A Broker’s 2026 Platform Plan: 12 Questions to Ask Before You Launch or Upgrade
A Broker’s 2026 Platform Plan: 12 Questions to Ask Before You Launch or Upgrade¶
Launching a new trading platform (or upgrading existing trading software) is one of those decisions that looks like “just tech” from the outside — but it quietly touches everything: conversion, retention, risk management, compliance, liquidity, support load, and your ability to focus on growing your business.
2026 adds extra pressure. In the EU, DORA is already in force (operational resilience expectations are no longer optional). If you offer crypto or plan a multi-asset setup that includes digital assets, MiCA timelines matter too. In the UK, the Consumer Duty raised the bar for how retail products and services are designed and monitored.
This article is a practical checklist: 12 questions you can use to evaluate a powerful trading platform, customize the platform safely, and reduce “unknown unknowns” before go-live.
How to use these 12 questions¶
- Use them early (before you lock the scope). The cheapest time to fix platform gaps is before you sign and build.
- Ask for evidence (screens, sample reports, API docs, incident-response process, sample audit logs) — not just “yes, we have it.”
- Treat every “we can build it later” as a risk item with timeline, cost, and owner.
Trading experience & product fit¶
1) What trading experience are we actually building — and for whom?
A platform can be user-friendly for beginners and still support professional trading, but only if you’re clear on the target flow.
Ask:
- What is the “happy path” from signup → funded account → first trade → repeat trade?
- What does the platform provide for power users (shortcuts, advanced charting, hotkeys, templates) without overwhelming new traders?
- Can we segment UI and permissions by trading accounts (retail vs pro, region, KYC tier)?
Red flags:
- One UI for everyone, no role-based UX.
- “We’ll redesign later” with no UX ownership.
Keywords to map internally: trading experience, trading environment, user-friendly, professional trading.
2) Does the platform support the order logic we need today — and tomorrow?
“Multiple order types” is easy to claim and hard to implement correctly across asset classes.
Ask:
- Which multiple order types are supported natively (market, limit, stop, stop-limit, trailing stop, OCO, time-in-force, partial fills)?
- How are re-quotes, slippage, and rejected orders surfaced to the user and to support?
- Can traders create and manage orders across devices (web + mobile app) with consistent behavior?
Why it matters: Advanced trading is often less about fancy widgets and more about dependable order behavior under real-time conditions.
3) Can we offer a consistent, secure mobile trading experience?
For many brokers, the mobile app becomes the “primary front-end” even when the web platform is the original focus. Security expectations for mobile are also getting more explicit across the industry (and attackers love mobile and APIs).
Ask:
- Do we have full-feature parity across mobile applications and web (or a clear “mobile-first” scope)?
- What’s the approach to secure storage, session handling, device binding, and update cadence?
- Are you aligned with common mobile security risk categories (e.g., OWASP Mobile Top 10)?
Red flags:
- Mobile is a wrapper of the web front-end with fragile auth.
- Long release cycles (security fixes delayed for weeks).
4) How customizable is the platform — without breaking upgrades?
“Customizable” should mean more than changing colors. A broker needs a way to customize the platform safely: workflows, instrument lists, disclosures, risk messaging, and sometimes region-specific rules.
Ask:
- What is configurable vs custom-coded?
- Can we customize the platform with feature flags and role-based settings (per region, per instrument group)?
- What happens to customizations during updates? Who owns regression testing?
A good answer includes: a configuration layer, versioning, and a clean upgrade path (no “forked” platform that traps you).
Markets: FOREX / CFD / CRYPTO / asset classes¶
5) Which asset classes are truly supported — end to end?
A “multi-asset” label can hide big gaps. Supporting an asset class means more than showing a price.
Ask:
- Are forex, CFDs, crypto (or a crypto exchange setup), commodity instruments, or ETFs in scope — and which are live vs roadmap?
- For each asset class: what changes in pricing, swaps/financing, corporate actions, trading hours, and risk checks?
- Can we restrict instruments by jurisdiction and client classification?
If you’re mixing forex trading + CFDs + digital asset flows, don’t accept vague answers. Each has different operational and compliance edges.
6) Can we handle product rules that regulators already expect?
Even if you’re not in the EU/UK, these frameworks shape market expectations and partner requirements.
Examples you should be able to implement quickly:
- Leverage limits and standardized risk warnings for CFDs (where applicable). ESMA’s CFD intervention measures included leverage limits and standardized risk warnings, and introduced protections such as negative balance protection and margin close-out concepts.
- If you serve UK retail: Consumer Duty expects firms to act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers (and monitor them).
Ask:
- How fast can we update risk warnings, leverage caps, margin logic, and disclosures — without a full release cycle?
- Do we have a complete audit trail of what the customer saw and accepted?
7) If we offer crypto: are we ready for MiCA-era expectations?
MiCA applies in phases (stablecoin-related rules from 30 June 2024, broader crypto-asset and service provider requirements from 30 December 2024).
Ask:
- Can the platform separate regulated vs non-regulated offerings clearly in the UX?
- How do you handle safeguarding, complaints, and incident workflows for digital assets?
- Do we support Travel Rule–style data handling where applicable (FATF guidance addresses the Travel Rule in the virtual asset context)?
Even if you outsource parts of crypto operations, your trading platform and back office still need clean separation, logs, and customer communication.
Liquidity & technology stack¶
8) How do you connect technology and liquidity — and prove execution quality?
“Liquidity” isn’t just a provider list. It’s pricing, routing, latency, rejection handling, and transparency.
Ask:
- Do we support real-time pricing with clear timestamps and source tagging?
- How do we measure execution quality (slippage distribution, reject rates, fill ratios)?
- Do we have VWAP or similar metrics where relevant to your model (and at least the raw data to compute them)?
If you operate in a best-execution regime, build for reporting agility. MiFID II best-execution reporting has evolved, and requirements can change; your stack needs flexibility rather than one-off reports.
9) What APIs exist — and are they secure by design?
Modern broker operations depend on API-first connectivity: payments, KYC, CRM, reporting, liquidity bridges, mobile, analytics. That’s also where most integration failures (and security issues) happen.
Ask:
- What APIs exist (public + internal), and what’s the auth model (scopes, rotation, rate limiting)?
- Do you support FIX API where it makes sense for your model (and how do you manage sessions, sequencing, recovery)? FIX standards are maintained openly by the FIX Trading Community.
- Do you use OWASP guidance for API security (e.g., OWASP API Security Top 10)?
Also ask the uncomfortable question: “Show us your last penetration test summary (sanitized).” A mature vendor will have a process.
10) Is the tech stack operationally resilient — in a DORA world?
In the EU, DORA has been applicable since 17 January 2025, setting expectations around ICT risk management, incident reporting, and resilience testing for in-scope firms.
Ask:
- What are your RPO/RTO targets, and how are they tested?
- How do you detect incidents, escalate, and communicate with clients?
- Can we run active-active or at least have credible failover?
Even outside the EU, many partners (banks, PSPs, liquidity providers) increasingly expect DORA-like discipline.
Operations, back office & risk management tools¶
11) Can we run the business day-to-day from the back office — without spreadsheets?
Your platform isn’t only the trading front-end. It’s also a workflow engine for operations.
Ask:
- What does the back office / back-office cover: onboarding, KYC status, account states, limits, tickets, IB structures, reporting?
- Can support teams see a complete timeline (customer actions + system actions) with searchable logs?
- Can we create and manage trading accounts (multiple accounts per client, sub-accounts, currency wallets) with clean permissions?
If the answer is “use our admin panel + export CSV,” plan for operational pain.
12) Do risk management tools match our risk tolerance — in real time?
Risk management is where “advanced trading technologies” meet reality. You need controls that work at speed.
Ask:
- What risk management tools exist at account and book level (exposure limits, instrument blocks, trading halts, max orders, max notional, leverage caps)?
- Do we have real-time margin monitoring and clear stop-out logic?
- Can we run watchlist-driven surveillance (symbols, accounts, behaviors) and alert on thresholds?
If you offer CFDs, ensure your controls can support protections and disclosures that regulators have already pushed into the market (e.g., margin close-out concepts and negative balance protection in relevant regimes).
Fintech business model & monetization¶
13) (Bonus framing) How does the platform support our revenue streams — without harming retention?
This isn’t a “feature.” It’s how you avoid building a platform that grows volume but bleeds trust.
Ask:
- Which revenue streams are in scope (spread, commission, swaps/financing, subscriptions, data, premium tools)?
- Can pricing be configured by client segment and instrument group transparently?
- Do we have analytics that connect trading behavior to churn, complaints, and support load?
Tie this back to business needs: the best all-in-one platform is the one that lets you focus on growing your business — not firefighting.
(If you want to keep it strictly at 12, treat this as the business lens for questions #1–12.)
Deposits & withdrawals: don’t treat payments like an afterthought¶
Where brokers often get surprised is not trading — it’s money movement.
Ask:
- What payment methods are supported and how do we reconcile them?
- How are failed deposits, chargebacks, and reversals handled in the back office?
- What’s the authentication model around sensitive actions?
In the EU, strong customer authentication (SCA) under PSD2 has been in force since 14 September 2019, and it shaped how payment flows and step-up authentication are designed.
The simplest way to de-risk your 2026 platform decision¶
Before you build a platform from scratch — or commit to a major upgrade — ask for a short, concrete pack:
- A list of supported asset classes and order types (what’s live vs roadmap)
- API documentation (including FIX API if relevant), plus security posture summary
- Back-office workflow demo (onboarding → deposits and withdrawals → support case → reporting)
- Risk management controls demo (real-time margin monitoring, limits, alerts)
- Resilience and incident-response overview (DORA-ready discipline)
If you’d like, reach out to ScaleTrade — we’ll help you turn these 12 questions into a practical requirements document and a scoring matrix you can use to compare options without guesswork.