With the progress of smartphones and similar mobile devices, the opportunities to invest quickly and easily have been growing dynamically. This presents new and almost limitless opportunities for savings appreciation, yet at the same time it poses new risks, connected to the availability of investments into assets previously unknown to the retail market.

Data available to ZETANO broker confirms that most funds in the retail investment market have been transferred via mobiles. Number of users accessing its trading website from their mobile devices (phones, tablets) has exceeded 44%. The broker analysed data of 6,554 users collected during last three quarters of 2022.

According to the analysts' findings, desktops are preferred mostly by "early birds", while the proportion of traders using mobile devices is increasing during the day. Around 10am, the share of mobile and tablet users rises above 50%, and the number cumulates throughout the afternoon to 68% by 8pm.

Earlier scientific studies have addressed these very questions. They explore hypotheses about whether we invest more recklessly using apps on mobile devices. Are we more tolerant of risk? Can we build a better portfolio managed through our mobile phones, i.e. can we better evaluate our savings?

A team of researchers from the Leibnitz Institute for Financial Research at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main attempted to find answers to these questions, among others. In their April 2021 working paper, they came to some interesting conclusion. For example, the team of researchers found that the likelihood of investing in riskier assets via smartphones is up to a fifth higher than when using traditional channels to invest.

Investors via smart devices also have a higher tendency to less diversify their portfolios. Researchers talk about so-called "under-diversification". The researchers explain this by the fact that smartphones allow investors to monitor market information much more frequently, leading them to behave impulsively. This also implies a greater tendency to buy assets with exceptional performance, whether in a positive or negative sense. In other words, if we invest through a mobile device, we are more likely to buy assets that experience higher fluctuations in their value.

Furthermore, investor behaviour is influenced by the type of device we use to invest. We tend to be bolder on smartphones, while we invest more cautiously on other types of devices, such as desktop computers.

At the same time, however, the analysis shows that the effects of smartphone investing persist only for a few initial months. The researchers attribute this both to the experience of investing via mobile phones and to a fading effect of the initial excitement of discovering a new way of investing.

The aim of such research is not to prevent the inevitable trend where many of our activities are moving to the small mobile device we usually carry in our pockets. Rather, it is to highlight the fact that some of the seemingly positive features of smartphones can be a double-edged sword. An example may be the ability to constantly observe developments in asset markets or to buy or sell stocks, bond or commodity in a few clicks. In case of mobile phones as investment tools, it is similar to fire: it can be a good servant, yet an evil master. And we should be aware of that.

That is why ZETANO is dedicated to educating its clients as well as the market about the growing interest in trading or investing via mobile devices. For more information, please visit zetano.com.

In the second part of the study, we focus on the biggest players in the global mobile market. Since risks and opportunities of mobile investing on stock market depend not only on the mobile device itself, but also in knowledge of opportunities where and how to invest in the dynamic market, we have ranked the world's most prominent companies in this sector according to several aspects.

First of all, we are interested in market capitalisation, and therefore liquidity in the market, and the associated economic results and other financial indicators.[1]

However, it is also interesting to compare mobile device manufacturers by production volume.

Finally, we also offer a close look at the composition of users by mobile device brand in a sample of six and a half thousand users of our licensed investment company.

We wish you an inspiring reading!

[1] Following exchange rates were used in the study:1 HKD = 0,13 USD, 1 KRW = 0,0008 USD, 1 JPY = 0,0078 USD, 1 RMB = 0,15 USD