This is true, I expect him (or her?) to go far!

Unfortunately, seeing his age put me off depositing money into the account I just created. When dealing with my money, I want a team of people with a lot of experience in security and dealing with problems under pressure. He may have this, but at 17 its unlikely. My quick evaluation may be unfair, but I'm unwilling to take that chance with money, especially after MtGox showed us all what kind of problems could occur if not enough work is put into preventing potential problems.

So, at least for now, I'll pass. Having said that, the site looks great and I wish the creator the best of luck and lots of success!

When I first decided to disclose my age, I have considered this problem. Actually this is a psychological paradox: proving myself honest doesn't always make me more trustworthy.

It's just like the warranty of your gadgets. Getting a wonderful repair service may make you feel better than having no problem at all.

I have no problems with this kind of thinking. It really doesn't matter to me. I'll prove my competency with time.

Your judgement is actually fair. Thanks for that!

To be honest, your age isn't a problem, because the average above-average developer is still not competent to write this sort of software. If you had been doing security and financial software since birth, I might consider putting a bit of trust in the kitty to start.

I'm going to pitch a different take than a few others: Yes, great initiative, please keep trying things and building things, but end this project now. There are no probable outcomes where you do not end up having to explain where thousands of dollars of other people's money went to some angry people. There's also very nontrivial odds of being on the wrong end of armed Federal agents, based on some of the other comments you've made here. This is a horrible, horrible first-project sort of project.

Let me put it this way: Would you be willing to convert the BitCoins in your system into cash, put it in your front window, and post daily pictures of the pile of cash to your Facebook account, set to public visibility? Because that's roughly what you're doing.

Sadly, I have to agree with this.

You're very smart, zhoutong, and your eager and polite acceptance of feedback does you great credit. But I would not attempt what you're doing, and I know a fair amount about both trading infrastructure and security.

And though your site is very impressive, I immediately spot a major omission: you say nothing about your margin call policy. Do you have one? What will you do when one of your users' accounts goes to zero, and then negative?

Yes, we have. I admit that I didn't make it visible on the site itself. But the system checks every single user every 5 seconds.

We have two metrics: net value and minimum net value. When NV < MNV, all positions are immediately liquidated. When NV < 2MNV, a warning is visible on trading panel. (Future feature: margin call email)

These metrics are completely transparent, showing in different colors to represent health status. Once you give it a try you will know.

Agreed. They are great to build things, but money is like playing with fire. It is not a good idea to have this as your first project.

Its not so much about proving yourself honest as proving yourself competent and skilled enough to deal with potentially disastrous (read: bankrupting) problems. If this site didn't deal with money (and potentially a LOT of money), my attitude would be very positive. The site looks very slick and well made.

Its also not really about your age either - but age is a simple indicator of experience, even if inaccurate.

I like your attitude though and wish you all the best.

I started my first startup when I was 17 (13 years ago, damn).

The problem I had then, and you have even here is that legally you're a minor and can't sign contracts.

EDIT: I noticed from your resume that you are based in Singapore - I don't know what the rules are for age of majority and similar issues... the advice below is from a US and UK law perspective given that is the more common location for people on HN. I also notice you seem to be incorporated already (which you wouldn't legally be able to do in US at 17).

Aside from the technical issues of 'spectacular failure' you might want to consider the consequences of being sued if something did go wrong. As a minor, it's probably your parents that are liable - you owe it to your parents and to your customers/users to be aware of this.

Normally for something like this you would set up an LLC to protect yourself (as they have limited liability, as the name suggests). Perhaps your parents can set you up an LLC and transfer ownership when you turn 18?

Thank you for your encouragement! Wish you good luck in your careers too!