Share traders go mobile
Smartphones and tablet devices have become increasingly popular in online share trading, with almost half of frequent traders going mobile, according to a survey released by Investment Trends.
The survey found 41 per cent of frequent online traders now use a smartphone or tablet to trade shares online - up from 32 per cent in December 2011.
Furthermore, a third of mainstream clients have gone mobile - up from 25 per cent eight months ago.
However, there has been an overall decrease of the online share trading market, with around 615,000 Australians currently trading online - down from 630,000 as of December 2011.
"With a reduced number of new traders, it is likely that competition for switchers will be hotly contested," Investment Trends senior analyst Pawel Rokicki said.
"Providers will need to be very active in exploiting market opportunities and addressing the gaps in their service offerings in order to protect and/or increase their share of the market," he said.
CommSec remains the most dominant player in the market, with 49 per cent of traders using it as their main online broker.
The next one down is E*TRADE, with 18 per cent market share, the survey found.
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