Overview
Since December 24, 2014, New Asia Holdings, Inc., a Nevada corporation (the "Company" or "NAHD"), has been developing and deploying its proprietary, neural trading models for the financial community. We offer trading software solutions to clients on the basis of a software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) licensing and delivery models with licensed users availing themselves of service-based contractual arrangements.
The Company's products capitalize the large volume of the 24 hour Forex markets to achieve capital appreciation over a medium- to long-term basis, combined with the usage of a good wealth vehicle designed to control risk, profit from both bull or bear markets, and maximize liquidity and economic resilience.
Our proprietary trading models were developed by a team of professional engineers in communications, electronic circuitry design and financial engineering. This diverse team is the key factor in our successful development of non-traditional and innovative trading models. Our systems were designed to take intelligent positions as the market moves/changes and, upon development, our systems were to bring a rigorously tested track-record.
The NAHD systems were designed to adapt themselves and to take intelligent positions as the market moves/changes. The models were subjected to rigorous testing akin to the volatile trading environment of major financial events/crises that have happened in recent history. These models were also programmed to have the ability to learn and adapt new manners of trading, effectively translating the human behavioral of trading into a predictive science. The NAHD quantitative strategies and proprietary algorithmic trading system were developed to generate risk adjustable returns for its licensees and their clients.
Since 2016, the Company's focus has been to license its algorithm to licensees, regulated funds and banks to capitalize on the large volume of the 24-hour Forex markets to achieve capital appreciation over a medium- to long- term basis, combined with the usage of a good wealth vehicle designed to control risk, profit from both bull or bear markets, and maximize liquidity and economic resilience.
On August 25, 2015, the Company entered into a Sale and Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with Anthony Ng Zi Qin, pursuant to which the Company acquired Magdallen Quant Pte Ltd (“MQL”). The MQL acquisition was accomplished through a share exchange with Anthony Ng Zi Qin of 7,422,000 restricted shares of common stock of the Company ("Consideration Shares"), with a value of $0.41 per share, and an aggregate fair value of $3,043,020, in exchange for the entire issued and outstanding capital of MQL held by Mr. Anthony Ng Zi Qin, consisting of 8,000,100 shares of stock issued at par value of SGD 1.00 per share, or $0.714 on the acquisition date. On August 19, 2016, the Company and Anthony Ng Zi Qin entered into an Addendum (the “First MQL Addendum”) to the Purchase Agreement to extend the August 25, 2016 anniversary date for the adjustment of issued shares for an additional period of 12 months. On November 10, 2017, the Company and Anthony Ng Zi Qin signed an Addendum (the “Second MQL Addendum”) to the Purchase Agreement, as amended, pursuant to which the Company agreed to issue an aggregate of 3,339,900 shares of common stock, in satisfaction of the shortfall in the value of the shares issued. These shares were issued on December 12, 2017 in full satisfaction of the aforementioned contingent liability. The Purchase Agreement, as amended, is referred to herein as the “MQL Acquisition Agreement.”
The algorithms were placed into commercial operation in November 2015 upon the execution of a Software License Agreement (the “MQL License Agreement”) between and New Asia Momentum Limited (“NAML”), a company owned and controlled by NAHD’s Chairman and CEO, Dr. Lin Kok Peng. Under the terms of the MQL License Agreement, MQL agreed to license its proprietary trainable, trading algorithms to NAML in exchange for payment of a license fee and certain other fixed and time and materials fees. Pursuant to the terms of the MQL License Agreement, MQL licensed its proprietary trainable, trading algorithms. NAML, in turn, offered these proprietary, trainable, algorithm trading software solutions to broker-dealers, banks, funds and other clients on the basis of a SaaS licensing and delivery model, with sub-licensed users availing themselves of service-based contractual arrangements. NAML was required to pay MQL royalty fees equal to 20% of the trading profits achieved by the SaaS contract agreements that NAML executed with its clients. The targeted geographic market was Asia, with an initial emphasis on Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Australia. From 2015 to 2017, NAML grew its retail assets under management (“AUM”) from zero to approximately $2.5 million.
In conjunction with the expansion into the regulated fund and bank model, NAML decided to ask its clients to redeem the AUM and as of September 30, 2017, trading on the AUM was terminated. Specifically, and to support NAML’s decision to expand into the regulated fund and bank model, the Series Z (Multi-Asset Currency and Gold) were redeveloped into the following products:
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•7.42.31
•7.43.315
•7.43.325
The three primary competitive advantages associated with the above trading algorithms are rates of return, efficiency and safety.
Fund
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MQ X1
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MQ Y1
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MQ Z1 @ 2%
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Number of Trades
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272
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112
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376
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Sharpe Ratio
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3.3
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2.9
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2.44
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Profit Factor
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2.5
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3.46
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1.99
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Return/DD
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26.09
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16.69
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16.71
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Winning (%)
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59.93%
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64.29%
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75%
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Drawdown (%)
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29.34%
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62.99%
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2.57%
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The backend programming associated with the MQ X1 and the MQ Y1 are driven by mean reversion whereas the backend of the MQ Z1 is driven by momentum and trend following. All the algorithms incorporate currency flows and are designed to reduce positions when trends become adverse.
In January 2017, NAML, the Company’s exclusive licensee, entered into an agreement with Ferrell Asset Management Pte Ltd (“FAMPL”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ferrell Financial Group. Ferrell Financial Group, which started as an exempt fund manager in 2004, holds a Capital Markets Services License issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (the “MAS”) for the provision of fund management services to individuals who are accredited investors (“Accredited Investors”) as defined in Section 4A(1)(a)(i) of the Securities and Futures Act (Chapter 289) of Singapore. Ferrell Financial Group is an Asia-focused financial services group dedicated to serving the investment and wealth management needs of family offices and private individuals globally. As an independent, privately held group, Ferrell Financial Group forms strategic partnerships with financial institutions and other relevant organizations to provide customized portfolio solutions for its clients.
The Company initiated its focus on the regulated bank and fund model in 2017 with the launch of the Feuris Fund A with AUM of approximately $6.67 million. Because the risk profiles required by these regulated funds and banks reflect a lower level of risk, there was a significantly reduced frequency of trading activities. As of September 30, 2019, due to market conditions that impacted trading frequencies and volumes, NAML liquidated the Feuris Fund A and returned the AUM to the investors.
The MQL License Agreement remains in place. While the Company continues to improve its algorithm products, there are no guarantees that such product improvements will translate to improved financial performance. The Company, in its efforts to expand its business, is currently involved in the development of new business opportunities, including the following:
Point of Sales (POS) and mobile Point of Sales (mPOS) solutions and technologies. The Company expects to develop its own mobile readers which would allow small- and medium-sized businesses to accept payments anytime and anywhere by swiping a debit or credit card. The Company aims to be a strong market leader in mPOS solutions.
A global digital payment system that would allow users to gain access to the existing global merchant base in multiple countries and regions and earn attractive rewards and cashback benefits. We expect that access to the existing global merchant base would be established through proven payment merchant networks, such as UnionPay, and convertible to both mainstream currencies and other digital assets to ensure a steady stream of liquidity. We anticipate that users would be able to convert cryptocurrencies for spending at merchant outlets worldwide.
The Company generated immaterial revenues during the year ended December 31, 2018 and no revenues were generated during the year ended December 31, 2019.
Algorithm Trading Generally
In accordance with a 2016 study published in Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing in October 2018 ("Optimizing Automated Trading Systems"), 80% of trading in the FOREX market was performed by trading algorithms rather than humans . Algorithmic trading relies on sophisticated computer programs and models to make automated decisions regarding the market, without human input. Such models are especially popular in strategies such as managed futures, where trend following is prevalent.
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There are three general types of algorithmic trading:
Systematic trading: Systematic trading refers to any trading strategy that is a "rule-based" systematic/repetitive approach to execution trading behaviors. This is often achieved through utilization of an expert system that replicates previously captured actions of real traders.
High-frequency trading (“HFT”): HFT is a type of algorithmic trading in which execution of computerized trading strategies is characterized by extremely short position-holding periods in excess of a few seconds or milliseconds.
Ultra-high-frequency trading: Sometimes also known as low-latency trading, ultra-high-frequency trading refers to HFT execution of trades in sub-millisecond times through co-location of servers and stripped down strategies, direct market access, or individual data feeds offered by exchanges and others to minimize network and other types of latencies.
The programming associated with the MQ X1 and MQ Y1 algorithms are driven by mean reversion, whereas the programming of the MQ Z1 algorithm is driven by momentum and trend following. All of the algorithms incorporate currency flows and are designed to reduce positions when trends become adverse. These algorithms are very easy for us to deploy and operate via the SaaS model. The combination of this business model and the composition of the algorithms render the trading of currencies and gold nearly effortless: no traders are needed, thereby eliminating compensation-related expenses. In addition to the returns and safety characteristics associated with the subject algorithms, these algorithms are favorable to account holders in that they neither lend themselves to HFT nor to high commissions.
The following are common trading strategies used in algorithmic trading:
Trend Following Strategies: The most common algorithmic trading strategies follow trends in moving averages, channel breakouts, price level movements and related technical indicators. These are the easiest and simplest strategies to implement through algorithmic trading because these strategies do not involve making any predictions or price forecasts. Trades are initiated based on the occurrence of desirable trends, which are easy and straightforward to implement through algorithms without getting into the complexity of predictive analysis.
Arbitrage Opportunities: This strategy involves buying a dual-listed stock at a lower price in one market and simultaneously selling it at a higher price in another market, offering the price differential as risk-free profit or arbitrage. The same operation can be replicated for stocks versus futures instruments, as price differentials do exist from time to time. Implementing an algorithm to identify such price differentials and placing the orders allows profitable opportunities in efficient manner.
Index Fund Rebalancing: Index funds have defined periods of rebalancing to bring their holdings to par with their respective benchmark indices. This creates profitable opportunities for algorithmic traders, who capitalize on expected trades that offer 20-80 basis points profits, depending upon the number of stocks in the index fund, just prior to index fund rebalancing. Such trades are initiated via algorithmic trading systems for timely execution and best prices.
Mathematical Model Based Strategies: A lot of proven mathematical models, which allow trading on a combination of options and their respective underlying securities, where trades are placed to offset positive and negative deltas so that the portfolio delta is maintained at zero.
Trading Range (Mean Reversion): Mean reversion strategy is based on the idea that the high and low prices of an asset are a temporary phenomenon that revert to their mean value periodically. Identifying and defining a price range and implementing an algorithm based on that allows trades to be placed automatically when the price of an asset breaks in and out of its defined range.
Volume Weighted Average Price (“VWAP”): VWAP strategy breaks up a large order and releases dynamically determined smaller chunks of the order to the market using stock-specific historical volume profiles. The aim is to execute the order close to the VWAP, thereby benefiting on average price.
Time Weighted Average Price (“TWAP”): TWAP strategy breaks up a large order and releases dynamically determined smaller chunks of the order to the market using evenly divided time slots between a start and end time. The aim is to execute the order close to the average price between the start and end times, thereby minimizing market impact.
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Percentage of Volume: Until the trade order is fully filled, this algorithm continues sending partial orders, according to the defined participation ratio and according to the volume traded in the markets. The related "steps strategy" sends orders at a user-defined percentage of market volumes and increases or decreases this participation rate when the stock price reaches user-defined levels.
Implementation Shortfall: The implementation shortfall strategy aims at minimizing the execution cost of an order by trading off the real-time market, thereby saving on the cost of the order and benefiting from the opportunity cost of delayed execution. The strategy will increase the targeted participation rate when the stock price moves favorably and decrease it when the stock price moves adversely.
Beyond the Usual Trading Algorithms: There are a few special classes of algorithms that attempt to identify "happenings" on the other side. These "sniffing algorithms," used, for example, by a sell side market maker have a built-in intelligence to identify the existence of any algorithms on the buy side of a large order. Such detection through algorithms will help the market maker identify large order opportunities and enable the market maker to benefit by filling the orders at a higher price. This is sometimes identified as high-tech front running.
NAHD's Design Philosophy
Price is simply a reflection and emotional perception of value. Mechanical systems have no emotions when it comes to the interpretation of prices. Nothing is actually too high or too low; it’s all technically relative.
NAHD uses a multitude of modern tools and technology to making trading simpler, adaptive and intelligent:
Some of the tools we apply include:
·Principle Component Analysis (“PCA”)
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·Neural Networks
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·Removing Linear Trends from Data
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·Detecting Anomaly Activities
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·Market Behavioral Pattern Neural Analysis
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·Co-relational Modeling
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·Multi-Time Frame Signal Analysis
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PCA is a tool in exploratory data analysis to discover the important variables (or a combination of them) that explain the cause of variance in the data and thus enhances the efficiency when there is a large volume of data to be analyzed.
Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed, correlated variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved variables called factors. Factor analysis searches for such joint variations in response to unobserved latent variables. The observed variables are modeled as linear combinations of the potential factors, plus "error" terms. The information gained about the interdependencies between observed variables can be used later to reduce the set of variables in a dataset and thus helps us to reduce complex multi-dimensional modeling data into 2-dimensional outcome for easier analysis.
Factor analysis is related to PCA, but the two are not identical. Latent variable models, including factor analysis, use regression modeling techniques to test hypotheses producing error terms, while PCA is a descriptive statistical technique.
The artificial neural networks are one of the areas in artificial intelligence research that is based on the attempts to simulate the human nervous system in its ability to learn and adapt. It strives to allow us to build a rough simulation of the human brain in operation. When it comes to trading, it is generally a matter of whether to buy, sell or hold and position sizing. In other words, algorithm trading strategies (ATS) significantly simplify decision making as opposed to what would otherwise be possible if human beings were doing the trading.
The Company has strived to develop systems which are adaptive and where no two trades are the same. This is because the market is changing all the time (every hour, minute and second). Thus, it is imperative to achieve an acceptable level of machine learning adaptability within the confines of the boundaries of trading. This enables our clients to stay in the highly challenging game of trading under most, if not all, market conditions. Our systems employ the following strategies:
Momentum: A trend-following trading strategy that aims to capitalize on the continuance of existing trends in the market. The algorithm assumes large increases in the price of a security will be followed by additional gains and vice versa for declining values.
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Mean Reversion: A trading strategy assuming prices and returns eventually move back toward the mean or average. A popular strategy is mean reversion (pairs trading) where two historically correlated securities that have diverged are assumed to converge in the future. Statistical Arbitrage ("stat arb") is an equity trading strategy that employs time series methods to identify relative mispricing between stocks. It bets on the convergence of the prices of similar financial instruments whose prices have diverged.
The Software as a Service (SaaS) Public Market Performance
SaaS is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as "on-demand software". SaaS is typically accessed by users using a thin client via a web browser. SaaS has become a common delivery model for many business applications, including financial services, office and messaging software, payroll processing software, DBMS software, management software, CAD software, development software, gamification, virtualization, accounting, collaboration, customer relationship management (CRM), management information systems (MIS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), invoicing, human resource management (HRM), talent acquisition, content management (CM), antivirus software, and service desk management. SaaS has been incorporated into the strategy of all leading enterprise software companies.
According to Gartner Group estimates, SaaS remains the largest segment of the cloud market, with revenue expected to grow 17.8% to reach $116.0 billion in 2020.
Table 1. Worldwide SaaS Revenue Forecast (Billions of U.S. Dollars)
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2019
|
2020
|
2021
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2022
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SaaS
|
99.5
|
116.0
|
133.0
|
151.1
|
The acceleration in SaaS adoption can be explained by providers delivering nearly all application functional extensions and add-ons as a service. This appeals to users because SaaS solutions are engineered to be more purpose-built and are delivering better business outcomes than traditional software.
Public SaaS companies have historically enjoyed trading multiples at least twice that of their on-premise peers. According to the above publicly available SEG report, a premium market valuation multiple can be largely justified by comparing the relative lifetime value of a SaaS customer versus an on-premise licensee. A SaaS company with a mission critical hosted app and strong customer retention will garner significantly greater cash over time from its average customer than will its on-premise counterpart. In the meantime, according to the SEG Software Industry report, investors are placing their bets on the next wave of SaaS category leaders that are positioned to displace incumbent on-premise providers across multiple product categories.
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NAHD and Business Structure
Corporate History
We were incorporated on March 1, 2001 under the laws of the state of Nevada under the name Effective Sports Nutrition Corporation. On April 11, 2005, we changed our name from Effective Sports Nutrition Corporation to Midwest E.S.W.T. Corp.
On July 18, 2005, we entered into a share exchange agreement (the "Share Exchange Agreement") with Direct Success, Inc. As a result of the share exchange contemplated by the Share Exchange Agreement (the “Share Exchange”), we issued shares of common stock to the shareholders of Direct Success, Inc. in exchange for all of the issued and outstanding common stock in Direct Success, Inc. On December 14, 2005, we changed our name from Midwest E.S.W.T. Corp. to DM Products, Inc. As a result of the Share Exchange, Direct Success, Inc. became our wholly owned subsidiary. At the time of the Share Exchange, Direct Success, Inc. had an accumulated loss of $6,195,881. The Company dissolved Direct Success, Inc. on April 23, 2013 and April 5, 2013.
On December 24, 2014, the board of directors authorized the Company to enter into a Stock Purchase Agreement (the "Agreement") with four accredited investors, pursuant to which the Company issued an aggregate of 58,904,964 shares of common stock, or approximately 97% of the issued and outstanding common stock of the Company, at an aggregate purchase price of $350,000 resulting in a change of control. The stock was issued as follows: 54,957,724 shares of common stock to New Asia Holdings Limited for $326,546, 1,821,803 shares of common stock to Wong Kai Fatt for $10,825, 1,518,169 shares of common stock to Earth Heat Ltd. for $9,021, and 607,268 shares of common stock to Kline Law Group PC for $3,608. Since we effected a change of control on December 24, 2014, we have focused on the development and licensing of advanced, proprietary, neural trading models for the financial community.
On January 23, 2015, we changed the Company’s name from DM Products, Inc. to New Asia Holdings, Inc.
On August 19, 2015, the Board of Directors of the Company approved a resolution acknowledging that New Asia Holdings Ltd, the principal controlling shareholder of the Company, (i) had been advancing funds in the amount of $220,000 to the Company since December 24, 2014 to pay for operating expenses of the Company and (ii) would be required to advance an additional $80,000 to the Company to fund further operating expenses of the Company. The Board further resolved that these advances would constitute an interest-free loan to the Company to be repaid by the close of business on October 31, 2015. However, if the Company was unable to repay these advances by such date, New Asia Holdings Ltd, at its sole discretion, would have the option to extend the repayment deadline or convert all or a portion of the above advances into common stock of the Company at a conversion price of $0.02 per share. Through 2019, the Company had received a total of $836,452 in the form of an interest-free loan from its principal
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shareholder. As of December 31, 2019, New Asia Holdings Ltd, had not yet acted to exercise its option to convert the Advances to shares of common stock, thus the Advances remained as an interest-free loan to the Company.
On August 28, 2015, the Company completed the acquisition of MQL. In November 2015, MQL entered into the MQL License Agreement with NAML, a Company owned and controlled by NAHD's Chairman and CEO, Dr. Lin Kok Peng.
Corporate Website
The Company’s corporate website is www. newasiainc.com; however, it is currently under construction.
Employees
The Company currently has no employees. Management of the Company expects to use consultants, attorneys and accountants as necessary, and expects to hire full-time staff as the SaaS and Forex trading business expands.
Smaller Reporting Company Status
We qualify as a "smaller reporting company" under Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act, which is defined as a company with a public equity float of less than $75 million. To the extent that we remain a smaller reporting company at such time as are no longer an emerging growth company, we will still have reduced disclosure requirements for our public filings, some of which are similar to those of an emerging growth company, including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements.
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Certain factors may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Investors should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and other reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), including our historical and financial statements and related notes. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently believe are not material, may also become important factors that adversely affect our business. If any of the following risks or uncertainties actually occurs, our business, financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, cash flows and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. As a result, the price of our common stock could decline significantly, and an investor could lose all or part of its investment in our common stock. The risks discussed below include forward-looking statements, and our actual results may differ substantially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements.
Risk Related to Our Business and Our Industry
Public health epidemics or outbreaks, such as COVID-19, could materially and adversely impact our business.
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus (COVID-19) emerged in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. While initially the outbreak was largely concentrated in China and caused significant disruptions to its economy, it has now spread to several other countries and infections have been reported globally.
Because COVID-19 infections have been reported worldwide, certain national, state and local governmental authorities have issued stay-at-home orders, proclamations and/or directives aimed at minimizing the spread of COVID-19. Additional, more restrictive proclamations and/or directives may be issued in the future. As a result, certain Company internal operations communications and accounting operations have been disrupted by these “stay at home” orders, which have affected the timing of certain new business development activities (the Company had previously liquidated the Feuris Fund A AUM during the third quarter of 2019).
The ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company’s operations is unknown and will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, including the duration of the COVID-19 outbreak, new information which may emerge concerning the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, and any additional preventative and protective actions that governments, or the Company, may direct, which may result in an extended period of continued business disruption and reduced operations. Any resulting financial impact cannot be reasonably estimated at this time but could be anticipated to have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The measures taken to date will impact the Company’s business for the fiscal first and second quarters and potentially beyond. Management expects that all of its business segments, across all of its geographies, will be impacted to some degree, but the significance of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the Company’s business and the duration for which it may have an impact cannot be determined at this time.
General Risks
The use of the Company's software ("Software") will be subjected to different degrees of economic, political, foreign exchange, interest rates, liquidity, repatriation, volatility default and regulatory risks, depending on each relevant model. NAHD's proprietary trainable trading algorithm software signals generated are based on factual inputs and information from the market and are not deemed as financial advices. Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results. Notwithstanding the use of our Proprietary Trainable Trading Algorithms ("Series of Algorithms"), the value of investments may fall as well as rise and a holder may not recoup its capital. There can be no assurance that the performance of a Series of Algorithms will be profitable. On establishment, a Series of Algorithms will normally have no operating history upon which stockholders may base an evaluation of performance.
Change in Strategies
The strategies, approaches and techniques discussed herein may evolve over time due to, amongst other things, market developments and trends, the emergence of new or enhanced products, changing industry practice and/or technological innovation. As a result, these strategies, approaches and techniques may not reflect the strategies, approaches and techniques actually employed by NAHD or its Software. Nevertheless, the strategies employed in the Software will be consistent with the NAHD's objective.
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Fundamental Strategies
Fundamental analysis, which posits that markets are imperfect and that mispricings can be identified between prevailing market prices and those indicated by underlying fundamental data, is subject to the risk of inaccurate or incomplete market information, as well as the difficulty of predicting prices based on such information. Furthermore, even if an analyst is able to successfully identify mispricings on the basis of fundamental factors, there is the additional uncertainty of predicting the duration or degree of such mispricings and, accordingly, when or whether to enter so as to profit from them. Positions made based on fundamental analysis are subject to significant losses when market sentiment leads to the market price of the Software being materially discounted from the level indicated by Software fundamental analysis or technical factors, such as price momentum or option expirations, dominate the market.
Model and Data Risk
NAHD relies heavily on quantitative models ("Models") and information and data ("Data"). Models and Data are used to construct sets of transactions, to evaluate potential opportunities, to provide risk management insights and to assist in hedging the Software's trades. Models and Data are known to have errors, omissions, imperfections and malfunctions (collectively, "System Events"). System Events in third-party Models are generally entirely outside of the control of NAHD.
NAHD seeks to reduce the incidence and impact of System Events through a certain degree of internal testing and real-time monitoring, and the use of independent safeguards in the overall portfolio management system and often, with respect to proprietary models, in the software code itself. Despite such testing, monitoring and independent safeguards, System Events will result in, among other things, the execution of unanticipated trades, the failure to execute anticipated trades, delays in the execution of anticipated trades, the failure to properly allocate trades, the failure to properly gather and organize available data, the failure to take certain hedging or risk reducing actions and/or the taking of actions which increase certain risk(s)—all of which may have materially negative effects on the Software and/or its returns.
The strategies of the Software are highly reliant on the gathering, cleaning, culling and analysis of large amounts of Data. Accordingly, Models rely heavily on appropriate Data inputs. However, it is not possible or practicable to factor all relevant, available Data into forecasts and/or trading decisions of the Models. NAHD uses its discretion to determine what Data to gather with respect to each Strategy and what subset of that Data the Models take into account to produce forecasts which may have an impact on ultimate trading decisions. In addition, due to the automated nature of Data gathering, the volume and depth of Data available, the complexity and often manual nature of Data cleaning, and the fact that the substantial majority of Data comes from third-party sources, it is inevitable that not all desired and/or relevant Data will be available to, or processed by, NAHD (the "Manager") at all times. If incorrect Data is fed into even a well-founded Model, it may lead to a System Event subjecting the Software to loss. Further, even if Data is input correctly, "model prices" anticipated by the Data through the Models may differ substantially from market prices.
Where incorrect or incomplete Data is available, NAHD may, and often will, continue to generate forecasts and make trading decisions based on the Data available to it. Additionally, it may determine that certain available Data, while potentially useful in generating forecasts and/or making trade decisions, is not cost effective to gather due to either the technology costs or third-party vendor costs and, in such cases, the Manager will not utilize such Data. There is no guarantee that any specific Data or type of Data will be utilized in generating forecasts or making trading decisions with respect to the Models, nor is there any guarantee that the Data actually utilized in generating forecasts or making trading decisions underlying the Models will be the most accurate data available. It is assumed that the Data set used in connection with the Models is limited and should understand that the foregoing risks associated with gathering, cleaning, culling and analysis of large amounts of Data are an inherent part of the development with a process-driven, systematic adviser such as the Manager.
When Models and Data prove to be incorrect, misleading or incomplete, any decisions made in reliance thereon expose the Software to potential losses. For example, by relying on Models and Data, the system may be induced to trade at positions that are too high, to sell at positions that are too low, or to miss favorable opportunities altogether. In addition, Models may incorrectly forecast future behavior, leading to potential losses and/or a mark-to-market basis. Furthermore, in unforeseen or certain low-probability scenarios (often involving a market disruption of some kind), Models may produce unexpected results which may or may not be System Events.
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Errors in Models and Data are often extremely difficult to detect, and, in the case of proprietary models and third-party models, the difficulty of detecting System Events may be exacerbated by the lack of design documents or specifications. Regardless of how difficult their detection appears in retrospect; some System Events will go undetected for long periods of time and some may never be detected. The degradation or impact caused by these System Events can compound over time. Finally, NAHD will detect certain System Events that it chooses, in its sole discretion, not to address or fix, and the third-party software will lead to System Events known to the Manager that it chooses, in its sole discretion, not to address or fix.
The Company believes that the testing and monitoring performed on its models and third party models will enable it to identify and address those System Events that a prudent person managing a process-driven, systematic and computerized software program would identify and address by correcting the underlying issue(s) giving rise to the System Events or limiting the use of proprietary and third party models, generally or in a particular application. Holders should assume that System Events and their ensuing risks and impact are an inherent part of development with a process-driven, systematic investment manager such as NAHD, as the Manager. Accordingly, NAHD does not expect to disclose discovered System Events to the Software or to Holders.
The Software will bear the risks associated with the reliance on Models and Data including that the Software will bear all losses related to System Events other than in relation to losses arising from the Manager's willful default, fraud or gross negligence.
Involuntary Disclosure Risk
The ability of the system to achieve its goals for the Software is dependent in large part on its ability to develop and protect its models and proprietary research. The models and proprietary research and the Models and Data are largely protected by NAHD through the use of policies, procedures, agreements, and similar measures designed to create and enforce robust confidentiality, non-disclosure, and similar safeguards. However, aggressive position-level public disclosure obligations (or disclosure obligations to exchanges or regulators with insufficient privacy safeguards) could lead to opportunities for competitors to reverse-engineer the Manager's models, and thereby impair the relative or absolute performance of the Software.
Specific Risks
Liquidity Risk
Liquidity represents the volume of Forex transactions that can be executed for a certain currency pair at a certain time. The liquidity depends on the number of Forex market participants and the size of the market participants' offers. The major currencies which are the most traded usually offer a better liquidity than any other currencies. The liquidity is subject to sharp fluctuations depending on the currency, the economic or political events and news such as financial crisis, or to any other events which are beyond the control of NAHD.
A market with low liquidity would increase the risk associated with Forex trading significantly. In a case of low liquidity, the Holder may not be able to buy or sell orders or may need to liquidate all or parts of its positions at high losses.
Volatility Risk
As Forex market is subject to high degree of volatility, the currency prices would also be subjected to extensive fluctuations in response to numerous factors which are often beyond the control of NAHD. The market can move acutely in favor or against the Holder's positions. A drop in market liquidity, any unanticipated changes in economic or political conditions, a financial crisis or any other event can (though it may not) accelerate the market conditions in which currency price could move sharply and unexpectedly higher or lower in a volatile pattern.
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Market and Price Risks
The Software's strategy is subject to some dimension of market risk: directional price movements, deviations from historical pricing relationships, changes in the regulatory environment, changes in market volatility, "flights to quality", "credit squeezes", etc. The NAHD style of alternative trading may be no less speculative than traditional strategies. On the contrary, due in part to the degree of leverage embedded in software in which the Software may invest, the Software may from time to time incur sudden and dramatic losses.
The particular or general types of market conditions in which the Software may incur losses or experience unexpected performance volatility cannot be predicted, and the Software may materially under-perform. The Holder's position on various transactions may be liquidated at a loss where the Holder will then be liable for any resulting deficit. Under certain circumstances, it may be difficult to liquidate an existing position, assess the value, determine a fair price or assess its exposure to risk.
Foreign Exchange Risk
Transactions involving currencies would incur risks including, but not limited to, the potential for changing political and/or economic conditions that may substantially affect the price or liquidity of a currency. Foreign exchange speculation may also be susceptible to sharp rises and falls as the relevant market values fluctuate.
Leverage Risk
The Software makes use of leverage on relatively small margin deposits. Trading on margin and leverage means that the Holder can buy and sell assets that represent more value than the capital in the Holder's account. A leverage of 50 times means the Holder can buy or sell up to $1,000,000 worth with only a capital of $20,000. High leverage or low margin can result in significant losses as a relatively small price movement may cause a proportionately larger impact on participating placements. The leveraged nature of the Software means that the Holder would increase his exposure risk the volatility of the market and a change in the market would result in greater change in the position taken by the Holder ("leverage effect"). Holders may get back less than placed and, in the case of higher risk strategies, Holders may lose the entirety of their placement.
Currency Risk
Currency trading presents unique risks. The interbank market consists of a direct dealing market, in which a participant trades directly with a participating bank or dealer, and a brokers' market. The brokers' market differs from the direct dealing market in that the banks or financial institutions serve as intermediaries rather than principals to the transaction. In the brokers' market, brokers may add a commission to the prices they communicate to their customers, or they may incorporate a fee into the quotation of price.
Arbitrage and Spread Trading Risks
Arbitrage and spread strategies attempt to take advantage of perceived price discrepancies of identical or similar financial instruments, on different markets or in different forms. To the extent the price relationships between such positions remain constant, no gain or loss on the positions will occur. If the requisite elements of an arbitrage strategy are not properly analyzed, or unexpected events or price movements intervene, losses can occur which can be magnified to the extent the Software is employing leverage. Arbitrage strategies often depend upon identifying favorable "spreads" which can also be identified, reduced or eliminated by other market participants. In periods of trendless, stagnant markets and/or deflation, many alternative strategies have materially diminished prospects for profitability.
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Quantitative Trading
Quantitative trading strategies are highly complex, and, for their successful application, require relatively sophisticated mathematical calculations and relatively complex computer programs. These trading strategies are dependent upon various computer and telecommunications technologies and upon adequate liquidity in the markets traded. The successful execution of these strategies could be severely compromised by, among other things, a diminution in the liquidity of the markets traded, telecommunications failures, power loss and software-related "system crashes." There are also periods when even an otherwise highly successful system incurs major losses due to external factors dominating the market, such as natural catastrophes and political interventions. Transaction costs incurred by quantitative trading strategies may be significant. In addition, the difference between the expected price of a trade and the price at which a trade is executed, or "slippage," may be significant and may result in losses.
Due to the nature of their trading, quantitative trading firms may suffer devastating losses in a very short period of time. For example, in August 2012 Knight Capital accidentally deployed test software code to a production environment, causing a major disruption in the stock prices of over 100 listed companies which in turn resulted in the collapse of Knight Capital's stock price. A similar trading software mistake by the Manager could result in material or even total losses to the Software and NAHD.
Reliance on Technology and Electronic Trading
NAHD relies heavily on computer hardware and software, online services and other computer-related or electronic technology and equipment to facilitate the Software's activities. Specifically, the Software may trade financial instruments through electronic trading or order routing systems, which differ from traditional open outcry pit trading and manual order routing methods. Such electronic trading exposes the Software to risks associated with system or component failure, which could render NAHD unable to enter new orders, execute existing orders or modify or cancel previously entered orders. System or component failure may also result in loss of orders or order priority. Should events beyond NAHD's control cause a disruption in the operation of any technology or equipment, the Software's program may be severely impaired, causing it to experience substantial losses or other adverse effects.
A disaster or a disruption in the infrastructure that supports NAHD's business, including a disruption involving electronic communications or other services used by it or third parties with whom it conducts business, or directly affecting one of its offices or facilities, may have a material adverse effect on its ability to continue to operate the business without interruption. Although the Manager and its affiliates have back-up facilities for their information systems as well as technology and business continuity programs in place, there can be no assurance that these will be sufficient to mitigate the harm that may result from such a disaster or infrastructure disruption. In addition, insurance and other safeguards might only partially mitigate the effects of such a disaster or disruption.
Systems Security
Despite the implementation of operating controls for detecting unauthorized intrusion, security breach and security attack, NAHD will be unable to prevent all forms of unauthorized access to the systems it operates and the systems it uses which are provided by third-party service providers. NAHD will not be held liable for any trading or personal data leakage and any consequences and will not reimburse the Software for any loss caused by the unauthorized intrusion to its systems which is out of the Manager's control.
Technical Analysis and Trading Systems
NAHD employs technical analysis and/or technical trading systems. Technical strategies rely on information intrinsic to the market itself to determine trades, such as prices, price patterns, momentum, volume and volatility. As discussed above, these strategies can incur major losses when factors exogenous to the markets themselves, including political events, natural catastrophes, acts of war or terrorism, dominate the markets.
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Failure of Algorithms
NAHD will utilize sophisticated computerized models to automatically determine and execute trade entry and exit conditions and manage risk. NAHD makes efforts to test management and software releases to ensure that these algorithms operate correctly. However, it is possible that a defect in algorithm design or implementation or risk management could unexpectedly manifest and cause sustained long-term or virtually instantaneous catastrophic losses for the Software.
Possible Effects of Technical Trading Systems
There has been, in recent years, a substantial increase in interest in technical futures trading systems, similar to NAHD's systems. As the capital under the management of such trading systems based on the same general principles increases, an increasing number of traders may attempt to initiate or liquidate substantial positions at or about the same time as the Software, or otherwise alter historical trading patterns or affect the execution of trades, to the significant detriment of the Software.
Cybersecurity Risk
NAHD's hardware and software systems are subject to threats from hackers and others, such as a malicious attack, malware or other event that leads to unanticipated interruption or malfunction of such systems. Any interruption of NAHD's hardware or software functionality could lead to material or even complete losses to the Software. Hackers could also theoretically access and steal the Manager's research, models, trading programs or other software or data and implement such programs or software on their own behalf. This could lead to increased competition for, or elimination of, the opportunities sought by the Software or otherwise render the models developed by NAHD obsolete, possibly resulting in material or complete losses to the Software.
Failure of Connectivity
NAHD's models may trade frequently and may depend on low latency to be profitable. As a result, the success of the Manager's models depends on network connectivity. Any disruption or failure of the Manager's network connectivity, or even a delay in transmission speed, could result in substantial or total losses to the Software.
Computer Hardware and Software
Many components of the Manager's critical computer hardware and software may have flaws, may not be redundant, may be leased rather than owned, or may be provided in whole or in part by another party. Should these components fail or be inaccessible, there is no certainty that the Manager will be able to recover promptly and the Software may suffer material or total losses as a result.
Risks of Ineffective Risk Management Systems
NAHD continuously reviews and refines its risk management techniques, strategies and assessment methods. However, such risk management techniques and strategies may not fully mitigate the risk exposure of the Software in all economic or market environments, or against all types of risk, including risks that the Manager might fail to identify or anticipate. Any failures in the Manager's risk management techniques and strategies to accurately quantify such risk exposure could limit its ability to manage risks in the Software or to seek adequate risk-adjusted returns.
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Accidental, Erroneous and Fraudulent Trades; Slippage
The transactions the Software executes are intended to be based on the bid and ask prices presented to the traders of NAHD by each counterparty. It is anticipated that the prices may be displayed on a computer monitor and that contracts may be executed electronically. The Software has no assurance that the prices displayed will be accurate. Various flaws in communications systems, such as data entry errors and transmission errors, can result in corrupted or inaccurate data. Moreover, the Software has no assurance that a continuous display of electronic connectivity between the Software and its counterparties can be maintained. Communication failures such as electrical outages, computer failures and hard drive failures can result in an inability of the systems to initiate or complete a transaction. There can be no assurance that errors in communication would not lead to erroneously executed transactions or a failure to execute transactions that would have been intended to hedge the Software's positions. The performance of the Software can be affected by data transmissions that are delayed. This phenomenon is sometimes also called latency. The Software has no assurance that performance will not be adversely affected by latency. The Software's counterparties have not made any representation to the Software that any particular level of latency will be maintained, nor that the counterparty would not deliberately degrade latency. Execution of a contract at an erroneous price can therefore affect the performance of the Software.
Impacts of Recent Geopolitical Events
Volatility of the price of oil, current developments in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East generally, the continued threat of terrorism, the ongoing military and other actions and heightened security measures in response to these threats, international and regional military tensions and instability in the credit and sub-prime markets may cause disruptions to commerce, reduced economic activity and continued volatility in markets throughout the world. Such systemic risks may have an adverse impact on some of the assets in the Software's portfolio in the event that such risks result in a decline in the securities markets and economic activity. NAHD cannot predict at this time the extent and timing of any decreased commercial and economic activity resulting from the above factors, or how any such decrease might affect the value of the Software. The aforementioned factors could also result in incidents or circumstances that would disrupt the normal operations of the Manager and the Partners, which could also have negative effects on the performance of the Software.
Disclosure of System Portfolio
The statements of the Software will not include a detailed listing of positions held by the Software. Such confidentiality is maintained to prevent third parties from using information concerning the Managers or the Software's positions to its detriment. Examples of ways in which such information could be used adversely to the Software include: (a) to "front run" the Software on sales, or additional purchases, of such positions; (b) to make it more difficult for the Software to protect its positions by withholding, or causing others to withhold, prospective trades; (c) to make it difficult to acquire or borrow securities; or (d) otherwise to interfere with the Software's objectives. For this reason, NAHD believes it is important to take extra precautions to maintain the confidentiality of the positions in the Software's portfolio. However, NAHD, in its sole discretion, may permit such disclosure on a selective basis to certain Holders, if it determines that there are sufficient confidentiality agreements and procedures in place.
Disaster Recovery
NAHD has only limited disaster recovery plans for our operations, and we rely on outside parties, including the Partners, for some key accounting and operational functions, that in turn may also have limited disaster recovery plans. There is no assurance that any of these disaster recovery plans will work, which could result in significant losses to the Software.
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Risk Management and Compliance Control
Risk management is about the selection and sizing of exposures, to maximize returns for a given level of risk. The function of risk management in the system process is to determine whether it is more prudent to eliminate or limit the size of each kind of risk exposure and to provide the input into the portfolio construction model.
Reducing risk almost always comes with the cost of reducing return. Risk management activities is focused on reducing or eliminating exposure to unnecessary risks but also taking on risks that offer expected attractive payoffs. The Managers uses a risk model in order to controls and deals with the size of unnecessary risk exposures.
Each Series of Algorithms and its models is tested to be resilient during major financial events as it is back-tested for a minimum of 3 years. Risks from past major financial event/crisis are also applied to test the resilience of these Models. Back-testing is a specific type of historical testing that determines the performance of the Model if it had actually been employed during past periods and market conditions. While back-testing does not allow one to predict how a Model will perform under future conditions, its primary benefit lies in understanding the vulnerabilities of a Model through a simulated encounter with real-world conditions of the past. This enables the Managers to "learn from history" without actually having to make them with actual money.
The Forex markets can move fast, with gains turning into losses in a matter of minutes therefore making it critical for the NAHD Team to properly manage Holder's capital. NAHD makes use of the following methods to control the risk and protect Holders' profits.
Capping Losses
Risk must be predetermined. It is the best way to make sure one's losses are controlled and the most rational time to consider risk is during the design of the model. It is acceptable to sustain a drawdown of 10% if it was the result of five consecutive losing trades that were stopped out at 2% loss each. However, it is inexcusable to lose 10% on one trade.
High Probability Profit Targets
The NAHD Team ensures that each Series of Algorithms has a winning percentage of above 50%. It means that there would be at least 50% worth of profit trades in total.
High Probability Set Up
The Manager ensures that each Series of Algorithms has a set up percentage of above 70%. It means that there would be at least 70% probability of each Series of Algorithms achieving its objective.
Tight Money Management
Half of trading is about strategy; the other half is about money management. In order to manage the risk and profits, the Manager needs to ensure that a maximum of 2% of the capital is used per trade.
Other Risks
We will need additional capital to sustain our operations and will likely need to seek further financing to accelerate our growth, which we may not be able to obtain on acceptable terms or at all. If we are unable to raise additional capital, as needed, the future growth of our business and operations would be severely limited.
A factor limiting our growth, including our ability to enter our proposed markets, attract customers, and deliver our proprietary trading software to the financial community, is our limited capitalization overall and as compared to other companies in the industry.
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We will need additional capital to bring our operations to a sustainable level over the next twelve months. In 2019, we raised approximately $124,913 from advances from our principal shareholder in connection with and after the change of control in February 2015. We believe that, in addition to the capital raised thus far, we will require up to an additional $150,000 for the next 12 months to satisfy our operating cash needs for the current business, however, additional capital may be required for the implementation of the expanded new business opportunities (as described above). The details on these new business opportunities will be provided in the coming quarters along with the required capital inflows. However, given the status of current business operations within the next 12 months, we will need to seek additional financing.
We may also seek additional financing to accelerate our growth. If we raise additional funds through the issuance of equity or convertible debt securities, the percentage ownership of the Company held by existing shareholders will be reduced and our shareholders may experience significant dilution. In addition, new securities may contain rights, preferences or privileges that are senior to those of our common stock. If we raise additional capital by incurring debt, this will result in increased interest expense. There can be no assurance that acceptable financing necessary to further implement our plan of operation can be obtained on suitable terms, if at all. Our ability to develop our business could suffer if we are unable to raise additional funds on acceptable terms, which would have the effect of limiting our ability to generate and increase our revenues, develop our products, attain profitable operations, or even may result in our business filing for bankruptcy protection or otherwise ending our operations which could result in a significant or complete loss of your investment.
We have incurred significant losses in prior periods, and losses in the future could cause the trading price of our stock to decline or have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, our ability to pay our debts as they become due and on our cash flows.
We have incurred significant losses in prior periods. Our accumulated deficit at December 31, 2019 was $12,148,029. We incurred net loss in 2019 $180,002 and a net loss in 2018 of $145,748. If we are not able to attain profitability in the near future and long-term future, the trading price of our stock could decline and our financial condition could deteriorate as we could, among other things, deplete our cash, incur additional indebtedness and issue additional equity that could cause significant dilution, all of which could have a material adverse impact on our business and prospects and result in a significant or complete loss of your investment.
We have unsecured loans that are overdue, and we will likely need to raise capital to repay the loan or will need to convert the loan to our common stock at the discretion of our principal shareholder.
During 2015, we received interest free loans from New Asia Holdings Ltd, our principal shareholder, in the aggregate principal amount of $316,533 to pay for operating expenses and investments of the Company that were due to be repaid on October 31, 2015. However, if the Company was unable to repay these loans by such date, New Asia Holdings Ltd, at its sole discretion, would have the option to extend the repayment deadline or convert all or a portion of the above Advances into Common Stock at a conversion price of $0.02 per share. As of December 31, 2019, New Asia Holdings Ltd had not yet acted to exercise its option to convert the loans to shares of common stock, thus the loans presently remain as an interest-free loan to the Company. As of December 31, 2019, we had received total interest free loans from New Asia Holdings Ltd in the aggregate principal amount of $836,452. If we are unable to repay these loans or convert the loan, this would likely have a material adverse effect on our operations, our ability to raise capital and the price of our stock.
If New Asia Holdings Ltd coverts the loan and/or we raise additional funds through the issuance of equity or convertible debt securities to pay off the loan, the percentage ownership of the Company held by existing shareholders will be reduced and our shareholders may experience significant dilution. In addition, new securities may contain rights, preferences or privileges that are senior to those of our common stock. If we raise additional capital by incurring debt, this will result in increased interest expense. There can be no assurance that acceptable financing necessary to further implement our plan of operation can be obtained on suitable terms, if at all. Our ability to develop our business could suffer if we are unable to raise additional funds on acceptable terms, which would have the effect of limiting our ability to increase our revenues, develop our products, attain profitable operations, or even may result in our business filing for bankruptcy protection or otherwise ending our operations which could result in a significant or complete loss of your investment.
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We have a limited operating history, which may make it difficult for investors to predict future performance based on current operations.
We have limited operating history upon which investors may base an evaluation of our potential future performance. As a result, there can be no assurance that we will be able to develop consistent revenue sources, or that our operations will be profitable. Our prospects must be considered in light of the risks, expenses, and difficulties frequently encountered by companies in early stage of development.
Any forecasts we make about our operations, including, without limitation, sales and plans for raising capital, may prove to be inaccurate. We must, among other things, determine appropriate risks, rewards, and level of investment in each project, respond to economic and market variables outside of our control, respond to competitive developments and continue to attract, retain and motivate qualified employees. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in meeting these challenges and addressing such risks and the failure to do so could have a materially adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. As a result, the value of your investment could be significantly reduced or completely lost.
Our independent auditors’ report for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 is qualified as to our ability to continue as a going concern.
Due to the uncertainty of our ability to meet our current operating and capital expenses, in their report on our audited annual financial statements as of and for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, our independent auditors included an explanatory paragraph regarding concerns about our ability to continue as a going concern. Recurring losses from operations raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. The presence of the going concern explanatory paragraph may have an adverse impact on the relationships we are developing and plan to develop with third parties as we continue the commercialization of our products and could make it challenging and difficult for us to raise additional financing, all of which could have a material adverse impact on our business and prospects and result in a significant or complete loss of your investment.
Our actual operating results may differ significantly from any guidance or estimates we may provide.
From time to time, we may release guidance estimates in our quarterly and annual earnings releases, quarterly and annual earnings conference calls, or otherwise, regarding our future performance that represents our management's estimates as of the date of release. Although we believe that any such guidance or estimates would provide investors and analysts with a better understanding of management's expectations for the future and could be useful to our stockholders and potential stockholders, such guidance or estimates would consist of forward-looking statements subject to the risks and uncertainties described in this report and in our other public filings and public statements. Guidance and estimates are necessarily speculative in nature, and it can be expected that some or all of the assumptions underlying the guidance or estimates may not materialize or may vary significantly from actual results. Our actual results may not always be in line with or exceed any guidance or estimates we may provide, especially in times of economic uncertainty. If our financial results for a particular period do not meet our guidance or estimates or the expectations of investors or research analysts, or if we reduce our guidance or estimates for future periods, the market price of our common stock may decline. In light of the foregoing, investors are urged not to unduly rely upon any guidance or estimates in making an investment decision regarding our common stock.
We face competition for customers from other providers of technology solutions to participants in the financial services community. If prospective customers are reluctant to switch from their existing service providers and adopt our products and services, our sales will not grow or may decline, we could be materially and adversely affected, and our stock price could decline significantly.
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Potential customers that use legacy products and services for their trading needs may believe that these products and services sufficiently achieve their purpose. In addition, an organization's existing vendors or new vendors with broad product and service offerings may be able to offer concessions to our potential customers that we are not able to match. Accordingly, organizations may continue allocating their resources and information technology budgets for legacy products and services and may not switch to our products and services. If our products and services do not find widespread marketplace acceptance, then our sales may not grow or may decline, which could materially and adversely affect us and cause our stock price to decline significantly.
We face significant competition for the types of products and services that we offer and may be unable to compete effectively for market share.
Our success depends significantly upon our ability to increase our market share, to increase our revenues from new customers and to sell additional products and product enhancements to new customers. The market for the types of products and services that we offer is intensely competitive. Our competitors may develop products that are superior to our proprietary trading software in terms of quality, ease of use, security, reliability or cost or may achieve greater market acceptance. Our competitors or potential competitors may have significantly greater financial, technical and marketing resources and access to capital than we do. As a result, they may be able to respond more quickly to new or emerging technologies and to changes in customer demands, or to devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their products and services than we can. We may be unable to compete successfully against current or future competitors, which could materially and adversely affect us and cause our stock price to decline significantly.
If functionality similar or superior to that offered by our products and services is developed by competitors, it could materially and adversely affect us and cause our stock price to decline significantly.
Large, well-established providers of trading technologies may introduce features that compete with our proprietary trading software, either in stand-alone products or as additional features to their existing technologies. In addition, other companies may emerge that offer products and services that compete with those we offer. The introduction by competitors of products and services, or the announcement of an intent to offer products and services, that include functionality perceived to be similar or superior to that offered by our platform may adversely affect our ability to market and sell our products and services, which could materially and adversely affect us and cause our stock price to decline significantly. Furthermore, even if the functionality offered by these providers is more limited than our products and services, a significant number of organizations may nevertheless subscribe to such limited functionality offered by other providers instead of our products and services, whether because they do not wish to add an additional vendor such as us, for cost reasons, for relationship reasons or otherwise.
A systemic or systematic market event that impacts the various market participants with whom we interact could materially and adversely affect us and cause our stock price to decline significantly.
In the event of deteriorating or stagnant market conditions, there could be a reduction in the types of financial instruments traded or a reduction in trading volumes of financial instruments globally. These factors could cause revenues from our customers to decrease, which could adversely affect our business and operating results, potentially materially. Our profitability may also be adversely affected by our fixed costs and the possibility that we may be unable to reduce other costs within a time frame sufficient to match any decreases in revenue relating to deteriorating conditions. Accordingly, deteriorating or stagnant market conditions could materially and adversely affect us and cause our stock price to decline significantly.
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If we do not manage our growth effectively, our operating results may be materially and adversely affected, and our stock price could decline significantly.
The growth and expansion of our business and product and service offerings will place a significant strain on our management, operational and financial resources. To manage our growth effectively, we will need to continue to improve our algorithm products, our operating, accounting, financial and administrative systems and our procedures, controls and processes, including, without limitation:
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significantly enhancing our internal controls to ensure timely and accurate reporting of all of our operations and financial results, and hiring additional personnel in areas such as accounting, finance, regulatory compliance and other important areas;
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expanding and improving our key business applications, processes and IT infrastructure, including without limitation those relating to accounting and financial reporting, to support our business needs;
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enhancing information and communication systems to ensure that our employees and officers are well-coordinated and can effectively communicate with each other and our growing customer base; and
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appropriately documenting our IT systems and our business processes.
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These improvements may require meaningful capital expenditures and allocation of management and personnel and consultant resources. Our failure to make these improvements or hire any additional necessary personnel, or the failure of our systems, procedures, controls and processes to operate in the intended manner, may result in our inability: to manage our expected growth, which could materially and adversely affect our operating results; to accurately report or forecast our revenue, expenses and earnings; or to prevent certain losses.
Failures in our compliance systems could subject us to significant legal and regulatory costs. Furthermore, if our risk management methods are not effective, our business, reputation and financial results may be adversely affected.
Our ability to comply with all applicable laws and regulations is largely dependent on our establishment and maintenance of compliance, audit and reporting systems and procedures, as well as our ability to attract and retain qualified compliance, audit and risk management personnel. These systems and procedures may not be fully effective. We face the risk of intervention by regulatory authorities, including extensive examination and surveillance activity. In the case of actual or alleged non-compliance with regulations, we could be subject to investigations and judicial or administrative proceedings that may result in penalties or civil lawsuits for damages, which can be substantial. Any failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations could adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition and operating results and, in extreme cases, our ability to conduct our business or portions thereof.
We depend on our senior management team and the loss of one or more key employees, the failure of new executive officers to integrate with our management team or our failure to attract and retain other highly qualified personnel in the future, could have a negative impact on our business.
Our success depends largely on the efforts and abilities of the key members of our senior management team, including Lin Kok Peng, PhD, who serves as the Company's Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chairman of the Board as well as a director, Jose Capote, who serves as the Company's Vice President and Secretary, and Allister Lim Wee Sing, who serves as a director of the Company. Because each member of our senior management team has a different area of specialization, the departure of any one of these individuals could create a deficiency in one of the core aspects of our business. Any failure of our management team to successfully integrate could also have a negative impact on our business. We are also dependent on the efforts of our team of technology professionals, and on our ability to recruit and retain highly skilled and often specialized personnel, particularly in light of the rapid pace of technological advances. The level of competition in the technology industry for individuals with this level of experience or these skills is intense. Significant losses of key personnel, particularly to competitors, could make it difficult for us to compete successfully. In addition, we may be unable to attract and retain qualified management and personnel in the future, including in relation to any diversification of our product and service offerings into new asset classes and/or new geographic locations.
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We will rely on revenue from licensing or subscription fees. Because we will recognize revenue from licensing or subscription fees over the term of the relevant service period, downturns or upturns in sales may impact our future operating results.
Sales of new or renewal licensing or subscription contracts may decline and fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including customer satisfaction with our products and services, the price of our products and services, the quality, ease of use and prices of products and services offered by our competitors and reductions in our customers' spending levels. Furthermore, our customers generally have no contractual obligation to renew their contracts after the initial contract term. We have no historical data with respect to rates of customer renewals, so we may not be able to accurately predict future renewal trends. If our sales of new or renewal subscription contracts decline, our future revenue and revenue growth may decline, and our business may suffer.
We may not be able to effectively manage our growth or improve our operational, financial and management information systems, which would impair our results of operations.
If we are successful in executing our business plan, we will experience growth in our business that could place a significant strain on our business operations, finances, management and other resources. Our ability to manage our growth will require us to improve our operational, financial and management information systems, and to motivate and effectively manage our employees. We cannot provide assurance that our systems, procedures and controls or financial resources will be adequate, or that our management will keep pace with this growth. We cannot provide assurance that our management will be able to manage this growth effectively, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or business.
Our ability to sell our products will be dependent in part on the quality of our technical support services, and our inability to offer high quality technical support services could adversely affect our customers' satisfaction with our products and services and could materially and adversely affect us and cause our stock price to decline significantly.
Our customers will depend on our technical support services to resolve issues relating to our service offerings. If we do not effectively onboard our customers, succeed in helping our customers quickly resolve post-onboarding issues and provide effective ongoing support, our ability to sell additional products and services to existing customers would be adversely affected and our reputation with potential new customers could be damaged. If we fail to meet the requirements of our customers, it may be more difficult to execute on our strategy to retain these customers. Our failure to maintain quality technical support services could materially and adversely affect us and cause our stock price to decline significantly.
Failure to comply with governmental laws and regulations could harm our business, materially and adversely affect us and cause our stock price to decline significantly.
Our business is subject to regulation by various federal, state, local and foreign governmental agencies, including agencies responsible for monitoring and enforcing employment and labor laws, workplace safety, product safety, environmental laws, consumer protection laws, anti-bribery laws, import/export controls, federal securities laws and tax laws and regulations. In certain jurisdictions, these regulatory requirements may be more stringent than those in the United States. Noncompliance with applicable regulations or requirements could subject us to investigations, sanctions, revocation of required licenses, enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, fines, damages, civil and criminal penalties or injunctions. If any governmental sanctions are imposed, or if we do not prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation, we could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, responding to any action will likely result in a significant diversion of management's attention and resources and an increase in legal and professional costs and expenses. We provide passive communication technology to institutional investors, such as money managers and hedge funds, that enables such investors to communicate with executing brokers, prime brokers and clearing firms with respect to securities orders that such investors may place with third party brokers through our platform.
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We do not conduct our technology business in or through our broker-dealers. As such, we must ensure that our technology activities and our compensation structure therefor would not result in our acting as an unregistered broker-dealer or investment adviser that could subject us to, among other things, regulatory enforcement actions, monetary fines, restrictions on the conduct of our technology business and rescission/damages claims by customers who use our technology. Our failure to comply with any laws or regulations, or the costs associated with defending any action alleging our noncompliance with any laws or regulations, could materially and adversely affect us and cause our stock price to decline significantly.
RISK FACTORS CONCERNING INVESTMENT IN OUR COMPANY
There is currently a limited public market for our shares, and if an active market does not develop, investors may have difficulty selling their shares.
Our common stock is currently traded on the over the counter (OTC) market on the OTCQB tier of the OTC Markets, and there is currently only a limited public trading market for our common stock. We cannot predict the extent to which investor interest in the Company and our common stock will lead to the development or continuance of an active trading market or how liquid that trading market for our common stock might become. If an active trading market for our common stock does not develop or is not sustained, it may be difficult for investors to sell shares, particularly large quantities, of our common stock at a price that is attractive or at all. As a result, an investment in our common stock may be illiquid and investors may not be able to liquidate their investment readily or at all when they desire to sell.
Regulation of penny stocks.
The SEC has adopted a number of rules to regulate "penny stocks." Because the securities of the Company may constitute "penny stocks" within the meaning of the rules (as any equity security that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share or with an exercise price of less than $5.00 per share, other than a security registered on certain national securities exchanges or quoted on the NASDAQ system, provided that current price and volume information with respect to transactions in that security are provided by the exchange or system), the rules would apply to the Company and to its securities. The SEC has adopted Rule 15g-9 which established sales practice requirements for certain low-price securities. Unless the transaction is exempt, it shall be unlawful for a broker or dealer to sell a penny stock to, or to effect the purchase of a penny stock by, any person unless prior to the transaction: (i) the broker or dealer has approved the person's account for transactions in penny stock pursuant to this rule and (ii) the broker or dealer has received from the person a written agreement to the transaction setting forth the identity and quantity of the penny stock to be purchased. In order to approve a person's account for transactions in penny stock, the broker or dealer must: (a) obtain from the person information concerning the person's financial situation, investment experience, and investment objectives; (b) reasonably determine that transactions in penny stock are suitable for that person, and that the person has sufficient knowledge and experience in financial matters that the person reasonably may be expected to be capable of evaluating the risks of transactions in penny stock; (c) deliver to the person a written statement setting forth the basis on which the broker or dealer made the determination (i) stating in a highlighted format that it is unlawful for the broker or dealer to affect a transaction in penny stock unless the broker or dealer has received, prior to the transaction, a written agreement to the transaction from the person; and (ii) stating in a highlighted format immediately preceding the customer signature line that (A) the broker or dealer is required to provide the person with the written statement and (B) the person should not sign and return the written statement to the broker or dealer if it does not accurately reflect the person's financial situation, investment experience, and investment objectives; and (d) receive from the person a manually signed and dated copy of the written statement.
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It is also required that disclosure be made as to the risks of investing in penny stock and the commissions payable to the broker-dealer, as well as current price quotations and the remedies and rights available in cases of fraud in penny stock transactions. Statements, on a monthly basis, must be sent to the investor listing recent prices for the "penny stock" and information on the limited market. Shareholders should be aware that, according to SEC Release No. 34-29093, the market for penny stocks has suffered in recent years from patterns of fraud and abuse. Such patterns include: (i) control of the market for the security by one or a few broker-dealers that are often related to the promoter or issuer; (ii) manipulation of prices through prearranged matching of purchases and sales and false and misleading press releases; (iii) "boiler room" practices involving high pressure sales tactics and unrealistic price projections by inexperienced sales persons; (iv) excessive and undisclosed bid ask differential and markups by selling broker-dealers; and (v) the wholesale dumping of the same securities by promoters and broker dealers after prices have been manipulated to a desired level, along with the resulting inevitable collapse of those prices and with consequent investor losses. The Company's management is aware of the abuses that have occurred historically in the penny stock market. Although the Company does not expect to be in a position to dictate the behavior of the market or of broker-dealers who participate in the market, management will strive within the confines of practical limitations to prevent the described patterns from being established with respect to the Company's securities.
There is limited liquidity in our common stock, which may adversely affect your ability to sell your shares of common stock.
The market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly in response to a number of factors, some of which are beyond our control. These factors include, but are not limited to:
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the announcement of new products or product enhancements by us or our competitors;
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developments concerning intellectual property rights and regulatory approvals relating to us;
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quarterly variations in our results or the results of our competitors;
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the ability or inability of us to generate sales;
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developments in our industry and target markets;
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the number of market makers who are willing to continue to make a market in our stock and the market or exchange on which they decide to make a market in our stock, which may, among other things, result in our stock being traded on the exchanges that may be unattractive to investors such as "pink sheets"; and
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general market conditions and other factors, including factors unrelated to our own operating performance.
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In recent years, the stock market in general has experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. Continued market fluctuations could result in extreme volatility in the price of shares of our common stock, which could cause a decline in the value of our shares. Price volatility may be accentuated if trading volume of our common stock is low. The volatility in our stock may be combined with low trading volume. Any or all of these above factors could adversely affect your ability to sell your shares or, if you are able to sell your shares, to sell your shares at a price that you determine to be fair or favorable.
Dependence upon outside advisors.
To supplement the business experience of its officers and directors, the Company may be required to employ accountants, technical experts, appraisers, attorneys, or other consultants or advisors. The selection of any such advisors will be made by the Company's officers, without any input by shareholders. Furthermore, it is anticipated that such persons may be engaged on an as needed basis without a continuing fiduciary or other obligation to the Company. In the event the officers of the Company consider it necessary to hire outside advisors, he may elect to hire persons who are affiliates, if those affiliates are able to provide the required services.
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We may issue additional shares of common stock or preferred stock in the future, which could cause significant dilution to all shareholders.
We have a large amount of authorized but unissued common stock and preferred stock which our Board of Directors may issue without shareholder approval. We will need additional capital to bring our operations to a sustainable level over the next twelve months and may seek this capital in the form of equity financing. We may also seek to raise additional equity capital in the future to fund business alliances, develop new prototypes, and grow our services, manufacturing and sales capabilities organically or otherwise.
In addition to additional issuances of our common stock or preferred stock in private placements or public offerings, we may issue shares as part or all of the consideration in any merger, acquisition, joint venture or other strategic alliance that we enter.
Any issuance of additional shares of our common stock or preferred stock will dilute the percentage ownership interest of all shareholders and may dilute the book value per share of our common stock and may negatively impact the market price of our common stock.
We have not in the past and we do not currently intend to pay cash dividends on our common stock.
We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our common stock. We currently intend on retaining any future earnings to fund our operations and growth and do not expect to pay cash dividends in the foreseeable future of the common stock. Future dividends, if any, will be determined by our board of directors, based upon our earnings, financial condition, capital resources, capital requirements, charter restrictions, contractual restrictions, and such other factors as our board of directors deem relevant.