In September of 2022, amana, a trading and investing platform, launched its groundbreaking trading app. This state-of-the-art app was designed to respond to the needs of a new generation of mobile-first traders by providing access: access to trading via an easy-to-use platform that is in your palm, and access via enabling financial literacy for more novice traders and investors via educational videos and courses right in the app. A short year and a half later, amana's app is enjoying a tremendous amount of success, helping to make the vision of universal access to financial assets a reality.
amana anticipates a future where more assets will become digital and increasingly fractionalized. Amana currently offers fractionalized trading on both US stocks as well as MENA stocks, a first in the region. This allows clients to own a certain percentage of a stock, if not the entire stock. Investors could purchase a small portion of a share when overall costs are high. Fractionalized trading amounts to a new market, one where even the smallest of investors can invest in US companies like Apple, Tesla and Amazon, or regional companies like Saudi's Al Elm (ELM) or UAE's International Holding Company (IHC).
Equally important is amana's fees structure and tight spreads – their highly competitive pricing and 'no fees' policy on things like deposits and withdrawals reduces the cost of trading for customers.
These developments open the door for a new generation of investors and traders. This group of new investors can avoid signing on with a large firm and paying financial advisors large commissions or fees. They can simply open the amana app on their smartphone and have direct access to an investing platform that allows them to trade and invest in stocks, ETFs, currencies, commodities, cryptocurrencies, US shares, gold, oil, indices, and many more asset classes at an affordable cost.
While they may be able to bypass gatekeepers and traditional barriers to markets, these more tech-savvy Gen-Z and Millennial investors require a particular set of tools to participate effectively in trading markets. The user-friendly experience amana offers simplifies the complex world of digital currencies and educates them about financial assets, creating a process that is as transparent as possible.
New investors need more than simply the technological capacity to place orders, they also need the ability to make informed decisions. amana insists that "Education and financial literacy are an important part of what we're trying to do," and the app integrates education into the user's process while still offering a playful and easy-to-use interface.
However, this focus on integrating new users into the investment ecosystem does not come at the expense of more experienced users. amana explains that their app "caters to both new and experienced traders." Traditional users also benefit from their unique order entry method that simplifies transactions, advanced charting, and a personalized 'For You' page with customized news. Unlike other investment apps, amana's technology has the unique capacity to connect users to seven MENA equity exchanges.
amana believes that "access to trading and investing should be a universal right, regardless of income or skill level." As such, their app is essentially democratizing investing, and in the process, promoting global equity. Along the same lines, the app offers access to 1000s of commission-free products, no additional or hidden fees, and no minimum balance required.
A year and a half after its launch, amana's online trading platform now supports more than 175k customers, and will almost certainly attract many more in the years to come as it continues to level the playing field for investors.
