In markets like Indonesia, retail investor bases have crossed 20 million by the end of 2025, a 37% increase from 2024*. That growth has continued in the early half of 2026, supported in part by engagement from younger, mobile-first consumers seeking expanded access to financial tools.1,2However, while the number of investors has increased, the growth in holdings of US equities hasn’t kept pace, increasing from $1 billion USD in 2021 to $1.4 billion USD by 2025.3,4 While there have been brief spikes reflecting an appetite for US equities, many investors still face structural barriers to entry, including currency conversion costs, tax complexity, and capital requirements that keep global markets out of reach for many retail participants.5,6,7
Gotrade, a leading investment app in Southeast Asia, was built to address these barriers and help local investors tap into global market opportunities. We recently spoke with Aditya Hendraatmaja, Director of Operations at Gotrade, to understand the company's growth trajectory, its recent product expansions into options and 24/5 trading, and what it takes to serve a fast-growing investor base in Southeast Asia's largest economy.8
Lowering the Barrier to Global Entry
Founded in 2019 by Norman Wanto, Rohit Mulani, and David Grant, Gotrade was built on the belief that investing should be simple and accessible to everyone.
“The founding team saw that across Southeast Asia and other emerging markets, millions were locked out of global investing due to high fees, large minimums, and regulatory complexities. Their solution was to build a simple, intuitive platform that allows anyone to invest in US stocks with as little as $1,” explained Hendraatmaja.
Gotrade’s approach goes beyond product features. "We focus on making investing feel simple, safe, and empowering," says Hendraatmaja. "Indonesia is a fast-growing and dynamic market. That's why we localize where it matters, from payment rails to onboarding to educational content."
The platform's growth reflects the demand. Since launch, Gotrade has grown to serve more than one million users.
“By lowering investing barriers, we’re seeing strong user adoption and continued growth, which signals that more people are gaining access to investing than before,” added Hendraatmaja.
Expanding the Partnership with Alpaca
Gotrade has worked with Alpaca since its early days. The original integration provided Southeast Asian users with direct access to US stocks and ETFs via Alpaca's Broker API.
As Gotrade's user base grew and demand for more product types increased, the companies chose to deepen the partnership and expand the scope of what they were building together.
"Working with the Alpaca team has been highly collaborative and supportive from the start," says Hendraatmaja. "They were responsive, technically strong, and genuinely invested in helping us build a reliable platform. It felt like a true partnership built around shared goals."
Building on its existing integration with Alpaca’s Broker API, Gotrade enables its users to:
- Access US Stocks and ETFs and trade with $1 minimums
- Access 24/5 trading, allowing users more control over when they engage with the market
- Trade options strategies, including calls and puts, adding more flexibility in how they manage positions
- Access a high-yield cash solution designed to help eligible users earn yield on idle cash balances.
“For a startup like Gotrade, time-to-market is everything,” added Hendraatmaja. “Being able to roll out options trading, 24/5 trading, and high-yield cash quickly means we can compete with, and even stay ahead of, much larger and more established players in the market. Alpaca's agility as an infrastructure partner allows us to move fast, respond to user demand, and continuously expand our product offering without the long development cycles that typically come with launching new financial products.”
"We are excited to support Gotrade as they continue to build and expand their product range and empower investors across the globe," says Yoshi Yokokawa, Co-founder and CEO of Alpaca. "At Alpaca, our goal is to be the operating system for financial services, so that partners like Gotrade can focus on product expansion and delivering great experiences for their users."
A Roadmap for Continued Expansion
Since 2021, Gotrade has seen strong, steady growth as more Indonesian investors gain access to US markets through the platform.
“Over the past few years, our cumulative deposited user base has tripled, reflecting growing adoption as investors become more comfortable investing globally,” said Hendraatmaja. “During the same period, trading activity has expanded even faster, with cumulative trading volume increasing by 11×. This indicates that as users gain confidence and experience on the platform, they tend to deepen their engagement and participate more actively in the market rather than remain passive investors. Much of this growth has been driven by continuous improvements to the product and by users gradually increasing both their capital allocation and trading activity over time.”
The introduction of options and 24/5 trading represents the latest phase of product evolution for Gotrade. These features are designed to serve both experienced traders seeking more sophisticated strategies and existing users looking for greater flexibility in accessing the market. “While our focus remains on sustainable growth rather than short-term spikes, we believe these features will help accelerate the growth trajectory of both trading activity and assets as more users adopt advanced trading strategies,” added Hendraatmaja.
Looking ahead, Gotrade is exploring opportunities to introduce wider global market access and securities lending, both of which align with its goal of giving users more tools to optimize how they invest and manage their assets.
Contact Alpaca
About Gotrade
Gotrade is a mobile app-based stock investing application that enables users to invest as little as $1 in fractional shares of U.S. stocks on an easy-to-use investing platform. It was launched in 2019 with the vision of making investing fun, fair and simple for everyone, everywhere. Instruments on Gotrade are offered through Gotrade Securities Inc. Instruments on Gotrade Indonesia are offered through PT Valbury Asia Futures, a Bappebti-licensed broker-dealer established in Indonesia in 1999.
References
- Pekan Terakhir di Januari 2026, Investor Pasar Modal Indonesia Lampaui Angka 21 Juta, Indonesia Stock Exchange, January 30, 2026
- Emerging Markets Deep-Dive: Indonesia - The Growth Platform for EM Founders, Lisk, Accessed May 26, 2026
- Foreign Portfolio Holdings of U.S. Securities P 59, Department of the Treasury, April 2025
- Foreign Portfolio Holdings of U.S. Securities as of June 30, 2025, Department of the Treasury, June 30, 2025
- Best Brokers for Buying US Stocks for Investors in Indonesia in 2026, BrokerChooser, May 6, 2026
- Gotrade gets $7M led by LocalGlobe to let investors around the world buy fractional shares of U.S. stocks, TechCrunch, June 24, 2021
- Best Stock Brokers in Indonesia in 2026, BrokerChooser, May 6, 2026
- Indonesia, World Bank Group, accessed May 10, 2026
*Calculation of 37% increase from 2024: (20,364,208 - 14,871,639)/14,871,639 = 37%The content of this blog is for general informational purposes only. All examples are for illustrative purposes only.
Alpaca is not affiliated with Gotrade, and neither is responsible for the liabilities of others.
Fractional share trading allows a customer to buy and sell fractional share quantities and dollar amounts of certain securities. Fractional share trading presents unique risks and is subject to particular limitations that you should be aware of before engaging in such activity. See Alpaca Customer Agreement at https://alpaca.markets/disclosures for more details.
Options trading is not suitable for all investors due to its inherent high risk, which can potentially result in significant losses. Please read Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options before investing.
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