Over the past few years, stock trading and investing have grown significantly in Indonesia. It only managed to happen because trading and investing have become much more convenient than ever, because now you can do it all on your phone anytime, anywhere. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities, made possible by the increasing development of the fintech industry in the country.

Mr RD, our Advisor for digital investment, shared his insights about the stock trading and investment situation in recent years in Indonesia.

How is the trading behavior of the users?

To Mr. RD’s knowledge, the general user profiles are from the age range of 25-35 years or above. He explained that the people who trade stocks are usually more mature than those who only invest in mutual funds, and he further elaborated that this is due to the fact that stock trading is way more riskier than investing, and thus people who trade stocks tend to be wiser, older, and have more money.

What is the cause behind the growth in investment in Indonesia?

According to Mr. RD, investment is still considered as a new thing in the country. There are many people who fall into scam investments, and because of that they're afraid of investing and are hesitant to put their money in it. He considered this as the biggest barrier in Indonesia's investment growth.

All the players in Indonesia are actively educating the people about doing stock trading, the importance of investing and how it works, and generally healthy financial management. They are all still pretty recent in Indonesia; for example, this is evident from how people are not yet aware that when you trade stocks, there is a possibility that you will lose money and that you need to manage the risks. This happens not just to stocks, but also to crypto and foreign exchange.

This is one of the reasons why there are currently a lot of fintech companies arising within the last few years in the country: the players see the opportunity for the market to become big in the near future.

What is the difference between traditional players and new players?

Mr. RD shared that the difference between traditional and new players are getting more and more blurred, because even traditional players or brokerages have their own applications. There, Indonesian brokerages have their own stock analyst; when trading at a traditional brokerage, they are able to give you the numbers of the stocks you can buy that week based on their analysis. That's the convenience of trading with traditional brokerages.

New players, meanwhile, are not brokerages despite having their own applications. These apps can only be used to do stock trading, and they can't give you recommendations or analysis because they are not brokerages.

Because of that, a lot of people join two types of brokerages. They join a traditional brokerage to get the analysis, but they do their trading on online trading platforms instead.

How is the crypto market in Indonesia? Do people prefer crypto rather than traditional stock trading?

Mr. RD explained that crypto was gaining a lot of attention now, especially from the younger market by virtue of crypto being part of the Web3, which incorporates concepts such as blockchain technologies and token-based economics. Due to the rising trends of NFTs on the internet, people, especially millennials, are paying more interest to crypto now more than ever.

Can people trade stocks and mutual funds as well as crypto all in the same app?

It depends, Mr. RD stated, as there isn’t an app that can do everything yet. Even though there are apps that specialize only in crypto, they can’t do stock or mutual funds trading. As far as Mr. RD knew, crypto is not yet regulated under OJK (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan), unlike the case with stocks and mutual funds, and thus companies would need separate legal paperwork. Therefore it is currently not feasible to do stocks or mutual funds trading and crypto trading in the same app.

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About Mr. RD:

Mr. RD is currently the head of product marketing in a digital investment company group. With his almost 9 years of experience in the marketing and branding industry, he is trusted for managing 2 companies that specialize in stocks and mutual funds. He is responsible for managing each company's marketing processes, including product campaigns and programs. Previously, he worked as a head of marketing strategy planning in a top beauty e-commerce company in Indonesia. He is also quite experienced as an advisor in marketing and branding.

Consulting with Mr. RD will help you define the best marketing strategy for your business. As a marketer, one of his main strengths is that he develops marketing strategies by understanding and having empathy for his customers. You can discuss it with him, which can also quickly help you identify critical areas for improvement for your company.