Ed Chen

Authenticated Enterprise Systems

Authenticated Financial Platforms at Enterprise Scale
ACY Securities · 100K+ Traders · 5 Product Lines · 40+ Regulated Markets

Designed the authenticated financial ecosystem at ACY Securities — one design system governing 5 product lines, 100K+ traders, and 40+ regulated jurisdictions. Regulatory updates ship in days because the architecture was built for change, not patched after the fact.

ACY Securities platform ecosystem showing integrated design system across multiple products

Regulatory Foundation

Designed a modular system where new regulatory requirements slot in — 2+ years of ASIC/FCA updates shipped without redesigning from scratch

Scope

Brand + Web + Platform

Business Impact

Enterprise-scale platform, 40+ countries, 5+ product lines unified

System Scalability

Design system enabled autonomous implementation across 5 product lines

ACY Securities Ecosystem

Built the unified design system spanning 5 product lines — cross-functional delivery with Engineering, Legal, and Product.

View Complete System →

Top-Tier Platform Evaluation

Independent broker reviews testing 80+ platforms. While evaluating the entire ACY ecosystem, these reviews specifically highlight the intuitive user experience and clean interface as key competitive advantages—validating our design strategy's impact on brand perception and user trust.

Independent broker review highlighting platform usability and clean interface design
— ForexBrokers.com (2025)

Independent review examining ACY's multi-jurisdictional regulatory compliance framework
— Independent Broker Analysis (2026)

Finlogix

High-density market data platform for professional traders processing 1,000+ real-time signals daily — applying Bloomberg Terminal-style data maximalism. Redesigned information architecture reduced analysis time by 40% while maintaining expert-level data density.

Bloomberg-Caliber Data UI Expert-User Research

LogixTrader

Institutional-grade trading terminal featuring stateful multi-monitor orchestration and 60fps high-frequency rendering. Optimized for sub-second decision-making where UI latency directly impacts P&L.

Multi-Monitor Orchestration System Latency Optimization

ACY Connect

Institutional B2B infrastructure serving prime brokers via FIX 4.4 Protocol. Architected documentation and credential systems with precise Tag 150/39 state-machine mapping for global liquidity connectivity.

FIX Protocol Mapping State-Machine Logic

LogixPanel CRM

Enterprise CRM powering relationship managers across 100K+ accounts. Implemented deterministic audit-trail architecture and role-based fiduciary gates to ensure compliance in high-stakes advisor workflows.

Audit-Trail Architecture Fiduciary UX Governance

TradingCup

Authenticated copy trading platform with secure account linking and real-time portfolio mirroring. Democratizing expert strategies through transparent risk visualization in login-protected environment.

Authenticated Platform Risk UI

ACY Design System

The System

150+ production components. Unified interaction system across 5 product lines. Built to scale — Marketing, Product, and Engineering under one architecture. Measurably reduced developer implementation time by 30–40%. Full responsive coverage mobile to 4K, with prototype animations for zero-gap developer handoff.

Finlogix high-density market data platform interface

Explore Design System →

Design Constraints in Practice

Designing Within
Regulated Constraints

Regulatory requirements aren't legal hurdles — they're design specifications. I translate constraints into reusable design systems, so teams ship faster on every subsequent update.

ASIC (Australia)

How do you tell users their funds are at risk without killing conversion? Leverage caps and disclosure rules forced honest hierarchy and clear copywriting.

FINRA / SEC (US)

Suitability questionnaires as a UX challenge: making required risk disclosures feel like user protection, not legal fine print.

COPPA (US) ⚠️

Age-gating architecture — where one UX sequencing decision determines how a regulatory requirement scales across the entire product.

ESMA (EU)

Inducement bans as a creativity constraint: designing engaging promotions when direct incentives are prohibited.

FTC / Consumer Protection (US)

Designing claims that are both compelling and substantiable — where copywriting decisions become legal decisions.

WCAG 2.1 AA

Global accessibility standards for inclusive financial terminals — view accessibility strategy

What the Constraint-as-Brief Approach Produced

150+

Reusable Design Components

Forms, modals, consent flows, disclosure patterns — built once, applied across regulatory updates without redesigning from scratch.

40–60%

Faster Execution on Regulatory Updates

When new ASIC/FCA requirements landed, the modular system adapted in days. Compliance updates became design system patches, not emergency redesigns.

8+

Regulatory Updates Without Rewrites

Modular architecture means independent modules swap out when regulations change — the system keeps running, teams keep shipping.

Regulatory Compliance Architecture How 150+ components enforce SEC · FINRA · ASIC · WCAG 2.1 AA at the system level

COMPLIANCE STATUS BOARD
                                Last Audit: PASSED
                                Violations: 0
                                --:--:--
                            
JURISDICTION STATUS
KYC / AML PIPELINE
DISCLOSURE GATE STATUS
RISK & AUDIT METRICS
RECENT AUDIT TRAIL

                            Design System:150+ components
                            |
                            WCAG 2.1 AA:100%
                            |
                            Color-Blind Safe:FSA Enabled
                            |
                            Themes:Light + Dark
                        

Live Interactive Demo Exchange-Level Infrastructure — What 5 Years in Regulated Financial Markets Produces

                                AAPL 182.48 ▲0.23(+0.13%)
                                MSFT 415.27 ▲1.18(+0.28%)
                                NVDA 891.43 ▼2.10(-0.23%)
                                SPY  524.18 ▲0.87(+0.17%)
                            

                                NYSE OPEN
                                VIX 18.43
                                09:31:04
                            

                                    L3 Order Book · AAPL
                                    —
                                
ORDSIZEBID
SPD
ASKSIZEORD

                                    Imbal: —
                                    Sweep: —
                                
AAPL · 1m Candlestick
                                            O:—
                                            H:—
                                            L:—
                                            C:—
                                        

                                        Active Positions · Real-Time P&L
                                        Total: —
                                    

                            Microstructure
                            Kyle's λ: 0.0032
                            Toxic Flow: 23.4%
                            OFI(5s): +14.2%
                            Spread: 1.8 bps
                            T2Q: 0.0012
                            F9 Execute  ·  Ctrl+R Sort  ·  Alt+O Order Ladder
                        
SOR Routing

🖥️

TradeX Institutional Terminal

L2/L3 Order Book · Portfolio Risk Matrix · Compliance

🧠

AI-Native Hedge Fund Dashboard

Causal Intelligence · Alpha Attribution · 2026 Vision

COPPA (US) — Consent-First Sequencing: Designed age-verification and stepped consent flows where verification gates data collection — not the reverse. Applied the same sequencing principle to KYC onboarding at ACY Securities: required disclosures at the point of need, not as a front-loaded wall that drives abandonment.

AI & Emerging Technology

Using AI Tools in Product Design
Application-Level Integration & Prototyping

I leverage LLM APIs and automation tools to prototype faster and test concepts with real functionality. By connecting APIs (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) and configuring workflows (MCP, n8n), I solve complex product problems at the application level. My primary focus: designing interfaces that make AI outputs transparent and trustworthy in financial contexts.

What I Do with AI Tools

Connect APIs to Prototype Faster

Functional prototypes connected to live LLM APIs — stakeholders test real AI behavior, not static mockups. Example: Nova uses Claude API for live risk assessments with probability ranges.

Design Interfaces That Show AI Limitations

Financial products can't hide uncertainty. I design transparency into the interface — confidence levels, data provenance, and disclaimers — applying the same patterns as ASIC/FINRA compliance. e.g. "70–85% probability" · "based on 2020–2024 price history" · "not financial advice"

Configure Tools (MCP, n8n) to Automate Repetitive Tasks

Automation pipelines for batch processing, content generation, and data formatting — connecting existing tools to eliminate repetitive work, not writing custom algorithms.

The Value Proposition: API-first integration means teams can test real AI behavior with stakeholders in days — no model training required.

Practical AI Projects (LinkedIn Documented)

These are real projects I've built using LLM APIs and AI tools — not concepts, not research. Each demonstrates practical application of AI in product design contexts.

Nova

Portfolio analysis platform with explainable AI — confidence intervals for financial predictions

HorizonSync

AI-powered timezone coordination for distributed teams — algorithmic scheduling optimization

Resumake

Open-source resume builder built with AI assistance — professional features without the subscription cost

CEREBRO

Cognitive assessment platform with adaptive difficulty and real-time score analysis

TrueWorth

AI-powered valuation analysis — integrating LLM reasoning with financial data

Jupiter

Collaborative digital art platform empowering artists to build dynamic, colorful visual art

Verification: All projects documented on LinkedIn with screenshots and project details. Available for detailed technical walkthrough during interview.

Featured: Nova AI — Explainable AI Architecture for Finance

Nova demonstrates AI transparency for high-stakes financial contexts — interfaces that explicitly surface:

• Confidence Intervals: Every AI prediction shows probability ranges — users see "70-85% confidence" instead of false precision
• Data Provenance: Clear labels distinguishing "historical price data" (deterministic) from "AI-generated forecast" (probabilistic)
• Risk Disclaimers: Regulatory-compliant warnings that AI predictions are not financial advice (ASIC/FINRA pattern applied to prototype)

Tested with retail traders — feedback: "Finally, an AI tool that doesn't pretend to know the future." A prototype demonstrating AI feature design for regulated financial environments.

View Nova Case Study →

Evidence Ledger

Outcomes, Ownership,
and Verifiable Signals

Five years designing regulated financial products — system ownership, measurable delivery, and verifiable outcomes. Specific metrics and case details available in interview.

MEASURABLE OUTCOMES

System Impact Through Process Discipline

35% faster implementation · 40+ countries · 5+ product lines

System Scalability — One architecture serving 40+ countries, flexible patterns built into the core from day one.
Design System Governance — Modular system adopted across 5+ product lines with documentation and engineering alignment.
Engineering Velocity — 35% faster implementation through Storybook-standard handoffs and developer documentation.
Regulatory Resilience — ASIC/FCA updates shipped in days. The system was architected to accommodate compliance change, not resist it.

MY DESIGN ROLE

Design Contribution Within Cross-Functional Team

150+ components authored · 5 product lines · 150-person cross-functional org

UI/UX Design Leadership: Established design standards across 5 product lines — defining interaction patterns, visual systems, and research frameworks that enabled engineering teams to execute autonomously. Built documentation and handoff processes that scaled design decisions beyond my direct involvement.
Design System Architecture: Authored 150+ components, interaction patterns, motion language, documentation framework, and developer handoff standards. Worked closely with frontend engineers to ensure technical feasibility and production implementation.
Scaling Design Through Systems: Designed component infrastructure that enabled a 150-person cross-functional organization to deliver consistent, compliant UIs across 40+ countries — empowering PMs and engineers to assemble interfaces autonomously.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partnered with Legal on regulatory requirements, Product Management on roadmap prioritization, Engineering on technical constraints, Marketing on content strategy, and C-suite on strategic vision.
Executive Communication Support: Designed presentation materials for C-suite stakeholders (investor briefings, board decks, strategic planning documents).
End-to-End Design Process: Led user research, strategic framing, prototyping, and visual QA across the full product lifecycle.

VERIFIABLE SIGNALS

Public References

Awwwards Nominee · GitHub Open Source · Live Libraries · Data Verification

DOMAIN DEDICATION

Bridging the Knowledge Gap

Yale Financial Markets · Nobel Laureate Robert Shiller · Applied to leverage warning design

Yale University: Financial Markets (Robert Shiller) — When I joined ACY Securities, I realized I could design trading interfaces but didn't truly understand what I was designing. I knew how to make "Buy/Sell" buttons, but I didn't understand derivatives pricing, risk management frameworks, or why certain regulatory disclosures existed. To fix this, I completed Yale's Financial Markets course (taught by Nobel Laureate Robert Shiller) to systematically learn:
- Market structure: How derivatives, options, and futures actually work (not just their UI representations)
- Risk models: Why leverage limits exist and how margin calls cascade through systems
- Behavioral finance: Why users make irrational trading decisions under stress (and how design can prevent catastrophic losses)
- Regulatory rationale: The economic reasoning behind disclosure requirements (not just "Legal says we need this")
Applied Learning: This wasn't academic curiosity — it directly improved my design work. Understanding margin call mechanics helped me design ACY's leverage warning system that shows traders exactly how much price movement would trigger liquidation before they enter a position. Today, my design architecture is driven by market realities and regulatory rationale — not just UX heuristics.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Navigating Stakeholder Disagreement

Legal 47-field negotiation · Engineering Canvas API · CEO "Robinhood" pushback resolved

Legal vs. UX Trade-offs: When Legal required adding 47 disclosure fields to onboarding (ASIC/FCA compliance), data showed 73% drop-off. Proposed tabbed information architecture with error prevention gates — Legal initially rejected. Built interactive prototype demonstrating all fields visible within 2 clicks. After 3-week negotiation involving C-suite mediation, Legal approved conditional implementation with audit trail.
Engineering Constraints: Design system required Canvas API animations for trading charts. Engineering cited performance concerns for low-end devices. Conducted joint profiling sessions, identified specific bottleneck (re-render loops). Redesigned animation architecture using requestAnimationFrame batching. Engineering validated solution, became advocate for design system adoption.
Executive Misalignment: C-suite pushed for "Robinhood-style minimalism" in B2B trading terminal. Professional traders explicitly rejected simplified UI (verbatim: "I need density, not whitespace"). Presented side-by-side usability data (task completion 40% slower with minimal UI). CEO approved information-dense design with "clean chaos" visual language after reviewing session recordings.
Reality Check: These conflicts took weeks to resolve, not one meeting. Success required building trust through repeated collaboration, not "winning" with a single data point.

RESEARCH PROCESS

Data-Driven Decision Making

170+ Hotjar sessions · 15 user tests · 8.2s → 2.9s order placement (64% faster)

Research Methodology: Established 5-step research-to-design pipeline using Hotjar (170+ session recordings) to convert behavioral data into stakeholder-convincing evidence.
Hypothesis Testing: Qualitative testing of 3 design variants with 15 traders uncovered critical usability gaps — directional findings validated post-launch through production telemetry, with order placement improving from 8.2s → 2.9s (64.63% faster).
Stakeholder Persuasion: Used quantitative data (heatmaps showing 85% CTA visibility) to win executive approval for design system investment by proving user behavior, not just defending opinions.
Note: Detailed research protocols and methodology shared during interview.

Selected Works

Selected
Projects

These projects show how I work from problem framing to shipped output.

01

Christie's Real Estate

UHNW Client Experience & Luxury Brand Design

Designed the digital platform for ultra-high-net-worth ($50M+) real estate clients — translating 250 years of Christie's brand authority into a digital-first editorial experience. Navigated competing priorities across NYC and London stakeholders, designing a relationship-first model where digital tools enhance broker relationships rather than replace them.

UHNW Client UX Luxury Brand Strategy Stakeholder Alignment Editorial Design

Private banking relevance: Serving $50M+ property buyers = the same trust model, white-glove expectations, and relationship-first design philosophy required for UHNW wealth management clients

Live Platform → Case Study →

02

ReactΩ

Production-Ready Component System

50+ typed React components with monorepo structure and documentation. Built from recurring implementation needs in product teams.

React 18+ TypeScript Canvas API Turborepo

What this project shows: Design system thinking with implementation discipline

Live Library → GitHub →

03

Xanthos Private Bank

Private Banking UX Concept · UHNW Wealth Management

Five interconnected flows for a fictional private bank serving $28M+ net worth households: client portfolio dashboard, RM briefing intelligence, investment proposal flows, life event planning, and UHNW onboarding. Designed to demonstrate B2B2C architecture where technology enhances the advisor-client relationship.

UHNW Client Portal RM Briefing Tools FINRA · SEC · AML B2B2C Architecture

What this shows: Private banking domain fluency — light theme, low density, compliance as service, and the advisor-client relationship model that separates wealth management from retail trading

Case Study →

04

TradeX hedge fund dashboard with AI-native intelligence overlay

TradeX Institutional

AI-Native Hedge Fund & Institutional Trading Design

Two-part institutional design exploration: (1) AI-native hedge fund dashboard with causal intelligence overlays, liquidity stress visualization, and real-time alpha attribution; (2) Bloomberg Terminal-inspired institutional trading terminal with Level 2 Order Book, Portfolio Risk Matrix, and SEC/FINRA-compliant execution workflows. Based on primary research with portfolio managers.

Hedge Fund UX Bloomberg-Caliber Density Risk Visualization $100M–$50B AUM Context

What this shows: Institutional-grade systems thinking — data density, risk architecture, and the design decisions that separate professional trading tools from consumer-grade interfaces

AI Hedge Fund Dashboard → Institutional Terminal →

05

PawsRoam

Full-Stack Product Ownership · 0-to-1 Founder

Founded and shipped a live React + Firebase marketplace — from 7 months of Tokyo field research to deployed MVP. End-to-end product ownership: product strategy, UX design, full-stack engineering, and market launch. No handoffs.

React + Firebase Full-Stack Live MVP

What this proves: 0-to-1 product thinking across the full stack — designed, built, and shipped without a team

Visit Platform → Case Study →

View Full Case Study Archive →

Design Stance

Embracing Constraints as Design Architecture

How I turn regulatory requirements, technical constraints, and business limitations into better design systems.

Compliance isn't just a hurdle—it's a guide. In finance, the best products feel right because they respect every rule of the game.

I've learned to view ASIC leverage caps, GDPR consent flows, and FCA marketing restrictions not as obstacles to clean UI, but as design constraints that reveal which solutions are truly robust.

In regulated environments, designers who thrive aren't the ones who tolerate constraints — they're the ones who use constraints to build better systems.

Constraint-First Framing

Map regulatory, technical, and business constraints before sketching a single screen. The constraints ARE the brief.

Prototype the Risk

Build the compliance-critical path first. If the hardest flow works, everything else follows.

Ship with Legal in the Room

Legal isn't a reviewer at the end of the process — they're a collaborator from day one. Design decisions made with full regulatory context don't need to be unwound later.

Systemize for the Next Crisis

Every solved problem becomes a reusable pattern. When regulations change, the system adapts in days, not months.

Multidimensional Design

Beyond the Screen

Design isn't just what I do — it's how I see the world. From regulated enterprise platforms to independent product launches, every domain teaches me something new about systems, constraints, and craft.

🌏 Cross-Cultural Design Leadership

Designing Across Markets: SF · Tokyo · Taipei

Led design initiatives across APAC and Western markets, navigating regulatory frameworks (ASIC, FCA, FINRA) and cultural expectations. Trained distributed design teams on localization beyond translation — from hierarchy perception to risk disclosure patterns.

40+

Countries Supported

5+

Regulatory Jurisdictions

3

Time Zones Coordinated

"Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing."

— Warren Buffett

In financial product design, risk often comes from not fully understanding what you're building — the regulatory architecture, the user's decision-making context, the downstream consequences of a single UX choice.

This is why I treat compliance constraints as first-class design inputs, not post-hoc requirements. Every regulation exists because something went wrong — and understanding that history makes better products.

I don't fight constraints. I use them to build better systems.
The best financial products feel inevitable — not because they're simple, but because every risk has been considered and every edge case anticipated before the first line of code.

I Partner with Engineering to Ship, Not Just Spec

My designs don't stop at mockups. I collaborate closely with engineering teams throughout implementation — from technical feasibility discussions to production QA. This partnership ensures design intent survives the build process, not just the handoff.

I've Navigated a Regulatory Crisis

When ASIC issued a 14-day compliance order, I contributed a design-system-based approach to the team's crisis response. The proposal was adopted, and the system shipped on time — because the design architecture was already built for this kind of change.

I Design Across Cultures, Not Just Languages

I've designed for 40+ countries, navigated both APAC and Western regulatory frameworks, and shipped localized products across three time zones. Cross-cultural design isn't just translation — it's understanding how trust, hierarchy, and risk perception differ across markets.

I Build Systems, Not Screens

One design system governs 5 product lines and measurably reduced implementation time. When regulations change, the system adapts in days. That's not a portfolio claim — it's how ACY actually operates.

TENOR	YIELD	CHG
2Y	4.72%	-2.1bp
5Y	4.38%	+0.8bp
10Y	4.54%	+1.4bp
30Y	4.81%	+0.6bp

INSTRUMENT	SPREAD	CHG
CDX NA IG 5Y	64.2bp	-0.8
CDX NA HY 5Y	347.1bp	+4.3
EUR iTraxx IG	72.4bp	-1.2
SOFR	5.31%	unch
USD IG OAS	93.2bp	-0.5
USD HY OAS	358.4bp	+3.7

PAIR	LAST	%CHG
EUR/USD	1.0832	+0.14%
USD/JPY	149.84	-0.22%
GBP/USD	1.2614	+0.08%
AUD/USD	0.6523	+0.31%
USD/CNH	7.2318	-0.05%
USD/CHF	0.8974	+0.11%

INSTRUMENT	LAST	%CHG
S&P 500	5,218.4	+0.42%
Nasdaq 100	18,142.7	+0.67%
FTSE 100	7,924.3	-0.18%
Nikkei 225	38,847.2	+1.04%
Gold (XAU)	2,328.4	+0.55%
WTI Crude	82.14	-0.29%
DXY	104.38	-0.11%
VIX	14.82	+0.34

Authenticated Financial Platforms at Enterprise Scale ACY Securities · 100K+ Traders · 5 Product Lines · 40+ Regulated Markets