Ever since the financial crisis, people have become more risk averse. Nirvana Systems through its new product, OmniVest, is addressing the need of active traders to continue playing in the market with managed strategies delivered online.
OmniVest is a fully automated user-driven investment system that uses the software-as-a-service (SAAS) model. It enables users to make informed decisions and implement multiple trading strategies, using historical performances. Users can opt for subscriptions to the company’s acclaimed strategies, which are then combined to form a portfolio of strategies. Some of its highly acclaimed strategies include the RTM7, the T3 Strategy Suite and the NSP-41 strategy, which have consistently beaten the market every year since 2000.
It is the combined power of a portfolio of such strategies that forms the basis of the automated trading system. This new product keeps the user or investor in the drivers seat, letting them configure the trading account for growing investments, while enforcing counter-risk strategies.
Founded by Ed Downs in 1987, Ed is an engineer by training and had specialized in Design Automation. This interest in automation led him to experiment with the stock and options markets and ultimately start the company to develop automated trading technology solutions for individual investors and brokers.
Its flagship products include OmniTrader and VisualTrader trading platforms as well as the MarketScans software. The underlying dominant theme for the company’s products and development efforts has been to help traders make more money in less time with less effort.
However, the 2008 market decline was a particularly traumatic experience for the company. The reduction in trading volumes led to a dramatic rise in cost of sales and increased competition. This pushed the company to reinvent itself and that is what has ultimately led to the OmniVest product.
The product was released as a paid beta to its customer base in October 2012. Since then, the company has sold $1.2 million in subscriptions. The subscription includes an automation program called The Trade Processor which allows subscribers to connect the product to their live brokerage accounts.
Their competitors include companies that provide ‘Mirror Trading’ in non-broker individual investor accounts, such as Currensee as well as companies that provide strategies for rent, like Collective2 and The Machine. Of these, The Machine is the only competitor that offers a portfolio of strategies.
Ed maintains that their approach is quite different from that of The Machine and that its users find the returns from their product superior to those from The Machine. A recent survey conducted in May 2013 by the company showed that over 80% of the respondents were making money and the average annual rate of return was 56%.
The company completed OmniVest as a “Minimum Viable Product” in March 2013 and is now enhancing it with more strategies. To accelerate revenue growth and complete its transition from a trading software company to a software-as-a-service company, they are looking to partner with brokers. OmniVest generates revenue for brokers by automatically trading the user’s selected strategies, day after day, with no further input required.
The need of the hour in the trading sector is to innovate and provide solutions that address important current issues. And OmniVest strives to deliver by leveraging brokers’ existing customer bases to increase trade volumes and commission revenues, offering low-risk trading strategies.
SAAS Photo via Shutterstock
Aira Bongco
I think that this is a great way of automating the trading system. I never believed that automation can work. For me, the idea of it working means that trading involves some form of pattern or algorithm. But my doors are not closed to the idea that this might actually work given the high percentage of users making money with it.
ed pierce
Trading has so many ups and downs to it that the automation software has got to be more than on top of things, it has to be ahead of the game itself.
As with any trading automation software, it is not entirely fool-proof. You still have to read up financial news and know what’s happening around the world that can affect stock prices.
Sramana,
A good overview on trading automation. I do have some views on automation…
I have dug deeper into trading automation a few years back – I follow some of the most prolific system of their times – and learn that of many, only a select few which are able to consistently beat the system.
Indeed, the market is somewhat predictable, but using historical data and comprehensive trading patterns doesn’t mean that you trading will 100% profitable. What about the X-factor – e.g. bubble burst, stock market collapse, etc. – which the systems are unable to predict? They are almost-guaranteed to lose investors money.
Financial education is paramount. Systems can give you leverage and helping you to get results – but again, using systems – automated or not – doesn’t mean you don’t have to understand investing/trading.
My 2 cents.
Mike Dancy
A close friend of mine developed his own trading software about 15 years ago and he’s been on a roll ever since. His cottage was just featured in a magazine as one of the top ten vacation homes in our area. It’s amazing what technology can do but you still need to have a good understanding of the market before getting into it.