Mission report // M-10 · Fintech
GoldTracker
A free price-alert tool born from a personal gold-investing need, tracking five markets with live prices and flexible alerts.
1. The TL;DR (Executive Summary)
The Purpose
Make it easier to invest in gold without constantly checking market prices. GoldTracker began as a personal tool for setting a target and getting notified when the price reaches it.
The Problem
While investing in gold, I had no simple way to set a commodity price alert. Monitoring prices manually meant repeatedly checking the market and risked missing a move.
The Solution
A free Android price-alert app and web dashboard for gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and crude oil, with live prices and alerts for price-above, price-below, or percentage-change conditions.
The Impact
The product website is live and describes a no-sign-up, no-subscription service. Adoption and financial outcomes have not been measured. The Android download link is still marked as coming soon.
2. Strategy & Discovery
Insight
The core need was not another trading or research platform; it was a dependable way to define a price trigger and stop watching charts. That shaped the product around simple alert conditions and background monitoring.
Stakeholders
A self-initiated product created by its founder around a real need from personal gold investing.
Constraint
The public site presents the product as free and usable without an account. At the time of review, Android build links were not yet published and SMS was described as coming soon, so the case study distinguishes current push and email alerts from planned SMS delivery.
3. Execution (The “How”)
Key Decision
Focus on actionable price alerts rather than adding trading workflows: users choose a commodity and set an above, below, or percentage-change condition, while the app monitors prices and notifies them when the condition is met.
Design Leadership
The experience makes current prices and alert setup the priority: a live market board, a seven-day chart for precious metals, clear commodity symbols, and a three-step getting-started flow. The product is presented as free and does not require account sign-up.
Product Highlights
- Five tracked markets: gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and crude oil.
- Market context: live prices for all five markets and a seven-day chart with intraday updates for the four precious metals.
- Flexible alerts: price-above, price-below, and percentage-change conditions.
- Notifications: push and email alerts are described in the getting-started flow; SMS is listed as coming soon.
- Web dashboard: remotely manage alerts, view registered devices and notification history, and access manual notification and broadcast controls.
Live Product
4. Outcome & Lessons
Post-Launch
The public site communicates the core alert workflow and web dashboard, while noting that Android download links and SMS delivery are still forthcoming. No real-world usage findings have been published yet.
Next Steps
Publish the Android build, validate alert delivery across supported channels, and measure whether alerts help investors avoid repeatedly checking prices. Revisit SMS once it is available and user demand is understood.