World's First Global Art Exchange : ARTSTAQ is LIVE

ARTSTAQ a London/Prague-based start-up has opened up World’s First Global Art Exchange, wherein like NASDAQ, traders and collectors can exchange Art in the most transparent manner. Launched with the vision to democratize Art Market and create a convenient model based on open data, that ensures a higher velocity in Art Trade – Artstaq has the potential to disrupt the art market as we know it today.

The founder of the company, Roman Komarek,  a former NASDAQ trader and an affluent art collector, has guaranteed an algorithm or evaluating formula that compiles data of art sellers and buyers, artworks’ auction history and has mobilized the art feedback and ratings from 50 diverse art collectors, curators, academicians, dealers and gallerists from across the globe to come up with this evaluation technology. Termed as AQRA – Art Quotation Rating System is a propriety algorithm which in real-time monitors the sales data along with multiple other influencing parameters to come up with a trading rate, just like we have a stock’s rate on exchanges like NASDAQ or NYSE.

The exchange – first of its kind went live on April 15th with an index of 300,000 artists available for trading purpose, and the authorities of the organisation have confirmed to comprise even the established artists within the list soon. The Art fraternity and the Financial advisors both have positive outlook towards this new emergence – since the system will remove the ambiguity from artworks’ value calculation. The company even expects it to help in reducing the fraudulent activities that occur in the midst of art buying.

Deloitte Art & Finance Report 2014 states that“the art fund industry must evolve and rethink its current art fund model.”  This definitely is a welcome disruption in the Art Market that uses technology to attract a greater number of new players in the $56 billion of art market. This would be the biggest such fundamental change in the history of art market that puts Art as an asset class, just like stocks, bonds and commodities.

Whether ARTEX500 finds a place among the top indexes of the world, depends equally on its technology and the breadth of the art traders it creates across the globe.