Every year, there are new changes, developments, opportunities, and crises in every sector. And with the advancement in technology that has been witnessed in the 21st, it is clear that we are no longer in a world where what happens in one region or part of the planet has no impact on other regions or states. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The ability to progress financially or economically is dependent on global infrastructure, so if something affects the Chinese market, its impact must be felt in virtually all markets globally to some degree.

That’s why when it comes to online trading, there’s a complex correlation and interplay of a plethora of factors ranging from economics, politics, to environmental factors. Other more prosaic factors such as how a given sector is doing or demand of certain products and services in a given location also come into play. Taking all these into account, it is significant to figure out what the future holds for online trading in a bid to establish how things might change for traders, businesses, and other industry stakeholders.

Impact on consumers

In the past few years, there has been a tremendous growth in mobile data streaming and the benefits that it accrue to consumers. Internet browsing is now widely available to consumers in a variety of mobile devices and the trend is likely to advance in future. In fact, when it comes to online trading in particular, a wide array of trading platforms are now accessible by smartphones, tablets, and other portable devices. In future, more downloadable trading applications are expected not only to be developed but to replace desktop software that are currently being used in analysing market trends and making trading decisions.

In future, new financial instruments are also expected to be developed. It’s already witnessed in assets like credit swaps (CDS’s) and collateral debt obligations (CDO’s). The creation of new trading systems will in turn result into the development of new asset classes which will broaden traders’ investment portfolios and complicate investment strategies. Currency pairs, options, commodities, debt products and other assets will be packaged in more creative ways giving traders easy access to a broader investment base.

Impact on Institutional Investors

For institutional firms such as asset management companies, investment banks, and brokerage agencies like CMC markets, the advances in technology will open new ways and types of trading strategies. They will be in a position to use more sophisticated algorithms to decipher market trends and take advantage of the market pricing inefficiencies and profit from tiny discrepancies that aren’t currently possible. In fact, quantum computing is going to be widely adopted by these firms to handle a wide range of computational encryptions and market expectations.

Redefining Global Boundaries

Globalisation simply implies that companies never exist in a vacuum anymore. The price of doing any form of online trading is slowly melding into a global equilibrium which is in turn having a significant impact on aspects like labour costs and currency valuations. In future, there will be an influx of investors which will further complicate financial and valuation models making software-based online trading more prevalent. More foreign companies are expected to be integrated into everyday portfolios and there will be increased volatility in the financial markets.

Regulatory catch-up

The online trading industry has not been impacted by regulations as much as other sectors of the global economy. However, that’s slowly changing. In future, we expect to see more regulations, the first one, which will hopefully supported by many brokers is reducing the leverage levels used in various online trading platforms. To be sincere, leverage of 1:100 or 1:200 is simply not sustainable—there are many systemic vulnerabilities. One way of dealing with it is reducing the leverage levels through investor protection policies and regulations.

Conclusion

Forecasting for the next 3 to 4 decades, we cannot ignore the fact the online trading industry will witness a lot of positive changes as well as an equal share of hurdles and instabilities. Some of the potential factors that are likely to impact this industry include cyber security, national security, climate change, pandemics, dynamic regulatory requirements both locally and internationally, political changes, and economic crises among other factors.

Does a billionaire like Steve Ballmer really need tax incentives in connection with his ridiculous $2 billion purchase of the Los Angeles Clippers?

This video and article from CNBC explains how it works.

Wall Street and the business community have supported Republicans for years, but now many of them are stunned to see the utter contempt that many Tea Party Republicans have for the financial system. While some understand the point of using leverage in negotiations, the willingness to tempt fate with a potential default on the national debt is making many CEOs nervous. GOP representatives are now hearing an earful from those business interests that helped raise a ton of money for them, and now CEOs are getting involved. Their ideal solution is to get a big budget defiicit deal, but they have had to impress on many members the potential for economic catastrophe if we get to the brink of defaulting on the national debt.

There are very strong opinions on all side of the government shutdown and the debt debate, but the plain fact is that the GOP is engaging in political extortion, and the President is not willing to let them get away with it.

Many Republicans from the beginning saw this as a failed strategy, and now even more are becoming frustrated as John Boehner again doesn’t seem to have an out. It’s a mess, and hopefully at some point this will be resolved without a full-blown crisis.

The fracking revolution is having a ripple effect throughout the U.S. economy. That applies to both the natural gas boom in states like Ohio and the oil gas boom in North Dakota. BusinessWeek notes the impact the oil boom is having on local banks.

In his office on the second floor of a glass-encased building on North Main Street in Watford City, N.D., Stephen Stenehjem rolls out a map of a proposed multimillion-dollar residential development and shakes his head in disbelief. “My dad would have been very pleased,” says Stenehjem, a third-generation banker and the chief executive officer of First International Bank & Trust. “For 25 years, our focus as a community bank was to help keep our small town alive. So it has been really fun to see this oil come back.”

Once a depressed town of 1,700 in what was America’s least-visited state, Watford City and its neighbors are at the center of North Dakota’s oil and gas boom. While about 470 banks across the U.S. have folded in the past five years, those serving America’s new fracking economy have seen explosive growth. Oilfield workers carrying paychecks, investors looking to build, and farmers enjoying mineral-rights payments are pouring money into banks. First International, with $1.3 billion in assets and 21 branches in North Dakota, Arizona, and Minnesota, hired 65 employees over the past year, including lenders, trust officers, and insurance agents, and plans to add 30 more this year. “It’s fun to be a banker in North Dakota,” Stenehjem says. “Even six or seven years ago, if there was a new pole barn going up in the county, I knew about it. Now I can’t keep track of everything.”

The implications for the U.S. economy are staggering. It’s great to hear good news and we’ll be following this story.

The SEC isn’t amused by the Twitter hoax that led to a quick and serious drop in financial markets yesterday and we may see an investigation.

Frankly it’s also a little troubling that some of these computer programs can move so fast to sell off stock just based on key words in a Tweet. Maybe we need to start thinking about a financial transaction tax.

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David Stockman has a new book out pretty much ripping everyone on the debt. He has a real problem with the bailout, takes on the Ryan budget along with the Obama administration, and predicts another crisis.

He loses credibility in my opinion when he discusses how we could have used bankruptcy through the crisis, and then he also goes back to the gold standard.

Here’s one of Capital One’s catchy ads featuring Alec Baldwin. The ad wasn’t deceptive, but apparently the bank was benefiting from other problematic business practices.

The nation’s consumer watchdog on Wednesday delivered its first enforcement action against the financial industry, fining Capital One for pressuring and misleading more than two million credit card customers.

Capital One, one of the nation’s biggest banks and credit card lenders, agreed to pay $210 million to resolve a pair of regulatory cases, the latest legal setback for the financial industry.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Wall Street’s newest regulator, accused Capital One of “deceptive marketing tactics.” The credit card company — which is known for its catchy television ads, asking “what’s in your wallet” — received a regulatory rebuke for misleading card customers into buying unnecessary products like payment protection and credit monitoring, according to the consumer agency.

It’s nice to see someone looking out for the consumer . . . finally.

By the end of a vital two-day summit here, European diplomacy had played out like soccer, with Spain and Italy — the two nations headed to the Euro 2012 finals — emerging victorious and the Germans returning home in shock.

After a marathon 14 hours of talks, Berlin unexpectedly agreed to concessions clearing the way for a deal that could help both Madrid and Rome in their desperate efforts to stave off economic collapse.

The agreement, while conditional on the creation of a regulatory body, addressed the core of the questions facing Europe: Who will cover the tab for its 2½-year-old debt crisis, and how?

Under the terms of the deal, troubled euro-zone countries would have more options for aid, including using a pool of European rescue funds to directly recapitalize ailing banks. That, in turn, would spare governments the humiliation of having to ask for aid themselves to channel to domestic banks, sidestepping the kind of intrusive financial inspections imposed on Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

The big change has to do with the decision to directly fund the troubled banks. Check out the whole article for the story, but it looks like Germany will cave here.

It hasn’t been a good week for Jamie Dimon and all the banker apologists trying to stop regulation of the big banks. With the stunning loss posted by JP Morgan and its irresponsible trading operation, we have another example of why we need strong regulation preventing banks from gambling with funds insured by the government. Hopefully this helps beef up the regulations for the Volcker Rule.

When the euro was introduced just after midnight on Jan. 1, 2002, celebratory fireworks exploded above the European Central Bank headquarters in Frankfurt. The historic bridge the Pont Neuf in Paris was lit up in European Union blue with 12 rays of light to symbolize the 12 nations circulating the euro — as people in those countries lined up at A.T.M.’s to get their hands on new bills that would be daily reminders of the project of European integration and unity.

Ten years later, the word “euro” in a headline is usually paired with the word “crisis.” Instead of hosting celebrations for the 10-year anniversary, policy makers appear to be staying as quiet as possible, as if hoping not to upset the brief calm that has come with the holiday season after European central bankers injected nearly $640 billion into the European banking system in December.

Will Europe get its act together? The recent events in Italy have to be encouraging. Let’s see if the austerity can be sustained.