Comprehensive QA for Trading Systems and Financial Applications

Test Trading Software the Right Way With QASource’s Testing Experts

Protect your software against the highs and lows of the stock market by partnering with us for end-to-end testing of your trading application.

Why Is Trading Software Testing Important?

Trading systems are complex interconnected entities that are comprised of multiple services and subsystems. The failure of any single part can lead the entire system to crash.

Our engineers use real-life trading use cases to test the various dependencies and ensure that all integrated pieces work together as per requirements.

Since trading software involves a large number of financial transactions, it becomes necessary to ensure that the application is secure, performs accurately at peak hours, and functions smoothly on any device. The testing trading software will ensure that the speed, security, performance, and overall functionality satisfy the user’s requirements.

What We Focus on While Testing Trading Apps

QA engineers face multiple challenges while testing trading apps due to the complex nature of trading software. Some of the key areas we focus on while testing these apps include:

  • Testing multiple gateways and interfaces for the multiple systems that work together
  • Managing multiple APIs and Micro-services
  • Creating complex trading scenarios that show real-time trading
  • Building and maintaining domain competence
  • Testing network performance issues
  • Ensuring third-party app integrations do not adversely affect existing trading systems
  • Ensuring the app follows all security compliance regulations
  • Testing existing legacy applications
  • Latency level and SLA’s performance issues

When We Test Trading Applications, We Look at the Following Aspects:

  • Trading windows

    Set up trading windows for designated employees to trade securities

  • APEX Integration

    Check integration with SOAP and REST web services

  • Alternative Asset Classes

    Understand how underlying assets can drive cash flow

  • Trade Allocations

    Ensure regulatory procedures are followed to avoid scrutiny

  • Trade Setup

    Set up trade in accordance with the market conditions

  • EMS (Execution Management System)

    Ensure that trading EMS displays the correct market data

  • OMS (Order Management System)

    Track lifecycle processes like order status, inventory management, fulfillment

  • Portfolio Analysis

    Review security or product portfolio in the business

  • Decomposition and Aggregations

    Proper measurement and aggregation of trade costs for policy-making

  • VAR (Value at Risk)

    Calculate possible financial losses within a portfolio

  • Basket/Sector Trading

    Set up baskets for traders to focus on target asset classes

  • Spreads

    Support simultaneous purchase and sale of related securities as a unit

QASource Can Provide You With Trading Software Testing Services if Your Program Requires

  • End to End Trading flows
  • Trafix Integration
  • Market Data Integration
  • Clearing, Custody, and Fund Administration Integration
  • Order Management System
  • Trading Life Cycle
  • Portfolio Management
  • APEX Integration's & Certifications
  • Order Routing & Execution
  • Positions Management

Our Portfolio of Work

With more than 24 years of experience working with brokerages and clients dealing with trading software, our testing experts have developed a deep understanding of their business models and testing needs to effectively strategize QA processes. Mentioned below are some of the portfolios we have worked on:

Portfolio Strategies

  • Bond Laddering
  • Fixed Income
  • Optimizing Portfolio Returns
  • Discount Bond Investing
  • Barbell Investing
  • Risk/Yield Rebalancing

Trade Processing

  • Market Venue Integration
  • Payment Integration and Verification
  • Order Routing and Execution Management
  • Trade Validation and Confirmation
  • Clearing and Settlement
  • Portfolio Statements

Portfolio Management

  • Asset Management
  • Granular Profit and Loss
  • Risk Management
  • Reporting
  • Positions Management

QASource's Trading Application Testing

At QASource, our engineers use proven trading application testing techniques to deliver successful releases for our customers. We provide the following services:

Failure Recovery Testing

In case of software, hardware, or operator failures, our QE teams validate recovery scenarios and have destructive tests as part of the test suite. Destructive tests, like unplugging the connection cable in the middle of a transaction, are followed by validating all recovery procedures where the team makes sure that there is a specified rule for recovering from every type of failure, settling the transaction in the system correctly, and maintaining data integrity and customer trust.

Testing Conversions

Similar to testing decimals, we use live market data feeds to compare the accuracy of the result with real-world calculations.

Security Testing

Each day financial applications deal in millions of transactions worth of cash or commodities. A single security breach can result in severe long-term damage to a firm’s financial stability and customer trust. Hence, we verify authorization mechanisms, encryption of personally identifiable information, security policy compliance, and other key security testing approaches.

Performance and Stress Testing

If your trading software or mobile application fails to handle a large number of users during peak hours or season, it can result in timeout failures, resulting in heavy financial losses.

To avoid such situations, we validate timeout settings of essential services to avoid surprises in live environments, and also implement soak testing for our clients to test the product’s reliability and ensure that the system can withstand a high volume of usage for a continuous period.

Automation

Financial applications are generally data-intensive, involving complex calculations and conversions in their scenarios. Hence we integrate the automated tests with the product’s CI process to ensure automated verification of features on every release and automate P0/P1 test cases alongside manual testing by identifying key areas that need to be automated first.

Moreover, we ensure that all the automated tests are orchestrated as part of the CI pipeline to guarantee a complete end-to-end automated test coverage before every build cycle.

Trading Domain Case Study

Mobile Testing The Problem

One of the end-users experienced a slow application, which repeatedly kept freezing since they left the application idle for prolonged periods in between transactions.

Mobile Testing The Solution

We investigated this issue and found that the memory utilization of the application increased when the user left the application in an idle state. When we had multiple users in the application going to the idle state, it rendered the application unresponsive. So, to prevent this, we came up with an approach of Memory leak testing using automation and monitoring tools to catch and fix such issues from going to production.

Are You Ready To Take Your Trading Software Testing to the Next Level?

Let’s Talk.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes testing trading software critical?

Trading systems are complicated, interconnected entities comprising several services and subsystems. The failure of any single component could cause the system to collapse. Testing trading software will ensure that it meets user needs regarding financial risks, regulatory compliance, data correctness testing, speed, security, performance, and overall functionality.

What are the challenges in testing trading applications?

  • The Complex nature of trading software
  • Strong domain expertise
  • Real-time nature
  • Security
  • Test Tooling/Framework
  • Market data integration within the system
  • Order data matching, execution, and tracking, in short, order management

What types of testing are essential for trading applications?

  • Functional Testing
  • Performance Testing
  • Security Testing
  • Usability Testing
  • API Testing
  • Regression Testing
  • Compliance Testing

How does QASource ensure the security of a trading application?

  1. Security Testing Approaches: We use automated and manual security testing techniques to find vulnerabilities.
  2. Industry-Leading Tools: We use cutting-edge security testing tools to conduct vulnerability assessments. These tools can detect numerous vulnerabilities, including SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and unsafe data storage.
  3. Penetration testing: We can mimic cyberattacks to find exploitable gaps in the application's security posture.
  4. Security Expertise: We keep abreast of the newest hacking techniques and developing security risks.
  5. Regulation Adherence: We ensure the application complies with all security compliance laws.

How much does trading software testing cost?

The cost of trading software testing depends on software complexity, required testing types, testing balance, security testing, regulatory compliance, project duration, team size, testing tools, and technologies used. QASource provides customized testing solutions that are cost-effective without compromising on quality or security. Clients receive a tailored estimate based on their unique needs and requirements.