This change reflects the work we’ve been doing from the start: developing the trading platform used by a million traders worldwide and supporting brokers and prop firms across global markets. What began as a small group of engineers and product builders in Zagreb has grown into a 70-person team focused entirely on one mission: creating technology that makes trading simpler, faster, and more accessible.

Rebranding to TradeLocker allows us to bring all our expertise, teams, and long-term vision under one name. The same people, the same commitment to innovation, and the same focus on traders and brokers fully aligned with the platform we’ve been building.

As TradeLocker, our team in Zagreb, Croatia will continue developing new features, strengthening the platform’s infrastructure, and expanding integrations that power modern trading.

The goal remains clear: deliver an innovative, intuitive and scalable experience for traders and partners around the world.

We’re continuing to grow, and we welcome anyone who wants to help shape the future of trading with us. Open positions are available at tradelocker.com/careers.

The next chapter begins under a new name, but the vision stays the same.

The post MochaLabs is now TradeLocker appeared first on MochaLabs.

Developing an iGaming product from scratch can be challenging. It requires a hands-on approach in every phase of product development.

From creating a robust deposit/withdrawal system and bonus engine to designing and developing in-house games and managing an affiliate platform, our goal is to deliver a market-ready, turnkey solution that caters to all client needs.

In this blog, we’ll explore how we build our products by navigating the challenges of the iGaming industry, focusing on building user trust through provably fair games.

Building Trust and Transparency

We were aware of the fact that the iGaming industry is often clouded by skepticism. Since users often don’t perceive these platforms as trustworthy, we recognized the necessity to prioritize transparency and trust.

Addressing this challenge meant focusing on:

• Ensuring a secure payment processing system.
• Developing a scalable product capable of supporting millions of users without latency or downtime.
• Creating a flexible bonus engine to boost user retention and platform revenue.
• Establishing a transparent affiliate tracking platform.
• Designing and developing games that not only entertain but also earn the trust of our users.

“The key to earning trust in the iGaming business is transparency.”

This belief led our team to base all of our games on the “Provably Fair” concept.

What are Provably Fair Games?

At the core of provably fair games lies their ability to offer verifiable and predetermined game outcomes so that players can be confident that there’s no manipulation involved. Each game’s results are determined before the first round, with all outcomes linked in a verifiable chain.

Example

Imagine a digital dice game where each roll’s outcome is already set in a sequence before you even play. These outcomes form a chain, each linked to a unique hash. Players can check these hashes to confirm that their game round was indeed part of this pre-established sequence, ensuring that the roll of the dice wasn’t just fair, but also predetermined.

How We Implemented It

Our approach to applying the provably fair concept to our games starts with generating N millions of hashes, each representing a game round. These hashes form a chain, and we publicly announce their generation, using the ETH block as the client seed, thus ensuring transparency from the start.

We announce the following:

To build trust even further, we’ve made our hash-result calculation code open-source. This allows players to verify that each game round is part of the predetermined chain at any time.

The Impact of Provably Fair Games

Adopting this approach significantly reassures players and addresses their primary concern about potential game manipulation. This transparently shows that outcomes are not rigged or influenced by the gaming provider. Everything is predefined long before the game even starts, and the users have the opportunity to check at any time.

The situation in which a user is putting a lot of money into a single bet and losing it usually leads to anger and suspicion that the gaming provider knew about their wager and manipulated the game.

“By removing any possibility of manipulation, we address and resolve the biggest trust issue in iGaming.”

Provably fair games are more than just a feature; they show a commitment to fairness and transparency, allowing us to set a new standard in the iGaming industry.

The post Building User Trust with Provably Fair Games appeared first on MochaLabs.

Understanding user feedback is integral to the success of any product. One of the first things product teams have to establish while developing new products is a robust connection to their user base.

Here’s how to gather and evaluate user feedback, and control its influence on product evolution.

1. Build User Feedback Networks: From Friends to Fandom

During the phase of extensive market research and before launching the product to the public, our product team relied heavily on feedback from the inner circle, also known as the “FFF” (Friends, Family and Fools). This consisted of insights from the core team, stakeholders, and close associates.

Soon after, diversifying our feedback sources became crucial. Our team turned to the public by creating a buzzing Discord community and multiple feedback forms for feature suggestions.

Furthermore, as the product was released, a strong presence on social platforms like Instagram and Twitter became essential. These channels encouraged and expanded real-time communication, gathering users’ reactions, and maintaining a close relationship with the fandom.

All of these channels molded the product into what it is today.

“Never underestimate the importance of organic feedback, casual comments on social media or any other informal channel users might use to reach out. Every voice matters!”

2. The Power of User Interviews

Beyond the usual feedback channels, it’s important to maintain an active 1:1 conversation with your user base through regular user interviews. These sessions, often preceding major feature rollouts, ensure that the product is on the right path.

Try to frame questions in a way that doesn’t unintentionally nudge users toward desired answers. Allow them to express their authentic opinion in a way they see fit.

3. How to Validate User Feedback

It’s not enough to just collect feedback; understanding the ‘who’ behind it is equally important. Ask yourself some of these questions:

• How frequently does the user engage with the product?
• How long has the user been using the product?
• What is the demographic profile of the user providing feedback?
• Which context does the user have about the product and how deep are they within the industry?
• What is the primary motivation behind the user’s feedback?
• How does their feedback compare to the general trends and sentiments from the broader user community?

Depending on what type of feature you’re developing, you might need opinions and feedback from different types of users. Sometimes you need a seasoned user to advise you about the changes. However, often the most groundbreaking ideas emerge from novice users or newcomers, who can provide fresh perspectives and highlight user-friendliness gaps.

4. Organize User Feedback for Implementation

As the product grows, so does the influx of feedback and ideas from different types of users. Keeping a record of every request for a new feature or a tweak of the existing one enables easier analysis later on.

Here’s how our product teams conduct feedback management:

1. Raw feedback collection

This step contains writing down all requests and suggestions from all established communication channels.

2. Bi-weekly community reports

Every two weeks, the team creates a concise one-page report of all the feedback and requests. This summary shows the potential impact and frequency of each suggestion.

3. Initial backlog prioritization

This phase involves integrating the new feedback into the ongoing backlog, ensuring each feature is sorted according to its urgency and implementation complexity.

4. Refined backlog

Doing this step once a week lets you fine-tune details, re-assess priorities, and ensure the goals remain clear and actionable.

5. Sprint alignment

The very top of the backlog is kept well-defined at all times. That way, the features are ready for the upcoming 2-week-long development sprint.

5. Set User Expectations

One thing to highlight here is the importance of setting community expectations. As the nature of software development dictates, it is hard to predict the amount of work needed to implement something. What you can do is fragment any effort into manageable chunks and make sure the right people for the job are assigned these.

“We rarely commit to the community that something will be done by some date.”

Sometimes the idea that comes your way might be different from your current vision of the product. While these suggestions might not be immediate development priorities, always document and leverage them to refine your product direction. Don’t forget to communicate this to your users and show that their opinion is valued.

Feedback can spark change

A feedback-driven approach reduces the risk of drastic product shifts. Constant communication with your users will result in most adjustments being minor but frequent. The trick is to keep listening and react quickly.

“Setting up a robust process to gather quality feedback demands a lot of effort. However, it’s nothing compared to how much effort would’ve been wasted developing in the dark.”

Maintaining open communication channels, coupled with an organized approach to evaluating and integrating user insights gives a head start to anyone in the product space. Feedback isn’t just about listening – it’s about evolving.

The post Leveraging User Feedback for Effective Product Development appeared first on MochaLabs.

Bug reporting is more than just flagging issues; it’s about providing developers with clear, concise, and actionable information.

Choosing the right collaborative tools and creating detailed documentation can pave the way for successful bug reporting and resolution. Here are some tips on how to navigate the world of effective bug reporting and make your developers’ lives easier.

Discover how we use collaborative tools and accurate documentation to streamline the bug-reporting process for smoother development.

How to create a comprehensive bug report

Unclear bug reports can cause headaches for your development team, making them a bottleneck rather than a facilitator in the product lifecycle or the sprint your team is currently working on.

Creating a helpful bug report requires you to step into your developers’ shoes and ask yourself these 6 vital questions:

1. What’s the issue?

Clearly define the problem with a concise title and provide a brief overview.

2. How can I reproduce it?

Include the exact input data and step-by-step actions needed to recreate the bug.

3. What happened vs. What should have happened?

Highlight the difference between the actual result (bug) and the expected behavior.

4. Where did the bug occur?

Make note of the device, operating system, browser, and any other relevant variables.

5. Do I have visual aids?

Attach screenshots, videos, or logs that provide visual context and clearly depict the bug.

6. How severe is the bug?

Differentiate the critical bugs demanding immediate action from those that can wait. Consider factors like potential disruptions, user impact, and priority levels. Ask yourself:

• Could this bug cause major disruptions?
• Is it a widespread issue or does it affect a small subset of users?
• So, is it high, medium or low priority?

The best tools to use for bug reporting and tracking

As you focus on refining this process, equipping yourself with efficient tools is a step that cannot be overlooked. From systematic bug management to cross-browser testing, here are some of the tools that proved to be very useful in facilitating seamless communication with the development team.

1. Bug tracking system

Utilizing Jira helps us log and manage bugs systematically, offering customizable workflows and real-time collaboration features that enhance team efficiency.

2. Cross-Browser testing

Testing apps using BrowserStack ensures consistent functionality across different browsers and devices, simulating real-user experiences and detecting discrepancies that might be overlooked in single-browser testing.

3. Chrome Developer Tools

Built-in inspection and debugging capabilities of Chrome DevTools help analyze frontend issues and inspect network requests, identifying the root cause of bugs and offering insightful data visualization to simplify the debugging process.

4. Screen recordings

Video recordings of bug occurrences provide developers with a visual understanding of the problem, facilitating more accurate diagnoses by offering accurate glimpses into the issues experienced by users.

Navigating bug reporting

This process goes beyond just identifying issues; it’s about fostering a company culture that continually evaluates, adapts, and evolves. Here are some things to keep in mind as you navigate setting up the effective bug-reporting process:

1. Monitor and analyze trends:

Keep an eye on bug-reporting trends over time to measure the success of your strategy. Are you noticing that bugs are getting sorted out quicker than before? That’s a great sign that you’re on the right track.

2. Engage in open discussions:

Foster effective communication between QA testers and developers. By encouraging a friendly space where everyone can chip in and brainstorm, it gets much simpler to dig into issues and work out the best solutions together.

Remember, having clear and direct communication is more than just a tactic; it’s an essential part of working together effectively and making the bug-fixing process smoother for everyone.

In the realm of bug reporting, our QA team has paved the way for a more efficient and collaborative development process. By following these guidelines and utilizing the right tools, you too can contribute to a seamless development experience by creating an effective bug reporting system.

The post Effective Bug Reporting for Seamless Development appeared first on MochaLabs.

In the fast-paced world of tech, fostering a culture of collaboration is often the key to innovative breakthroughs and steady growth. MochaLabs was born in 2022, and in less than a year, we have grown into a team of almost 40 people.

Navigating this growth requires not only the quick adaptation of effective practices but also the implementation of strategies that stand the test of time. As we continuously expand our team, we took a moment to sit down with our co-founder and CTO Matej Serbec to talk about what defines the engineering culture in MochaLabs.

Discover how he managed to foster a collaborative spirit right from the start, while preparing the team to not only welcome new members but also navigate the dynamic growth of our products.

Take on exciting technical challenges

The dynamic landscape of our products brings several exciting technical challenges to the forefront at MochaLabs. Here’s how Matej defines them:

1. Explosive growth & scalability

After our trading platform skyrocketed to 100k users almost overnight, we’re focused on architectural improvements and code optimization to support our ambitious future plans.

2. AI & Algo trading

We’re pioneering the integration of generative AI to transform algorithmic trading, adding an innovative layer to our products.

3. Data-driven development

Our products are data-intensive by design. We’re mastering real-time data processing and building robust pipelines for making data-informed decisions.

4. TypeScript excellence

We invest heavily in mastering TypeScript, ensuring we’re updated with its every nuance and new development. That way, we pave the way for becoming a go-to destination for top-tier web product development.

Matej says that by addressing these challenges head-on, “we’re not just solving technical issues but also shaping the future of trading and iGaming technologies.”

Ensure state-of-the-art methodologies and tech

At MochaLabs, each new project integrates the latest tech trends. Coupled with a commitment to continuous delivery, this ensures our platforms are always up-to-date and scalable from day one.

Matej emphasizes that our product success mandates the use of cutting-edge infrastructure:

“Every product is designed with scalability in mind. Anticipating potential rapid growth, we ensure our technological backbone is robust from inception, ready to support a potential 10x team expansion.”

Furthermore, we prioritize dedicated R&D time. Our engineers participate in “Tech Talk Fridays” for knowledge sharing, ensuring we’re collectively at the top of emerging technologies.

Another thing we prioritize is hiring senior talent who can bring fresh knowledge and views into our already talented team.

Matej’s idea is simple: “Always hire people smarter than yourself!“

By combining top-tier talent, continuous education, and a commitment to using state-of-the-art tools, we’ve built a culture designed for technological excellence.

So, what does define the engineering culture at MochaLabs?

Culture is crucial for many engineers when considering a new role. As our team grows, so does the need to establish clear principles that shape our culture. Matej emphasizes and explains these four pillars:

1. Open collaboration & autonomy

Our collaboration is built on attention to detail, ensuring each member understands and contributes effectively to the codebase. We encourage detailed pull requests and a friendly environment, steering clear of micromanagement. Engineers are trusted to own their tasks fully.

2. Feedback culture

Leaving your ego at the door enables a culture of humility and collaboration. We talk to each other and continuously learn from each other. Matej highlights that your initial skill set opens our door, but your growth mindset is what keeps you in.

3. Product-centric mindset

We focus on building streamlined, cross-functional teams that value quality over just task completion. We’re not just about getting it done — we emphasize getting it done right. We invest time in building our teams and products in a way that stands the test of time.

4. Experience & expertise

We hire senior professionals and provide them with our vision, freeing them to apply their expertise in ways they see fit for the product.

As we scale, the challenge lies in growing our team while sustaining our high-quality engineering standards. We prioritize hiring senior talent who can bring fresh knowledge and views to our already talented team. Our engineering team is always open for a chat, so check out our open positions and drop by the office for a quick coffee.

The post An Interview with the CTO: Collaborative Engineering Culture 101 appeared first on MochaLabs.

At the heart of our innovative products lies a commitment to data-informed development. This approach is not just about referencing data but understanding and integrating it at every crucial point of our product development process. Discover how our team approaches data-informed product development.

From the inception of a new feature to ensuring top-notch data quality, our data scientist shares a step-by-step look into our process.

1. Tracking user behavior is not an add-on

Your data analyst should be in the loop right from the get-go, rather than being clued in after a feature’s rollout.

How we do it:

1. A new feature is designed and approved for implementation.
2. The product manager informs a data analyst about it.
3. The data analyst creates a tracking draft.
4. Developers integrate the feature and tracking.
5. The data analyst gives the green light post-testing.

2. Detailed documentation is worth it

Don’t keep everything in your head, scattered over Slack messages or Jira tickets. Everyone, including your future self, will be thankful.

How we do it:

1. Entire tracking is defined in Avo (or a well-organized Google Sheet).
2. Avo is used as a single source of truth.
3. Every tracking change is defined directly in Avo. Jira tasks only point to it.
4. If a bug is discovered, the event is updated with a bug status and a description.

3. Simplicity is key

Do not track every single action. Ask questions, and keep it simple. For example:

1. What are the key objects and actions we want to track?
2. Why are they important? 
3. How will these insights drive action?
4. What will happen if we do not get these insights?

If you do not have clear answers, it is likely that the tracking is unnecessary.

4. Taking control of your data quality is key

Data quality should be the No. 1 priority of every data team. If people do not trust the data, it is worthless.

How we do it:

1. Full awareness of the tracking status is achieved by implementing the previous 3 steps.
2. In each release, both new and old tracking is tested. The more important the tracking, the higher the detail and frequency of the tests.
3. Regular tests are run using dbt, Avo inspector and custom Python scripts to check the health of our tracking.
4. It might sound obvious, but it is often overlooked: Fix the bugs.

The post The Road to Data-Informed Product Development appeared first on MochaLabs.