Twitter Makes Its Mark on City Trading

Communication is clearly the life blood of any trading organisation, you only have to ask anyone in the city to realise this. It is vital for them to have open channels of communication with others and be connected to the latest business information. This information tends to come from a great deal of sources, including mediums such as press releases, business statements, cable news channels and many more. However, because the world of finance often moves faster than a speeding bullet, traders need to get the latest information from a wide variety of sources, and they need it now. The social media platform Twitter is now a tool that is being used by many traders to keep up with business knowledge according to the National Australia Bank (NAB).

Twitter is a micro-blog tool that works by people uploading 'tweets' which are of 160 characters or less. This keeps the ‘tweets’ short and concise, “which is what traders like” says Henry Allan of the London Lite Trading Group. Users within a certain niche, such as the Beacon sector, can follow other Twitter members who they want to receive updates from, and can themselves be followed.

In the modern world of city trading where companies world in global markets, people from various different countries, sectors and time zones need to have easy communication channels. Twitter provides a central platform for people within different niches or medias to communicate instantly and en masse, allowing them to remain up to speed with latest news and events.

There have been some groups that have frowned upon the use of Twitter as they say it has potential to be a portal for insider trading as messages can be sent privately. Although supporters such as this cable ties business are quick to point out that this was always possible via email and the real power comes from the ability to alert hundreds of thousands of people publically, which of course can be monitored for underhanded dealings if necessary