Abu Dhabi Exchange Dials DirectFN Mobile Data Apps

The apps, which are targeted at both retail and institutional investors who want to invest in ADX-listed stocks, allow users to access delayed price data and functions available on the exchange's website─including top stocks, most active stocks, and top gainers and losers─via mobile devices, says David Hann, head of sales at DirectFN. In addition, clicking on a symbol provides access to historical intraday charts, news, exchange announcements and alerts.

"The whole idea is to encourage people to have more visibility into the markets," Hann says. "It's a way to give investors another way to look at the data."

DirectFN chose to develop native apps for Apple iOS and Android devices rather than using HTML5 because the features and functionalities of native apps can be richer than those built in HTML5, Hann says.

The vendor was already collecting the relevant feeds of data from ADX, and now hosts "everything" that supports the apps, Hann says. "Their clients come into our environment," he says. "We do a ‘security handshake' between their user IDs to our user ID so they can access data, charts, features and functionalities."

The apps, which were tested by DirectFN and by the exchange, are available free of charge from the Google Play store and Apple App Store.

Hann says the launch is the first stage of a long-term plan that will see DirectFN enrich the exchange's mobile offering with more features, including paper trading for users to test strategies before deploying them live.

The vendor already provides similar apps for the Muscat Securities Market, Dubai Financial Market and Nasdaq Dubai, Hann says.