by: Rondy Yunanda
Narrowing the Information Gap
The information gap between financial investors in the capital market can create an unfair game of lottery for those who are not privy to organised and reliable data. Comprehensive financial access and tools can be expensive, financial data disorganised and information obtained from public figures questionable. The launch of the Stockbit app in Malaysia can now connect stock investors in a more reliable manner, while providing access to timely and transparent financial information via a one stop social networking platform.
An innovative App for a New Generation
In 2017, Malaysia saw its capital market grow 12.6% to RM3.2 trillion with strong growth across all segments. (1) Larger numbers of younger investors are now entering the market, with Bursa 1 Malaysia revealing a 36% jump in the number of Central Depository System (CDS) account holders aged 25 years and below. (2)
A younger population of stock investors, coupled with an increased global dependence on smartphones has inspired the founders of Stockbit to design its interface and layout to have similar designs and features to popular social media technologies such as Twitter and Instagram.
One such feature is the stream function, where daily news and announcements from official sources, posts and comments from fellow users will be shown on a user’s feed.
Users can also benefit from free analytical tools, covering both fundamental and technical analysis.
With the recent large jump in younger investors in mind, the timely expansion of Stockbit to Malaysia will hopefully reap the same success as it did in its home country, Indonesia. To date, the total number of users on the platform has grown to over 70% of the daily active retail investors in the Indonesian Stock Exchange (“IDX”).
Complete, Transparent and Timely
Stockbit extracts stock related news and announcements directly from Bursa and various media sources in Malaysia. Company price, financial and fundamental data in Stockbit are all powered by Morningstar, a leading investment management firm from North America.
Users are able to access these relevant information in a timely manner. Push notifications on related news and events will ensure no important piece of information is missed, something that is vital for an investor’s success. In a nutshell, users now have the opportunity to access a complete array of information in the palm of their hands!
The Future
As an innovative fintech company, Stockbit Malaysia is constantly on the lookout for potential collaborations – with universities, investor relations or brokers - and also on ways to continuously improve.
At this juncture, Stockbit Malaysia already has many unique features such as price alert, price target and seasonality. More features such as the ‘stock screener’ is in the pipeline, where investors will be able to filter stocks based on the criteria they set and can even choose to follow famed investors like Warren Buffet, Peter Lynch or Joel Greenblatt.
With its ease of use and features, the social network technology of Stockbit can help the most novice to the savviest of investors in their investment journey and decision making. This innovation is also expected to contribute as a catalyst to support the government as well as Bursa’s program which aims to increase retail investor participation in capital markets to 25% (3), so that they in turn can push for sustainable economic development in Malaysia.
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Appendix
(1) https://www.sc.com.my/post_archive/malaysian-capital-market-grew-12-6-to-rm3-2-trillion-with-strong-growth-across-all-segments/
(2) https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2017/05/03/young-investors/#LYBMTbI7qPDGylgJ
(3) http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/cover-story-attracting-millennials-stock-market