Attendees at the 2022 Fintwit Conference heard from the top thinkers and innovators in finance and trading. Presentations at the event discussed how technology is creating new opportunities for retail traders, as well as the future developments in the space.

The event was hosted by Benzinga and Lupton Capital at the ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

Among the panel presentations was a discussion on “Creating the Best Platform for Traders.” The panel members were Carolyn Bao, Vice President of Marketing at MooMoo, a subsidiary of Futu Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:FUTU); Neal Hamilton, VP of Growth at Benzinga; and Ryan Krebs, President of Cobra Trading.

The group talked about the types of instruments that will likely be made available to retail traders. One area that is expected to see new offerings is the options market.

“The future I see is similar to fractional shares, we’ve seen what that has done when it was introduced, something like that with options, fewer contracts in options,” Hamilton said.

He noted that with the VIX sitting at historically high levels, “we’re going to need more products for people to play with that volatility.”

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Krebs talked about the need for consolidation on platforms, since today’s traders have “so many different applications because they trade so many different instruments.”

He said it’s not only about consolidating the trading of cryptocurrencies and stocks, but also bringing people’s social apps into play to make the overall platform “more seamless.”

Moomoo's Bao discussed the massive growth seen in recent years, emphasizing that in 2019 the retail trading volume was $18 billion, which mushroomed to $32 billion dollars in 2021.

She said retail investors have woken up to the potential of banding together when making investment decisions. "Where they have found newfound power is where they can connect," she noted, pointing to the meme stock saga as an example.

Bao said that trading platforms need to not only offer a variety of instruments and tools, but also help traders improve their performance.

"Our job and role is to better educate them and help them feel more comfortable and capable in making those decisions," she said. "Find their like-minded investors and to make decisions in a more confident way."