The foreign exchange (FX) market never sleeps. Running 24 hours a day, it sees enormous sums traded every second across the globe. At the center of this nonstop activity, GMO Click FXneo has earned the top spot in multiple rankings as the go-to app for traders. But how does an app distill such an overwhelming flow of information onto the small screen of a smartphone while still ensuring trades are executed with speed and security? To find out, we sat down with the team behind FXneo to uncover their design philosophy and the thinking that shapes their approach.

Kentaro Matsumura | Head of Design and Advertising Operations, GMO Financial Holdings, Inc.
Kentaro began his career in 2001 at a web production company, gaining comprehensive experience across the production process, from design and development to directing and project management. In 2009, he joined Click Securities, Inc. (now GMO Click Securities, Inc.), where he has since led the design team. His scope of work extends beyond the web, encompassing TV commercials, out-of-home advertising, magazines, and radio, while also contributing to operations and marketing from a business perspective.

Chikako Sawada | UI/UX Specialist, GMO Financial Holdings, Inc.
After beginning her career in sales at a securities company, Chikako joined the newly established GMO Internet Securities, Inc. (now GMO Click Securities, Inc.), where she took on responsibilities ranging from drafting operational manuals to developing trading platforms in preparation for the company’s service launch. Since then, she has built her career around UI/UX, and today she oversees a wide range of UI/UX projects across the group companies under GMO Financial Holdings, Inc.

Tomohisa Nozawa | Designer, GMO Financial Holdings, Inc.
After gaining experience designing e-commerce sites, Tomohisa joined GMO Financial Holdings, Inc. in 2015. He is primarily involved in UI design for GMO Click Securities’ web trading platforms and smartphone apps, while also contributing to the UI design.

The Platform Behind 200 Trillion Yen in Monthly FX Trades: GMO Click FXneo

To start, could you tell us about GMO Click FXneo?

Kentaro: GMO Click FXneo is an app dedicated to over the counter FX trading offered by GMO Click Securities. FX, or foreign exchange margin trading, is the buying and selling of currencies such as the US dollar or euro with the aim of making a profit. Unlike banking or insurance services, the FX market never closes. It operates 24 hours a day, and exchange rates are always shifting.

The scale of trading on GMO Click FXneo is enormous. Monthly transactions reach about 200 trillion yen. On the busiest days, users place up to one million orders. The app has also been widely recognized, earning the top spot in the FX app category on Minkabu.

What percentage of customers trade using the app?

Chikako: Around 70 to 80 percent of all trades are now made through the app. In the past, most users relied on a PC browser, and the app offered only limited features. Today, however, the majority of activity takes place on the app, which provides a much wider range of functions. Since the market runs 24 hours a day, the ability to react quickly to market movements is likely one of the main reasons behind its popularity.

Profit Comes from Tracking Numbers and Timing

From the perspective of a financial app, which aspects do you consider most important?

Kentaro: We design the interface with a focus on the fact that the numbers are constantly changing, 24 hours a day. Our users are investors who buy and sell based on exchange rates, so how clearly those numbers are presented is crucial.

Tomohisa: One of our biggest challenges is fitting so much numerical information onto a fixed screen. Some amounts reach ten digits or over a billion yen. We can’t abbreviate or split numbers across lines, as that could lead to mistakes. We carefully adjust the placement and size of numbers to follow the natural flow of the user’s gaze. Key figures are made more prominent for easier visibility, and related numbers are arranged to clearly show their relationships.

What matters most is seeing how everything actually appears in the app. We spend a lot of time reviewing implementation with engineers and making adjustments together to ensure both accuracy and clarity.

Among your initiatives, which ones have received the most positive feedback?

Chikako: We received particularly positive feedback when we added Apple Watch support. Users can now check rates and charts and even place orders without opening the app. Because exchange rates are constantly changing, even when the app isn’t open, we focused on creating a seamless experience. Push notifications allow users to see rate changes immediately and place orders without missing the right moment.

Kentaro: Our customers are always looking for the right moment to invest, but they’re not constantly using the app. That’s why we’ve created a system that keeps them aware of market movements even when they’re doing other things. By delivering timely information and streamlining the trading process, we ensure our users can seize investment opportunities efficiently and without wasting time.

“How would this person use it?” Considering each investor’s perspective

FX and financial products are highly specialized. How do you understand domain knowledge and your customers’ needs?

Kentaro: From my experience talking with various investors, I’ve come to understand that investment styles and priorities vary widely. Some prefer short-term trades, others long-term. Some make decisions based on charts, while others focus on news to anticipate market movements. Every individual truly has a different way of thinking.

Chikako: Through my experience in securities sales, I’ve been exposed to this diversity firsthand. When designing, I picture each customer I’ve met and ask myself: “How would this person want to use the app?” or “Would this interaction be confusing for them?” By imagining a wide range of users and scenarios, I try to consider usability from multiple perspectives.

Design That Defies Convention Can Be the Best Solution

When handling such sensitive elements as customers’ assets, what considerations or design measures do you take?

Chikako: We pay close attention to the details to prevent mistakes, such as accidental taps or confusion about which areas are clickable. When buttons are placed close together, for example, we limit the tappable areas to smaller sections rather than making the entire button active. This reduces the chance of mis-taps. For features like Speed Order, which allows users to trade instantly with a single tap, we added a simple screen lock mechanism. This ensures that trades can be executed both safely and quickly.

Tomohisa: We also have to recognize that conventional interface design “rules” don’t always fit GMO Click FXneo and can sometimes even create stress for our users. For instance, soft animations when pressing a button might feel pleasant in a typical UI, but they aren’t suitable here, where speed is critical. We tested including such animations, but users found them distracting.Another common principle is to limit interactive elements on a screen to avoid confusion. For GMO Click FXneo, however, the ability to perform multiple actions quickly from a single screen is far more important. While the interface might seem dense by conventional standards, it is intentionally designed this way to meet the specific needs of our users.

Tomohisa: In this way, one of the hallmarks of GMO Click FXneo is that we often deliberately exclude design elements that are considered conventional or “correct.” I was personally interested in trends like flat design, but after considering whether users might misinterpret it, we decided not to adopt it.

Chikako: I don’t concern myself with conventional design rules at all. My focus is solely on what makes the product easy to use.

What we prioritize is that anyone can use it without confusion. Since our users have varying levels of literacy, we make sure the interface doesn’t require prior knowledge to operate. For example, if a screen could only be accessed by a “long press,” anyone unaware of that gesture wouldn’t be able to use it. To avoid this, we provide clearly visible buttons, ensuring that even users who don’t know the shortcut can navigate the app, while those who do know it can use it more efficiently.

Defending the User Experience Without Losing Sight of Business Goals

Could you share your process when making design changes or updates?

Chikako: Even for a small change, we conduct extremely thorough testing to ensure that no issues arise, as is expected of a financial institution.

Tomohisa: We create scenarios for each step of placing a trade and test across all supported devices to make sure everything works smoothly. Since we still support some older devices, our company keeps over 100 devices on hand at all times. I think the amount of testing we do is probably far more than for a typical app.

That must make adding new features even more labor-intensive.

Chikako: Yes. Most of the essential trading functions are already in place, so future work focuses mainly on “plus alpha” features. We also need to incorporate elements required by changes in financial regulations or rules. For features that don’t directly affect trading, we try to let users continue using the app without drawing unnecessary attention. For features we do want users to adopt, we make sure they notice them carefully, without disrupting the trading experience.

It seems like you need to think very carefully about how much a feature should “assert itself” in the app

Chikako: Exactly. Sometimes the business side requests that new campaigns or features be displayed prominently in the app. I approach this very cautiously. My mindset is strongly focused on protecting the current usability from the user’s perspective. We also consider promotions like banners for other products, but ultimately it’s about balance. With limited real estate in the app, deciding how to allocate it for the present and the future is genuinely challenging.

In this process, do you see yourself incorporating user feedback?

Chikako: User feedback is, of course, very valuable. But not every suggestion should be implemented. Making a change based on a single piece of feedback can disrupt the overall layout. Even a feature that works well on its own might negatively affect the overall user experience. In such cases, we decide not to adopt it.

It’s difficult, but every user is handling real money, regardless of the amount or how often they trade. Our ideal is always creating the most usable experience for all users.

For this reason, I intentionally don’t create personas for our mobile app. Using personas can make you focus only on usability for a specific user type, which might result in an app that’s harder to use for anyone outside that persona.

Protect What Needs Protecting and Embrace Change Where You Can

We’ve heard that GMO Click Securities previously offered a separate app called GMO-FX DASH, which has since been discontinued. Were there any insights or lessons you gained from that project?

Kentaro: That app was handled by a different team, so we asked the former members for their reflections and comments.

What was the goal of that product?

At the time, our goal was to create an app that reflected the latest trends in smartphone design while taking full advantage of the unique features of each operating system, iOS and Android.

Why do you think it didn’t succeed?

Although we intended to create something distinct from GMO Click FXneo, the app ended up being too product-focused, which hurt usability. Long steps to place an order, excessive scrolling, and the use of flat buttons all caused stress and made the app harder to navigate.

Kentaro: It was a valuable project, but overall the app did not receive positive feedback from customers. Combined with business considerations, it was discontinued relatively quickly. From this experience, we learned that sudden, drastic changes to design or usability are rarely effective. Gradual improvements and step-by-step refinement tend to work much better.

At the same time, there were positive takeaways. For instance, the demo screens that received positive feedback were later incorporated into GMO Click FXneo, showing that the project still offered valuable insights.

Given the delicate balance required when making design changes, are there any initiatives you hope to pursue in the future?

Kentaro: Since it’s difficult to differentiate FX as a product on its own, the app experience becomes especially important. We want users to think, “I want to use this app every day” and “It’s easy to use.” At the same time, people’s expectations and values evolve as new technologies emerge. We strive to keep a mindset of continuous innovation, rather than sticking to established methods.

Chikako: We’d also like to incorporate small touches of joy in ways that don’t interfere with trading. For example, in the past we added a feature where a rainbow would appear occasionally at the end of a loading animation. Securities apps still have a fairly serious image, so we hope to make investing feel more approachable and enjoyable for users.

Special Thanks to:

GMO Internet Group, Inc.
GMO Click FXneo – Service Page: https://www.click-sec.com/corp/guide/fxneo/
GMO Click FXneo – App Introduction Page: https://www.click-sec.com/corp/tool/fxneo_app/