Multi-Asset Platform
Reimaginined trading with multi-asset access and AI support
CMC Markets is a London-listed global online trading platform providing retail and institutional clients access to leveraged products including CFDs, spread betting, and FX across multiple asset classes.
Problem
Customer acquisition costs had climbed to roughly £600 per new client by 2023. Yet fewer than a third were still actively trading after three months.
After the friction of sign-up (KYC and other checks), the customers disengaged once inside the platform. The issue wasn’t in sign-up. It was in the product experience itself.
Early investigation revealed structural issues:
Built over a decade ago, optimised for capability over clarity.
Features were continuously added, rarely removed - complexity compounded.
Product changes were driven by internal priorities, not validated customer insight.
The result: a powerful platform that demanded too much effort to understand - especially for newer or time-poor traders.
Customer Problem
New customers find the platform overwhelming
CMC's competitor offerings had better user experience
There was a lack of assets available to trade (CFD only)
Business Problem
The FCA were getting more stringent with high risk, high margin trading like CFDs
The platform technology was cumbersome and not suited to quick implementation of new features
There was no clearly defined value proposition which made it difficult to market to customers
Approach
What I did
Facilitated journey mapping workshops with IDEO + internal squads.
Defined a scalable component library and density tokens.
Prototyped “Amplify” - an AI assistant for pre-trade risk awareness.
Validated flows with 12 traders (5 institutional, 7 retail).
Documented design rationale
Interviews
Conducting user interviews were essential to allow a deep understanding of the project direction and to identify a value proposition for the product. The interview script had 20-30 open-ended questions with the team focusing on our target audience's values, motivations and trading strategies.
In 3 months we interviewed 100+ users and referenced interview findings throughout the design steps.
IDEO session
User research
User interviews
UX research
Information architecture analysis
Information architecture analysis
Core insights
1
The product's initial hypothesis was invalidated. Building a new platform that has access to more asset classes is not enough.
Our research suggests that additional assets, even at market parity fee structures or less, will not be a meaningful differentiator that compels high-value traders to shift their portfolios to us.
2
The majority of people who trade have limited time.
Their complex, fragmented workflow is in place so they can use the tools that allow them to get the most done, quickly. This dynamic is seen across all asset classes and is consistent across the UK, US and Australia.
Given more time, traders would place many more trades.
3
The product differentiation sits beyond what CMC offers and answers why traders choose CMC - whatever they trade. It anchors in opening new revenue streams and enabling CMC to compete in a different part of the value chain.
The value proposition is about offering new trading intelligence rather than more assets.
User types identified through research and target market choice.
Decisions
Quick Trade Builder - Unified order size, type, stops/limits with live risk + margin preview in a single panel
Amplify AI Assistant - Surfaced exposure risks, alternative strategies, and post-trade analysis insights
Compact / Dense Mode - Designed for professional multi-screen environments
Introduced modular multi-asset architecture for future expansion
UI design
UI design: Amplify Initial Prototype
UI design: Amplify Initial Prototype
Fixed layout iteration
Fixed layout library
Automated trading journal
AI-generated smart insights
Result
Customer test NPS increased from 35 → 59
Internal stakeholder alignment +38% (surveyed post-workshops)
100% of MVP milestones delivered on time
Strong validation for multi-asset expansion roadmap
Takeaways
Confidence beats speed in trading platforms
AI must enhance judgment, not replace it
Density and clarity must coexist in professional tools
Early co-design between disciplines (design, business and engineering) accelerates adoption of bold changes
