Lightyear strengthens DIY data offering with new financial tools

Lightyear strengthens data offering with new financial analysis tools and launches fractional limit orders for US stocks

• Investment platform Lightyear rolls out candlestick charts to widen its offer of financial analysis tools further.
• This comes alongside the launch of fractional limit orders for US stocks to give users more flexibility and control over their investing activities.
• Lightyear also adds 18 new metrics for financial analysis of stocks and funds.
• Investors can now engage with valuation, financial strength, management effectiveness and growth data of companies,

Today, investment platform Lightyear rolls out candlestick charts for extended financial analysis and announces the launch of fractional limit orders of US stocks to enable automated and precise portfolio weightings. Lightyear also announces 18 new financial analysis metrics, bolstering the data offering for European investors.

Building upon its extensive array of analysis tools, Lightyear introduces candlestick charts to its platform. These charts offer a visually intuitive depiction of price movement over a designated time frame. Each candlestick illustrates the opening, high, low, and closing prices, empowering investors to swiftly discern market sentiment and identify prevailing trends. These charts serve as valuable indicators of potential shifts in market direction or trend reversals. By recognizing these patterns, investors can make astute decisions regarding the opportune moments to enter or exit points for trades.

Lightyear also announces the launch of fractional limit orders for US stocks. Previously investors could set limit orders for whole stocks – but with fractional shares available on the platform, not every customer was able to utilise the limit order feature. Now, an investor can set a limit order to buy or sell 0.5 shares of a stock at a specific price. This allows investors to have more control over their investments and potentially execute them at their desired prices, giving them more flexibility and control over their investing activities.

Lightyear users have long praised the platform for its data and access to company/fund financials. The launch today of 18 new metrics further strengthens this for investors across Europe to have all the information they need at their fingertips. Company valuation, financial strength, management effectiveness and growth rates have been added to help users get a deeper understanding of performance.

Valuation data gives investors an indication on if a company is overvalued or undervalued, or is expected to have high or low growth rates in the future. Metrics include price to earnings, revenue and cash flow as well as forward and five year dividend yield. Financial strength data measures a company’s ability to pay off its debts and continue operating profitably, using long term debt to equity, total debt to equity and dividend payout ratios. Management effectiveness metrics – return on assets and equity – measure how well a company’s management team creates value for that company in relation to the rest of the industry, whilst growth metrics such as revenue change and earnings per share growth, measure investments over different time periods and use results to estimate future growth of companies.

Jani Kiilunen, Product Lead at Lightyear, says: “Lightyear’s goal is to help people in Europe become better investors. That starts with access, which we achieved almost two years ago, but it’s also achieved by giving people the data, tools and products that enable smart financial decisions and the ability to build wealth over time. Many of our customers are advanced investors, which is why the new tools and metrics we’re launching today are also essential to support them in building their investment strategies.”