In the first article in this series, I argued that Consumer Duty and the FCA’s work on Digital Engagement Practices marked the end of gamified trading as a growth strategy.

That shift leaves product leaders facing a more fundamental challenge: how to create engagement that is sustainable and regulator-ready.

In this second piece, we explore how Trading Intelligence provides a clear answer to this question. By embedding AI-assisted research, explainable insights, and professional-grade analytics directly into the trading experience, investment platforms can drive deeper, more sustained engagement. Platforms that become the primary place where users develop understanding and conviction achieve meaningful competitive differentiation and, over time, capture a greater share of wallet. 

The Engagement Challenge

Investment Platforms have become much better at driving sign‑ups and first trades, but keeping customers engaged in a considered, repeatable way is still a major challenge. 

Too many accounts drift into dormancy not because customers are disinterested, but because the experience fails to give them a clear reason to return. 

For years, the industry relied on the "gamification" playbook to solve this. And we know it worked for driving volume – FCA research confirmed that digital engagement practices (DEPs) like flashing prices significantly increased time-in-app. However, the regulator also found these techniques pushed users toward higher-risk positions, making them incompatible with the new Consumer Duty outcomes. 

This creates a genuine gap. Platforms cannot rely on the old tricks and need a new way forward because lack of engagement destroys unit economics. A large stock of dormant accounts drags down Lifetime Value (LTV) and makes it impossible to demonstrate fair value.

How Trading Intelligence Drives Sustained Engagement

Trading Intelligence is the ecosystem that delivers this standard. It gives investment platforms the raw material to build engagement that is commercially effective and regulator-ready.

Access to Institutional-Grade Analytics

Engagement starts with value differentiation. The most successful platforms are evolving from purely providing market access to becoming comprehensive research hubs. Trading Intelligence accelerates this evolution by democratising the full professional toolkit, giving the average DIY investor access not just to raw institutional data, but to the sophisticated analytics and workflows previously ring-fenced for professional trading desks. 

By combining pre-loaded institutional data (such as fundamentals from S&P Global and news sentiment from RavenPack) with accessible, pro-grade analysis tools, you significantly enhance the user's view of the market. You aren't just showing prices; you are revealing the drivers behind them. This empowers users to perform granular health checks and separate genuine signal from social media noise. It completes the investment journey, ensuring your platform is the destination for the entire lifecycle of a trade – from researching a new opportunity to executing the final order. 

Interactive Research Through AI-Assisted Exploration

Business Intelligence (BI) dashboards are essential for showing users what is happening in the market, but the deepest engagement comes when users can move from observation to interrogation. Trading Intelligence unites these two worlds: the dashboard provides the visual context, while the embedded AI Assistant (Co-pilot) allows users to explore that data in plain English. 

By working in unison, BI and AI allow users to spot a trend on the dashboard and immediately ask, 'Why is sentiment negative?' or 'What is driving this move?' receiving an instant, cited answer. This synergy turns a viewing session into an interactive research workflow, keeping users on the platform longer as they explore ideas rather than just consuming headlines. 

Relevant and Contextual Alerts

Real engagement starts with relevance. Instead of broadcasting generic headlines ("Apple is down 2%"), Trading Intelligence uses real-time watchlists to deliver contextual alerts ("Your portfolio's risk profile is shifting due to a sentiment drop in the semiconductor sector"). This prompts the user not just to consume content, but to actively review their positions based on material data.

Conviction Through Explainability

Every insight delivered through Trading Intelligence is transparent by design. When a screen surfaces a potential opportunity or risk, users can explore the underlying drivers (such as changes in fundamentals, flows, or sentiment) and see how those factors contribute to the insight. Explainability is delivered through the way insights are structured and presented, linking high-level views to the underlying data, context, and sources within a single workflow.

This transparency builds conviction in a way that is both sustainable and appropriate. Rather than asking users to act on unexplained prompts, Trading Intelligence helps them understand why something matters, so decisions are grounded in evidence rather than impulse. In doing so, it distinguishes Trading Intelligence from black-box recommendation engines and supports deeper engagement that aligns with user confidence, platform responsibility, and regulatory expectations.

Personalised Horizons Through Flexible Analysis Windows

Engagement fails when the data does not match the user’s intent. A short‑term trader and a medium‑term investor need different lenses. Trading Intelligence allows users to toggle analysis windows (from 1 week to 3 months) so insights align with their time horizon and strategy. This keeps engagement relevant, whether the user is monitoring active positions or reviewing ideas for their longer‑term portfolio.

From Better Engagement to Better Outcomes

For investment platforms, the commercial implications of this shift are clear. When users develop a consistent research habit, they return to the platform for the right reasons: building understanding, managing risk more appropriately, and acting with greater confidence.

Over time, investors naturally consolidate their assets where they do their thinking, not just their trading. Platforms that deliver superior intelligence therefore earn a greater share of wallet, not through promotion or prompts, but through relevance and trust.

The direction of travel is clear. Engagement that cannot be explained or justified will come under increasing pressure. Engagement that is transparent, traceable, and rooted in intelligence will define the next generation of winning investment platforms. 

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To explore how Trading Intelligence could support engagement on your platform, book a conversation with the Engine AI team.