Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Traders Guild ("we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our Platform, which includes our website at tradersguild.global (the "Website") and our iOS mobile application (the "App"). Our services include the member directory, job board, research publications, conference and meetup coordination, peer messaging, and other community features.

2. Information We Collect

Account information. We collect information you provide directly to us when registering for an account, including: your name, email address, company affiliation, professional role, and (optionally) a profile photo, short bio, city, and links to your public profiles on networks such as LinkedIn or X.

Job board activity. When you post a job listing, we collect the position details, compensation information, and contact email you provide. When you apply for a position, we collect your name, email, LinkedIn profile URL, and any cover note you submit.

Mobile App activity. When you use the App, we collect information about events you RSVP to, members you save or message, introductions you send or receive, and the sections of the App you interact with. This helps us personalize your directory, surface relevant members, and improve the product.

Automatically collected information. We automatically collect certain information when you access the Platform, including: IP address, browser or device type and version, operating system, referring URLs, pages or screens visited, time and date of access, and other standard server and device log information. We use this information for security monitoring, analytics, and to improve the Platform. We do not use third-party advertising SDKs or cross-app tracking.

Referral attribution. When an existing member shares an invite link with you and you create an account, we record which member invited you. This helps us understand how the network grows and may, in the future, support member-rewards or referral programs. The record consists of the inviter’s account identifier stored alongside your account; we do not collect or store any details about the device, app, or message used to share the link. If you visit an invite link but do not create an account, the short-lived “guild_referrer” cookie set on your browser expires after 30 days and is never associated with any identity. You can clear it at any time by clearing cookies for tradersguild.global.

3. Mobile Application — Location Data

The App includes a member directory that can optionally show you approximately how far away other members are. Location sharing is strictly opt-in and controlled from within the App.

How it works. If you enable location sharing, the App uses your device’s “While Using the App” location permission to determine your current coordinates. Before any coordinates leave your device, they are rounded to a coarse grid (approximately 500 meters) so that your exact location cannot be reconstructed from the data we receive. We then store this rounded value alongside your account and use it to compute rounded distances between you and other opted-in members.

What other members see. Other members never see your coordinates, your home address, or your precise whereabouts. At most, they see a rounded distance badge (for example, “~2 km away”) when both you and the other member have opted in. If you do not enable location sharing, the directory falls back to the home city you enter in your profile, which you can change or leave blank at any time.

Retention. The most recent rounded location is kept only while your account is active and location sharing is enabled. We delete stored location data within 14 days of you disabling location sharing, signing out, or closing your account.

Background location. The App does not collect location in the background. We do not request “Always” permission and we do not use geofencing, beacons, or background location refresh.

4. Mobile Application — Contacts

The App includes a “Who do you know on Traders Guild?” feature that helps you discover which of your existing contacts are already members and invite those who are not.

On-device matching. If you grant contacts permission, the App uses iOS’s system contact picker and performs matching on your device. We do not upload your full address book to our servers. We do not store contact names, phone numbers, or email addresses that do not already correspond to an existing Traders Guild member.

Invites. When you choose to invite a specific contact, the App opens your device’s native mail or messages composer with a pre-filled invitation. You are always the sender; we do not send invitations on your behalf.

Retention. Matching results exist only in App memory and are cleared when you close the App. You may revoke contacts permission at any time in iOS Settings.

5. Mobile Application — Push Notifications

The App can deliver push notifications about direct messages and other Platform activity to your device’s lock screen. Push notifications are strictly opt-in — iOS displays a system permission prompt the first time we ask, and you can revoke permission at any time from iOS Settings → Notifications → Guild.

Device tokens. If you grant notification permission, your device generates an opaque APNs (Apple Push Notification service) token. We receive this token, store it associated with your account, and use it solely to deliver chat messages and other product alerts. Device tokens are not personally identifying on their own. We do not share device tokens with third-party advertisers or analytics providers; they are used only to send pushes through Apple’s push service.

Per-thread mute. Within a chat, you can silence notifications for that specific thread (tap the bell icon in the chat header). The other party is not informed when you mute. Other Platform notifications continue to deliver normally; muting one thread does not affect others.

Retention. Device tokens are deleted when you sign out of the App, when you delete your account, or when Apple informs us that a token is no longer valid (for example, after the App is uninstalled).

6. Social Sign-In Providers

You may choose to sign in or link your account using a third-party identity provider such as Apple (Sign in with Apple), LinkedIn, Google, or X. When you do, we receive a limited set of profile information from that provider, typically including your name, email address, profile picture, and a provider-specific user ID. For Sign in with Apple specifically, you may choose to share or hide your email address; if you choose to hide it, Apple provides us with a relay address that forwards messages to your real address without exposing it to us. We use this information solely to create or link your Traders Guild account.

We do not receive your social password, your private messages, or your contact list from these providers. We do not post to your social accounts on your behalf. You may disconnect a linked provider at any time from your account settings; doing so does not delete your Traders Guild account unless you explicitly request deletion.

7. Member Directory, Messaging, and Introductions

The member directory is visible only to other signed-in, approved Traders Guild members. It is not indexed by search engines. By joining, you consent to your name, role, company, city, bio, profile picture, and any public links you provide being visible to other members in the directory and in features that derive from it (such as conference attendee lists, event RSVPs, and introductions).

When you send a direct message to another member, the recipient can see your profile and message content. Guild staff may review message content only when responding to a safety report, enforcing our Terms, or complying with a legal obligation. We do not read or train on member messages as a matter of course.

Storage and retention. Direct messages are stored on our servers in encrypted form (TLS in transit, encrypted-at-rest by our database provider) for as long as the thread remains active between the two participants. The system records when each message is read so we can show unread counts and read indicators. Messages are removed when either participant deletes their account or when both participants delete the thread.

Read receipts. The system records the time at which a message is first opened by the recipient. The other participant in the thread can see whether their messages have been read.

You can hide your profile from the directory, pause your account, or request deletion at any time from your account settings.

8. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to: operate, maintain, and improve the Platform; populate the member directory, events, and introductions; process and facilitate job applications and employer-candidate matching; communicate with you about your account, job applications, events, and Platform updates; send you research publications and market insights (with your consent); enforce our Terms of Service and protect against fraud and abuse; comply with applicable laws and regulations; and analyze Platform usage to improve our services.

9. Information Sharing

We share your information only in the following circumstances: with other signed-in Traders Guild members as described in Section 6; with employers when you apply for a job listing (your application details are shared with the posting employer); with service providers (such as our hosting, database, email delivery, and analytics providers) who assist us in operating the Platform, subject to confidentiality obligations; when required by law, such as in response to a subpoena or court order; to protect the rights, property, or safety of Traders Guild, our members, or others; and in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, in which case your information may be transferred as part of the transaction.

We do not sell your personal information to third parties. We do not share your information with advertisers. We do not use your data to train third-party AI models.

10. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. This includes encryption of data in transit (TLS), secure password hashing (bcrypt), short-lived session tokens, HTTP-only session cookies on the web, secure device storage for mobile session tokens, and rate limiting on authentication endpoints. However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

11. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. If you close your account, we will delete or anonymize your personal information within 90 days, unless we are required to retain it for legal or regulatory purposes. Job application data is retained for 24 months after submission. Location data is retained as described in Section 3.

12. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the right to: access the personal information we hold about you; correct inaccurate or incomplete information; request deletion of your personal information; object to or restrict certain processing of your information; and request portability of your data. To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@tradersguild.global. You can also trigger account deletion directly from the App’s account settings.

13. Cookies and Tracking

We use essential cookies required for the Platform to function, including session authentication cookies and a short-lived referral-attribution cookie (“guild_referrer”) that records the identifier of a member who shared an invite link with you, so that if you create an account we can credit the invite. All cookies we set are HTTP-only, scoped to tradersguild.global, and do not track you across other websites. The referral-attribution cookie expires after 30 days and contains no personally identifying information about you. We do not use third-party advertising cookies, trackers, or cross-app identifiers. We may use privacy-respecting analytics to understand how the Platform is used.

14. Children’s Privacy

Traders Guild is intended for working professionals and is not directed to children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us and we will delete it.

15. International Data Transfers

Your information may be transferred to and processed in countries other than your country of residence. We ensure that any such transfers comply with applicable data protection laws and that your information receives an adequate level of protection.

16. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page, updating the “Last updated” date, and (for material changes affecting the App) via an in-App notice. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.

17. Contact

For questions about this Privacy Policy or to exercise your data rights, contact us at privacy@tradersguild.global.