Capitalise CEO and Co-Founder Shahar Rubin on Simplifying Trading Algorithms

If there is a single shared experience beginners and new traders have when entering the cryptocurrency world, it’s usually the overwhelming complexity of getting anything done. From buying their first bitcoin or conducting their first altcoin trade, newcomers are likely going to encounter several hazy areas.

While the total market size of complex blockchain-based projects continues to grow, a peripheral market for simplifying the complicated continues to follow along.

One of the promising tools that aims to simplify and empower the masses to trade is Capitalise.ai. Capitalise is offering a language-based user interface to automated trading scenarios, and integrates with a variety of third-party exchanges such as Binance and Bitmex and executes the trades for you.

For example, you’d be able to type something like “Buy $10,000 worth of Bitcoin if it reaches $15,000, but sell it if the price drops below $12,000.” and your trade would be executed if the certain criteria are met.

No coding is required and simple everyday words is all you need to start executing these trades.

We got a chance to interview Shahar Rabin, the CEO & Co-Founder of Capitalise.ai. Rabin is an engineer who has over 15 years of experience trading in traditional markets and has developed automated trading systems for the derivated markets.

Enjoy!

*Editor’s note: No matter how well you can articulate your trades, trading (especially in the cryptocurrency world) is still a very risky endeavor. Do your own research, consult with professional financial advisors, and only invest what you can afford to lose.

Can you tell us a bit about the history of Capitalise? You co-founded it in 2014, was it initially for traditional market trading, or did you always have a vision for cryptocurrencies?

Capitalise was founded in 2015 with a vision of solving everyday problems for traders in the traditional markets. Back then cryptocurrencies we’re still a niche market without much activity in it and thus, we didn’t have cryptocurrencies in mind.

How much work was it to get the trading platform off the ground? How did you get the idea for it?

The idea of creating a platform that allows you to easily automate your trading activities came as a personal necessity. My co-founder Amir and I were working on our own algo-trading shop. Development cycles take weeks and even months to be completed and we were looking for a way to reduce these time spans. From our own necessity, we’ve created what is today Capitalise. It took 3 years to get this robust trading platform off the ground. The interface is built for simplicity and the engine driving this is massive and complex.

Who is Capitalise for? Your slogan is “leverage your trading skills,” does this mean that Capitalise is not for beginners but experienced traders?

At first, we were developing this for traders like us, traders who had specific scenarios in mind and that wanted to apply them on their portfolios. However, as time went by, we discovered that pretty much anyone that wanted to engage with the markets can use our technology.

So, a novice investor who just wants to buy a $1,000 of Bitcoin can do just that, and a professional trader can write complex trading scenarios. Anyone can use this technology depending on the unique requests they will write for themselves.

How many users do you have?

We’ve just recently launched this platform, open and free for everyone to use. Although we haven’t started marketing efforts just yet, we do have several hundred of users using this today.

We are very excited to see how adoption grows when more people have the opportunity of discovering this.

What made you decide to move over to cryptocurrency markets? What cryptocurrencies will you support?

Last year we’ve seen massive growth in trading cryptocurrencies. The kind of problems we solve for traders are even bigger in the crypto trading markets.

This market never sleeps, it’s traded 24×7 and extremely volatile. All this means that a trader has to be able to react quickly to any event all the time. And that’s what made us decide to provide this technology to crypto traders.

Will customers be able to trade anything from traditional markets as well as crypto?

Sure thing. You will be able to link accounts from traditional global brokers such as “Interactive Brokers” to trade stocks, FX, etc. and link your crypto accounts from exchanges such as “Binance” to trade Bitcoin, eth, etc.

You have yet to publish a white paper. What’s the story behind that? Do you see your business model as needing your own token, your own cryptocurrency? If so, tell us briefly how that works.

Our whitepaper will soon be available on our website. In the near future, we will introduce a token. That token will be used to drive usage across all of Capitalise products, existing and future ones. More on that, at our soon to be released white paper.

How do you use artificial intelligence in your trading engine?

It’s the optimization engine that utilizes artificial intelligence, which is currently under development and will help users to optimize their trading strategies. Using big data analysis and AI algorithms, the system would be able to let the user know of better performing strategy, based on the strategy they entered.

Do you use machine learning as well? What is the difference?

Most of the machine learning development is concentrated in our language technology. The machine learning algorithms enable the language supported by the system to extend and in addition offer the user more relevant suggestions in order to help him creating a trading strategy.

How do you plan to combine blockchain technology with AI?

We have few use cases that will be developed based on the blockchain technology. One of them is the marketplace social arena.

How far along your roadmap are you? When will you be launching your crypto platform?

Actually, we already launched! Our platform is live for anyone to trade with and it’s free. For more information check out our website: www.capitalise.ai

How will you ensure that your users’ funds are safe?

It is very simple. Capitalise connects to your existing accounts in the different exchanges we support. Once you give us permission, we can trade on your behalf. We can’t however, withdrew any of your funds. So your funds remain in the exchange and are secured by the exchange. You never need to send funds to Capitalise.

How will you ensure continued uptime?

Part of the reason our technology was complex to develop is our uncompromising attitude, 24/7 accessibility is a key factor. Different servers, located in different parts of the world always act as a backup, if one server drops, another one will take his place immediately to ensure continues system uptime.

What happens if a trade happens by accident? If the trader accidentally types something or the machine misunderstands? Do you have a safety net in place?

The way our platform is designed makes a case of machine misunderstanding impossible. When you write a trading scenario, you can only write an explicit scenario. There is no way to write scenarios that don’t make sense or maybe has double meanings.

For those users who might be confused, we have a final confirmation screen that shows all your conditions written in a different way, so you can feel comfortable once you choose to run an automated scenario.

We do take care of some risky situations, for example, a user can set rules for entry, then rules for an exit, and run the whole scenario in a loop. If both the entry and exit conditions apply at the same time, it will result in a machine getting in and out of trades again and again at super speeds, which in turn drain an account just by the fact there are trading fees. For that case, we have a safety procedure that actually stops the automated procedure from running and notifies the user when it happens.

Do you think blockchain technology will lead to markets that are never closed? Are there any potential disadvantages to a 24/7 stock market scenario?

Definitely, this is the case now when it comes to crypto trading. I believe it will set a future standard for all trading assets in the future. The potential disadvantage is that we will all have to stay aware of what happens in the markets and be able to react to them 24/7. Less of an issue with our technology deployed.

What’s the biggest problem you’re solving at Capitalise?

A traders’ biggest enemy is himself. Fear, greed, and boredom are destructive to any trading plan. Our technology helps everyone to trade like a machine, leaving all emotions out of the play.

2018 has been a bear market for cryptocurrency. In your opinion, what are the best ways to make money even in a bear market? Is it possible?

Making money in declining markets is possible, one of the best ways is to use futures contracts to short the market and make money while they decline. You can trade future contracts with Bitmex, but I would only suggest doing so if you understand the risks these trading instruments hold.

2018 has also been quite the year of regulation. How has that impacted your business?

Our standards has always been high, we try to meet the strictest demands no matter where we operate. Having a business in the financial sector means we already had to face the strictest regulation. In that respect, we didn’t face a much struggle.

What is the biggest change we’re going to see over the coming years? What’s your biggest goal in life?

I think the blockchain has the potential of fundamentally changing a lot of business use cases and touch everyone. Due to that potential, I am sure we will see more and more companies, small and large, shift their focus and develop many blockchain based products. For the coming years, it will be the construction of a new world.

My personal goal is to be known for the good things I try to deliver to this industry.

When you’re not working and dreaming up new business ideas, what do you do?

Well, new ideas always pop up, being so involved, I can’t help it. But other than that, I am a father and a husband. With every free moment I have, I try to dedicate as much time to my family, which naturally, the most important thing in my life.

What advice would you give to anyone wanting to become a trader?

I would tell a person wanting to become a trader to go to an ATM, withdraw $1,000, then go to a busy street and throw that money in the air!

If you find it too painful, don’t even start. It’s a long road before you can become a successful trader, you are sure to lose a lot of money and it takes a long time to start become profitable.

Start small, trade with small amounts of funds and never jump too high too soon.

Anything else you would like our readers to know?

We have more exciting products coming soon, backtesting, marketplace, and more. So check out our website (www.capitalise.ai) to learn more. And we’d love it if you join our community!

Thank you!