xNG Markets · Mobile investing
xNG lets Nigerians buy and track NGX stocks from their phone, funded by naira bank transfer or stablecoins. I designed the mobile app from first launch to first trade, in a dark interface built for watching prices move.
The opportunity
The Nigerian Exchange had its best year in a long time in 2025: the All-Share Index rose 51.19% and equities market capitalisation passed ₦99 trillion. Retail investors were a real part of it. Between January and May 2026 they traded ₦2.86 trillion and made up 36.22% of all activity on the exchange, much of it through mobile apps.
Most Nigerians with a phone and a bank account still weren't taking part. The ones who were described the same frustrations: verification that took days, deposits limited to naira, withdrawals that took a week, and app screens that looked like a broker's terminal.
The brief: make buying a share of MTN feel as ordinary as buying airtime, without hiding the risk.
The first-time investor, mid-20s, salaried, who has watched friends post gains and wants in with ₦10,000 but doesn't know where to start. The crypto-native saver, who holds USDT to protect against devaluation and wants some of it in Nigerian blue chips without cashing out through a P2P trade first.
What stood in the way
I reviewed the apps Nigerians already use to buy NGX stocks, read their store and press reviews, and mapped where people dropped off between download and first trade.
| App | Minimum | Fee per NGX trade | What works | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bamboo | ~₦15,000 | Not published | Nigerian and US stocks, fractional shares | Higher entry point; trust questions after a 2021 regulatory flag |
| Chaka (now Risevest) | ₦1,000 | ₦100 or 0.5% | Naira and dollar accounts, low minimum | Reports of slow identity checks and delayed withdrawals |
| Trove | ₦1,000 | 1.35% | Stocks, ETFs and bonds in one place | Reports of week-long withdrawals and slow support |
| i-invest | Not stated | No extra charge | Simple, few complaints, T-bills and bonds | Nigerian assets only, conservative experience |
None of them accepted stablecoins as a way to fund a Nigerian stock purchase.
Principles
Let people look around and fund before KYC. Ask for ID only when they're about to buy.
Naira, USDT and USDC are equal options, each showing its minimum, fee and arrival time.
Every list explains itself: sector, why it's moving, what a collection is for.
Fees, estimated units and price per share appear before the PIN, never after.
The journey
Each stage pairs the barrier it removes with the design decision that removes it.
Visual language
Traders check prices at all hours, so the app is dark first. Color is reserved for meaning: green for gains and primary actions, red for losses, orange for warnings. Everything else stays in greys, so a price move is the brightest thing on screen.
Own the
market
Satoshi throughout. Medium for labels, regular for body, bold uppercase only for onboarding headlines.
₦240.50
Prices drop the decimals to a smaller size, so the naira figure reads first. Gains and losses always carry a sign and a color.
Onboarding uses one-color line illustrations (a candlestick chart, a moneybag, a stack of notes) with a single accent per slide. They borrow the energy of a trading floor without stock photography.
Reflection
The biggest decision was letting people in before they were verified. It makes the first minutes feel fast, but it moves the drop-off to the moment they try to buy. That's where I'd measure first.
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