If you are looking at or analyzing your investment data, it is now table stakes that the data be accurate, secure, and immediate. The next level of differentiation is connection persistence. Whether you're an individual investor or an app developer looking to attract signups or investors, it is becoming increasingly paramount to have the freshest data possible — stale data is the enemy of the investor looking to make informed decisions.
The Value of Connection Persistence
There are several different ways that you can define connection persistence. At its simplest, connection persistence ensures that your data is always as accurate and timely as possible. Increased connection persistence means that you don't have the overhead of having to constantly establish and tear down data requests. This can lead to more efficient use of network resources and better performance, including faster response times, lower latency and reduced network traffic..
How Persistent Connections Create More Data Freedom
SnapTrade has made strides in extending connection persistence to investment data at the source (brokerages) to allow for investment experiences that are the most responsive on the market. Here's a look at some of the ways that this improved connection persistence helps apps and users:
Less Data Maintenance
Taking advantage of more persistent connections means that data doesn't need to be manually uploaded over and over again. Instead, data syncs when users are offline. This is a major selling point for app developers wanting to optimize performance, both in terms of latency as well as reduced network traffic.
Improved Portfolio Analytics
Longer connection persistence allows developers to create products that can access and quickly compare data from multiple sources. This can open up entirely new ways of engaging users. One of the biggest complaints from many users accessing investment information is stale data — how can you truly analyze a portfolio when many of the connections have outdated information? A truly persistent connection allows users to make informed and accurate investment decisions.
Better User Experience
Another pain point identified by many investors and app users is having to constantly authenticate and reconnect their connections to various brokerages and investment accounts. While security is paramount, most users want to set up their connections one time, and then trust their API providers to securely manage the connection going forward. SnapTrade's persistent API connection allows app developers to provide a better user experience.
What Developers Can Do with Longer Brokerage Connections
Longer connections allow developers to build applications that can better interact with users' investment accounts. In addition to a better user experience, less data maintenance and improved analytics, it also opens up a few other things for developers:
Build automated trading use-cases
The stock market moves at a near-instantaneous speed — long gone are the days where you would have to call your stockbroker to make a trade. Users today expect their trade requests to be filled automatically, and longer API connections can help support that. Having a user's data refreshed in the background, even if the user is not actively using the application, opens up the opportunity to trade automatically, based on a user's stated criteria.
Create Real-Time Products
Another enhancement that can be added is the ability to create products that are delivered as soon as a user logs in. This is because the application can work via API even when users are logged off (as long as the connection remains open). We live in a world that expects real-time and instant response times — as soon as a user opens their app, they expect real-time results, not a spinning circle while data loads.
Summary
Data must be accurate, secure and immediate — the new differentiator is the persistence that comes from improved data connections. Any use case that wants to work with the API while the user is not at the keyboard will benefit from longer connections.
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