Inside TradeZero with Dan Pipitone

Inside TradeZero?

Meet the people behind TradeZero, gain insight into the latest industry happenings and?learn how we create our products and services with a customer-first focus.?

Today's Q & A is with Dan Pipitone, Co-Founder and CEO of TradeZero?

In 2023 are you seeing any change in?retail traders’ behavior compared to previous years??

We have seen the overall activity go down a bit since?the 2020 – 2022 time-frame. Retail traders?seem to be a bit more thoughtful in what they are doing, and we are seeing some build portfolios while still trading around those core positions. For us, we do still see continued excitement about the robust short selling capabilities that our platforms provide.?

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Why did you opt to become one of the first zero commission trading brokers globally??

We had a goal of trying to marry the legacy day trading model of high-touch customer service and cutting-edge trading platforms, combined with the newly established commission-free pricing model. We did not agree with being able to only access commission-free trading via a mobile app. This essentially only shows the user the last sale. We felt that providing full streaming Level 1 access to different routing venues, and of course facilitating bi-directional trading, should not only be available on our mobile app. We felt that offering it?on our web and desktop platforms was also important. Combining those abilities with the commission-free pricing model is a powerful combination.?

What made you position TradeZero as a specialist in short selling???

Similar to bringing commission-free to the active trading community, we saw?another gap in the marketplace. Very early on in 2015, traders were clamouring for better short access. I have said this a lot in the past and I continue to believe it; it’s?one thing to be long and wrong, but it’s?a different thing entirely if a trader has every indication that a stock will decline in value and their broker doesn’t have shares available to short. We wanted to fully address that.?

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Many brokers are still charging a commission fee for every transaction. Do you see this changing? Will commission-free trading eventually become the industry standard??

I think it has become standard in the retail community. However, I do think that commissions still have a place in the market. This is still particularly relevant in scenarios where traders want the best possible execution price, especially on marketable orders. They understand that many of the primary exchanges charge to take liquidity.?

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How do you see the recent developments in AI impacting traders and broker-dealers in the future??

I see AI as a tool to really help traders on their trading journeys. Some of these powerful tools that have been released in the last year are able to distil information in a way that would take people much more time. Things like pattern recognition and other technical analysis are much easier with the help of AI. A?little further down the road, the assistance that could be provided on the coding and implementation side of platform and systems development could be game changing.?

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What is one thing you’re working on now that you’re excited to see implemented into TradeZero in the future??

We are highly excited about our move to be a self-clearing firm. This will allow us to be better at our locates and pre-borrow facilitation. It will also allow us to be better with our debit and credit interest rates, and to provide better customer service and support, as there will be less hops between our client services agents and the clearing function. We expect to start realizing that ability later this year.?

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