INTRODUCTION
Over four months (April–July ’25), Groww assembled a small team to take on the mammoth task of building a new terminal brand from scratch—fully customizable and packed with advanced tools never before offered on Groww, designed specifically for ultra-pro traders. I led the planning, research, and design of the core architecture, widgets, and components in a fast-paced agile environment.
TIMELINE
April '25 - Aug '25
ROLE
UX & core functionality
TEAM
2 PM, 2 Designers, 15 engineers
HOW IT BEGAN
At Groww, I’ve spent 4 years building trading-first products — from charts, product pages to terminals. Naturally, most of them were App-first — mobile is where India trades.
But talk to highly experienced traders, and you see a different picture: multi-monitor setups, fast execution, endless data streams. This is where a web setup shines.
On Groww we had a basic web terminal:
Groww terminal, as on Jan '25
Fixed chart area
Fixed side-panel for widgets
Panel menu
THIS SETUP ONLY WORKED FOR CASUAL TRADERS
Casual traders used the terminal but left as they matured, while pro traders never arrived. Despite this known pattern, web remained deprioritized at Groww since pro traders, though higher ARPU, are fewer in India.
This changed in late 2024, when a business mindset shift led us to study their behavior across cities. Here's what we found:
PROBLEM
Power traders felt left out, here's why
1. Lack of control on setup
We noticed that compared to casual traders, pro traders have variety of styles, each shaped by their nuanced strategy. It became clear they need control over their setup to execute them.
I want to see chart, watchlist & option chain in one screen, have to use multi-monitors for this.
Prashant,41, full-time trader
I want a full chart view & need more OI analysis
Ganesh,32, part-time trader
5 steps to go from NIFTY to BANKNIFTY chart
2. Lack of power tools
All users ask for features, but power traders truly depend on them. Without these features, they will not stay on the platform. We did a comprehensive study ranking top tools used by these traders.
90% of traders
10% power traders
no. of tools used
50+
4
3. Beginner-friendly brand image of Groww
A general perception in trading community was that Groww is only for beginners. So even when we built lot of tools they had mentioned over time, they just never thought of the platform to cater to them.
While Groww offers a user-friendly platform suitable for beginners, it may not fully satisfy the needs of more advanced traders
~ summary from 16 citations across subreddits like r/IndianStreetBets
INCREMENTAL SOLUTIONS
Improving terminal, bit by bit
As we collected this data from traders, we tried incremental solutions parallely to get early signs & judge how much we want to invest in a web platform.
Adding a second panel
Our first attempt at customisation was a simple layout selector that let's you add and move two panels besides your chart. Released this in late '24
✅ Solved for use-cases like looking at chart + positions + orders together
❌ Everything still revolved around charts
Launched on Groww Terminal, '25
More data & panel control
I started iterating on treating panels more independently, re-sizable & collapsable. This was shown to traders as a closed alpha demo in early '25
✅ Traders had position control over panels & see more data-points on re-sizing
❌ The panels were still tied to the right menu
Iteration discussed with a small team
Towards a new architecture
Our strongest conviction based on trader's usage pattern came on a start-by-scratch approach. A DIY fully customisable approach
✅ Traders get full control. Widget type, data, size, position, arrangement.
⚠️ Required a complete re-haul
Prototype discussed with founders & larger teams
The decision was whether to bet on the business outcome of a radical web investment—pursuing a niche top-trader segment we hadn’t targeted before.
In mid-2025, we went all in.
FINAL SOLUTION
A new terminal brand for top traders
By April ’25, stakeholders agreed that a full system rehaul like this required a new brand. Groww’s beginner-friendly image wouldn’t inspire trust among top traders.
A pro trader identity as opposed to Groww's beginner friendly
Cool, sleak design style but no compromise on customisability and data complexity
inspiration of charts, B2B softwares etc.
Structure
A blank canvas & layouts
It starts with a blank canvas. You can build multiple layouts on this canvas. A single layout can start either from one of our presets or from scratch
Live build screen-recorded
Add widgets, drag & place it on the canvas
What were fixed panels and components in Groww, are widgets in 915. Chose the ones you want, place them where you want. All re-sizable. Their structure changes as per sizes.
Live build screen-recorded
Widgets
My task here was two-fold. To create pro & responsive versions of existing components in Groww plus create entirely new advance ones.
RE-DESIGNED
Positions
For positions, we tackled two major trader issues. Since they have 10+ positions at a given time, quickly recognising which ones are in loss, with quick action on them.
Groww
Detailed summary, quick access to actions and colour code to identify losing positions quickly
Compact version on dragging down width
RE-DESIGNED
Watchlist
For watchlist, more data points and details on a watchlist item was a heavy ask from pro traders. I ensured visibility of depth & high-low remains intact in all sizes.
Groww
Depth and 52W data on each row items
Compact version on reducing width
RE-DESIGNED
Option chain
This widget has the highest row density, with each strike carrying extensive data (Greeks, etc.). Instead of collapsing, it adapts by progressively reducing visible columns as the width shrinks.
Adding contracts from option chain to basket
New global basket or cart holds all contracts
NEW
Scalper
Scalping trades last only seconds, so missing a moment can mean missing the trade. Scalpers rely on speed, with no tabs or extra steps slowing them down. That is why Scalper Mode works like a game, with charts for Call, Put and Spot at the top and fast order controls at the bottom.
NEW
Strategy builder
A new tool to build new trading strategies from contracts. Traders can choose from pre-built templates or create new ones. This was the early proposed demo.
figma prototype, this was yet to be built when I was designing
Themes
As I was building the core structure and detailing widget specs, I started a collaborative effort of designing themes for the platform with Rahul (@hckmstrrahul).
He started working out brand guidelines and themes to go on 915
Multi-theme customisation
The theme system began as a visual delight but could evolve into granular control over fonts, sizes, layout—allowing, for instance, traders accustomed to complex, traditional dashboards to tailor it to their needs.
live build screen-recorded
live build screen-recorded
theme changes according to your profit/loss
Tokens & components
A major challenge was creating components and a token system that could scale with theming under tight timelines. I prioritized building components first, then layered in color tokens as they became ready.
tokenising colours for theme switch
Feedback & testing
We completed an MVP with all key widgets in 3–4 months, supported by a dedicated team of 12 engineers working in agile sprints. We then rolled it out to small cohorts, iterated on feedback, and launched publicly in August.
Over the time we conducted various events and had in-person trader chat sessions to showcase and get their feedbacks.
Reach out for details on metrics.