Making a Billion-Rand Trading Platform Foolproof
Introduction
Over a span of 2.5 years, Teruza’s trading engine was used to safely execute over R3 billion in arbitrage trades — with zero critical failures and minimal hands-on effort.
While the majority of trades were executed by a single operator, the real achievement lies in the fact that anyone could have done it. The system was purposefully designed to be intuitive, locked-down, and unbreakable — making it safe for non-experts to step in if needed.
This case study shows how thoughtful UX, clear guardrails, and risk-reducing logic made it possible for high-stakes trades to be run by anyone — not just engineers or traders.
--- Ardi Coetzee, Chief Technology Officer at Teruza"Just because a system moves billions doesn't mean only experts can use it. We built it so anyone — with the right permissions — could run it safely. That’s the real win."
The Problem
High-value trading systems are usually operated by professionals — and for good reason. A single wrong action can lead to significant financial loss. But that dependence on experts comes at a cost: it limits who can participate and introduces operational bottlenecks.
We wanted to change that.
The challenge was to build a system that:
- Could move millions of rands in a single trade
- Was foolproof enough for non-traders to operate safely
- Protected users from mistakes without limiting flexibility
- Offered peace of mind, even if someone junior had to step in
And most importantly: it had to do all of this without sacrificing performance, precision, or transparency.
Our Solution
We designed a trading interface and engine that balances power with simplicity — built around the idea that no matter how valuable the transaction, the system should never assume the user is an expert.
Key design decisions included:
- Locked-in trade flows: Instead of building custom trades, users follow predefined logic that minimizes room for error
- Smart constraints: No free-form fields, no risky overrides — all actions are validated, previewed, and confirmed
- Clear visual feedback: Color-coded risk indicators, expected outcome previews, and simplified dashboards reduce confusion
- Role-based access: Fine-grained permissions ensure that advanced functions are only available to trusted users
- Failsafe execution logic: Every trade goes through sanity checks (rate limits, expiry windows, etc.) to prevent accidental misfires
- Audit trails for every action: All changes, triggers, and results are logged for full traceability
The result? A system that lets you safely delegate trade management — even to someone with no trading background — because the system itself does the heavy lifting.
Impact
- Over R3 billion traded safely, with no critical incidents or user errors
- Systems that allow junior or non-technical staff to manage high-value trades (with appropriate permissions)
- Provide clients with peace of mind, knowing the system could withstand human error
- Set a new internal standard for how we design secure, human-friendly financial tools
- The same principles now guide how we build modules for compliance, quoting, and real-time automation
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