the “old and clunky” nature of incumbent paper trading platforms and sought to build a trading simulator that acts as a “wedge” in the traditional trading simulation market.

The Wealthbase platform, through a simple interface, allows individuals to select a specific asset class — such as stocks, ETFS and cryptos — and create a game in which other individuals can join and make trades, with the ability to track progress and share updates.

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What’s Different?

A key differentiator for Wealthbase is a confidence-inspiring environment that helps “add rationales to trading decisions," Rourke said.

Individuals can create custom watchlists; review stats and general information about the underlying assets; and view recent news, he said.

How Does The Simulator Work?

When Wealthbase users create games and decide on what assets to invest in, they are prompted to buy or sell short. If an individual is to limit buy, for example, they open the “order type” dropdown and select “limit buy.”

After that, a user must specify order timing and limit price, select “review" and then “submit.”

What’s The Status?

Wealthbase is in a “public beta” stage, and the development of features such as a reward mechanism are underway.

The platform aims to enhance its product by creating more partnerships that would enable users to better analyze and manage investment risk, Rourke said.

Real-time quotes, a recent addition and key differentiator between Wealthbase and incumbent trading simulators, were introduced when Nasdaq partnered with Wealthbase to provide last sale data.

This integration will further improve the experience and prepare consumers for real trading, Rourke said. 

What's In Store?

In light of the realism of Wealthbase's trading experience, Rourke said the platform may turn “simulation into reality” and offer real trading — but said brokerage service is a topic to be explored down the road.

For now, the platform seeks to improve upon ease-of-use and foster a social community “around topics of investing, financial planning and personal finance," he said.

As the platform grows, Rourke said Wealthbase will move from an initial advertising-based revenue stream to one that incorporates long-term data sales and financial services, as in “connect[ing] individual investors” with financial service brands.

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Photo courtesy of Wealthbase.