Andy Mahoney

Specifically, T.Rowe Price is live on Propellant’s Digital’s fixed income transparency data offering via FlexTrade’s fixed income EMS, FlexFI. 

Speaking to The TRADE,  Andy Mahoney, managing director, EMEA, FlexTrade, asserted that the firm has seen the adoption of EMS solutions on fixed income trading desks continue to grow this year, with expectations for this to accelerate further into 2025.

He adds: “The drive for this deployment is twofold. Firstly, the continued electronification in fixed income and the need to handle increasingly sophisticated data sets have seen desks needing technology to handle their bond trading activities efficiently.

“Outside of this, we also see broader-scale transformation initiatives to rationalise and streamline multiple asset class-specific EMS solutions to a single, scalable platform to provide a common set of cross-asset tools, processes, and automation logic across equities, fixed-income, FX, and derivatives trading.” 

Propellant Digital’s solution is used by both global and regional banks, as well as asset managers, quant hedge funds, trading venues, regulators, and industry associations.

Through the availability of Propellant’s insights alongside other internal and external data sources within a single interface, FlexFI users benefit from enhanced processes “without leaving the context of their fixed-income trading blotter,” said the firms.

Specifically, T. Rowe Price’s fixed income trading teams can now view a comprehensive dataset within the FlexFI Order Blotter, which includes real-time market activity, historical trade prices, and aggregated trade volumes.  

Vincent Grandjean, chief executive of Propellant Digital, tells The TRADE: “Integrating our pre-trade analytics into FlexFI EMS allows their team to access a full market view without leaving the order blotter. In addition, our technology can support them in both TCA and research efforts. Our solution is well-placed to help firms like T. Rowe Price stay ahead in their data journey.”

The post T.Rowe Price live on Propellant’s Digital’s fixed income transparency data offering via FlexTrade appeared first on The TRADE.

The trading event of the year is set to return once again at The Savoy on 7 November, bringing together our industry for a glittering evening of celebration and jubilation.

Today we are announcing our survey awards, bestowed on the back of a record number of responses to the TRADE’s Algorithmic Trading and Execution Management Surveys for 2024.

Alongside these, The TRADE is excited to reveal the Editors’ Choice Awards for 2024, recognising excellence from all corners of the capital markets industry, including exchanges, trading venues, technology and data vendor services and more.

Buy-side, Industry Person of the Year and Innovation Awards will follow in the coming weeks.

A huge congratulations to all of our shortlisted nominees, see you in November! 

Algorithmic Trading Awards shortlists:

Best Trading Performance

Berenberg

BNP Paribas

Jefferies

Redburn Atlantic

Best Access to Market

Berenberg

BNP Paribas

Redburn Atlantic

Virtu Financial

Best Price Improvement Capabilities

Berenberg

BNP Paribas

Citi

Redburn Atlantic

Best Client Service

Berenberg

Jefferies

Redburn Atlantic

Stifel Europe

Best Dark Pool Capabilities

Berenberg

Jefferies

Redburn Atlantic

Virtu Financial

Best User Experience – Large Clients

Citi

Goldman Sachs

Morgan Stanley

UBS

Best Provider – Hedge Funds

BNP Paribas

Citi

Jefferies

RBC Capital Markets

Best Provider – Multi-User Clients

Citi

Goldman Sachs

Jefferies

Morgan Stanley

Best Provider – Large Clients

Citi

Goldman Sachs

JP Morgan

UBS

Execution Management Systems Awards shortlists:

Best Market Access

LSEG TORA

Instinet Newport

Neovest

Virtu Triton

Best Platform Reliability

LSEG TORA

Instinet Newport

Neovest

Virtu Triton

Best User Experience

LSEG TORA

Instinet Newport

Neovest

Virtu Triton

Best Multi-Asset Capabilities

FactSet’s Portware

LSEG TORA

Neovest

Virtu Triton

Best Provider – Large Clients

FactSet’s Portware

FlexTrade

Instinet Newport

Virtu Triton

Best Provider – UK & Europe

Charles River

FlexTrade

TS Imagine TradeSmart

Virtu Triton

Editors’ Choice Awards shortlists:

Outstanding Exchange Group

Cboe Europe

Deutsche Börse

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG)

SIX Group

Outstanding Dark Trading Venue

Liquidnet

POSIT – Virtu Financial

SwissAtMid

Sigma X – Goldman Sachs

Outstanding Fixed Income Trading Venue

Bloomberg

ICE BondPoint

MarketAxess

Tradeweb

Outstanding FX Trading Venue

Bloomberg FXGO

FXall

LMAX Exchange 

SGX FX Systems

Outstanding Derivatives Trading Venue

Cboe Europe Derivatives (CEDX)

EBS UK MTF – CME Group

Eurex

Euronext

Block Trading Venue of the Year

BlockMatch – Instinet

Cboe BIDS Europe

Liquidnet

Luminex

Clearing House of the Year

Cboe Clear Europe

Euronext Clearing

ICE Clear Europe

LCH

TCA Provider of the Year

BestX

IHS Markit – S&P Global

ISS LiquidMetrix

Virtu Financial

Outstanding Market Data Services Provider – Equities

big xyt

Deutsche Börse Xetra

FactSet

LSEG Data & Analytics

Outstanding Market Data Services Provider – Fixed income

AxeTrading

BondCliQ

Neptune Networks

Tradefeedr

Outstanding Non-Bank Liquidity Provider

DRW

Hudson River Trading

Optiver

XTX Markets

Outstanding Trading Technology Provider

360T

Edgewater Markets

FlexTrade

Trading Technologies

Sell-Side Market Structure Excellence

Anish Puaar, head of European equity market structure, Optiver

Hayley McDowell, EU equity electronic sales trader and EU market structure consultant, RBC Capital Markets

John Fruen, head of EMEA market structure and liquidity strategy, UBS

Belinda Mar, equities, market structure and product development, Bank of America

The post The TRADE announces Leaders in Trading awards shortlists for London event appeared first on The TRADE.

“Our inaugural New York-based event is set to take place on 19 November at Chelsea Piers and we couldn’t be more excited to be bringing the magic of Leaders in Trading over to the US for the first time in The TRADE’s 20-year history,” said The TRADE’s editor Annabel Smith.

Today we are announcing our survey awards, bestowed on the back of a record number of responses to the TRADE’s Algorithmic Trading, Execution Management and Outsourced Trading Surveys for 2024.

Alongside these, The TRADE is excited to reveal the Editors’ Choice Awards for 2024, recognising excellence from all corners of the capital markets industry, including exchanges, trading venues, technology and data vendor services and more.

So, without further a due, it gives The TRADE great pleasure to announce the following awards shortlists for Leaders in Trading New York 2024!

Algorithmic Trading Awards shortlists:

Best Trading Performance

Berenberg

Jefferies

RBC Capital Markets

UBS

Best Price Improvement Capabilities

BofA Securities

Liquidnet

RBC Capital Markets

Virtu Financial

Best Customer Support & Consulting

BofA Securities

Instinet

RBC Capital Markets

Virtu Financial

Best Dark Pool Capabilities

Goldman Sachs

Liquidnet

RBC Capital Markets

Virtu Financial

Best Provider – Large Clients

Jefferies

JP Morgan

Liquidnet

UBS

Best Provider – Multi-User Clients

Jefferies

JP Morgan

Morgan Stanley

UBS

Best Provider

BofA Securities

Goldman Sachs

RBC Capital Markets

Virtu Financial

Execution Management Systems Awards shortlists:

Best Market Access

FlexTrade

Instinet Newport

Neovest

Virtu Triton

Best Platform Reliability

FlexTrade

Instinet Newport

Neovest

Virtu Triton

Best User Experience

FlexTrade

Instinet Newport

Neovest

Virtu Triton

Best Product Adaptability

FlexTrade

Instinet Newport

Neovest

Virtu Triton

Best Multi-Asset Capabilities

Bloomberg

FlexTrade

Neovest

Virtu Triton

Best Provider – Large Clients

Bloomberg

Charles River

Instinet Newport

Virtu Triton

Outsourced Trading Awards shortlists:

Outsourced Trading Provider of the Year

CAPIS

JonesTrading

Meraki

StoneX

Coverage

CAPIS

JonesTrading

Meraki

StoneX

Execution

CAPIS

Marex

Meraki

StoneX

Operations and Post-Trade

CAPIS

JonesTrading

Marex

State Street

Client Service and Relationship Management

CAPIS

Marex

Meraki

StoneX

Editors’ Choice Awards shortlists:

Outstanding Exchange Group

Cboe Global Markets

Investors Exchange (IEX)

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)

Nasdaq

Outstanding Fixed Income Trading Venue

Bloomberg

BrokerTec, CME Group

MarketAxess

Tradeweb Markets

Outstanding Futures and Options Trading Venue

Cboe Global Markets

CME Group

 Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)

Miami International Securities Exchange (MIAX)

Crossing Network of the Year

IntelligentCross

LeveL ATS

OneChronos

PureStream

Outstanding Post-Trade Services Provider

Baton Systems

Broadridge

S&P Global

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC)

TCA Provider of the Year

Abel Noser Solutions

FactSet

OneTick

Virtu Financial

Outstanding Market Data Services Provider – Equities

BMLL

Exegy

FactSet

QUODD Financial

Outstanding Market Data Services Provider – Fixed Income

Bloomberg

ICE Data Services

MarketAxess

S&P Global Market Intelligence

Outstanding Innovation in Fixed Income

Bondway.ai

Investortools

OpenYield

Trumid

Outstanding Trading Technology Provider

Aladdin by BlackRock

Bloomberg

Charles River

SS&C Moxy

Sell-side Market Structure Excellence

Citi – Michael Masone, director and head of North America market structure

Jefferies – Anthony Pallone, managing director

Morgan Stanley – Sapna Patel, head of Americas market structure and liquidity strategy

Rosenblatt Securities – Justin Schack, managing director and partner

Agency Broker of the Year

BTIG

Cantor Fitzgerald

Instinet

Redburn Atlantic

Congratulations to all of our shortlisted nominees. Winners will be announced on 19 November at Leaders in Trading New York.

Please contact Patrick Wright at patrick.wright@thetradenews.com for sponsorship opportunities or to book a table for Leaders in Trading New York.

The post The TRADE announces Leaders in Trading New York awards shortlists appeared first on The TRADE.

As part of the deal, clients of FactSet will be able to connect to Tradefeedr’s analytics services via its Portware EMS.

“Our clients are increasingly demanding advanced FX analytics, to inform their decisions and improve trading outcomes,” said John Marchese, VP head of FX EMS sales at FactSet.

“Integrating Tradefeedr’s API into our EMS will inform pre-trade decision-making about the execution of particular trades, providing high levels of automation and data-driven recommendations based on data.”

Clients will also be able to access a new pre-trade decision making service which will enable asset managers and hedge funds using the Portware EMS to select algo execution or request for market, as well as selecting a liquidity provider to use depending on requirements.

“This collaboration with FactSet automatically provides clients with a cohesive and transparent view of trading data, enabling more astute decision-making,” said Balraj Bassi, chief executive and co-founder of Tradefeedr.

“Our network of clients, LPs, venues and EMS partners continues to grow, meaning that the Tradefeedr APIs are fast becoming the new standard for trading analysis, decision support and buy-side to sell-side collaboration. This connection enables us to bring new asset manager clients to the Tradefeedr network, which will enhance market transparency, and further improve FX analytics for the benefit of all participants.”

FactSet is not the only EMS or execution platform to be built out to by Tradefeedr in the last 12 months.

In September last year, the firm confirmed a partnership with FlexTRADER EMS, aimed at expanding FX pre-trade forecast data.

It also integrated with LSEG FX in February in a deal aimed at expanding FX execution optionality by building out to LSEG’s FX trading ecosystem and FXall platform.

The post Tradefeedr and FactSet collaborate on FX trading data and analytics appeared first on The TRADE.

According to the firms, they have collaborated closely to go-live in three months’ time. The update retires a legacy solution that was used for nearly 20 years.

LBX Post-Trade Hub will operate as a single, standalone middle office allocation system, interfacing with a range of front office OMS platforms and clearing brokers.

The move builds on top of a longstanding relationship between JonesTrading and LiquidityBook, dating back to 2014.

“The LBX platform’s flexible architecture and API framework have allowed us to easily integrate it with our existing technology and workflows,” said Jack Garceau, chief technology officer at JonesTrading.

“This has made the onboarding process as seamless as possible, and the LiquidityBook team’s ability to meet every milestone on this project further validated our decision.”

Read more: JonesTrading deploys FlexTrade Systems’ FlexOMS to power its sell-side trading desks

By rolling out LiquidityBook’s middle office offering, JonesTrading will now be able to receive trades from disparate OMS platforms and manipulate them appropriately for multiple clearing brokers.

JonesTrading will also be able to interface with CTM and third-party FIX networks to receive and match trades/allocation instructions from customers, alongside being able to leverage LiquidityBook as a firm-wide reporting system for all trading and allocation activity.

“This is an important milestone for our sell-side middle office solutions and a testament to the interoperability and modularity of our framework, as well as the efficiency of our integration and onboarding processes,” said Sayant Chatterjee, chief operating officer at LiquidityBook.

The post JonesTrading consolidates middle office operations onto LiquidityBook’s LBX Post-Trade Hub appeared first on The TRADE.

Buy-side clients are invited to rate their EMS providers across 13 functional categories, alongside the chance to detail what additional capabilities they would like to see from vendors in the future.

The TRADE’s 2023 EMS Survey, which analysed over 500 evaluations, revealed that despite the ongoing challenging market dynamics, vendors received some of the highest scores on record from buy-side respondents.

Overall scores were up by an impressive 14 basis points across nearly all aspects of service, including key areas such as product development and client service, with FlexTrade and Instinet rated as Overall Outperformers.

Top performers in the 2023 Survey were honoured at The TRADE’s Leaders in Trading awards last November, which saw TS Imagine pick up two awards: Best User Experience and Best Multi-Asset Capabilities, while Virtu’s Triton was awarded Best Market Access and Best Large-Cap Provider and LSEG TORA won Best Platform Reliability.

To rate your EMS provider in The TRADE’s 2024 Execution Management Systems Survey, please click here.

The questionnaire is open to respondents on the buy-side across all asset classes and regions.

The results of the Survey will be published in the Q3 edition of The TRADE Magazine, while top performers will be recognised at The TRADE’s Leaders in Trading awards, taking place in London on 7 November and New York on 19 November.

The results of the 2023 EMS survey and other research carried out by The TRADE, including the Algorithmic Trading Survey, is available to download here.

The post The TRADE launches EMS Survey for 2024 appeared first on The TRADE.

The firm claims to be an early innovator on several counts. Namely, onboarding algo wheels before they became mainstream and incorporating trading researchers into their trading desk long before many had budget to do so. 

Lars ter Braak, Robbert Wijgerse, Tomaz Mota, Dennis Grashoff, Edwin Scheffers, Bastiaan Berendsen, Martin van der Schans

“Most asset managers do not have the scale to hire data scientists specialised in trading research. In terms of the number of companies that have a dedicated trading research team, we might be one of the top players,” explains Lars ter Braak, one of the institution’s two trading researchers based in Rotterdam.

Robeco formerly had a central multi-asset trading desk across equities, foreign exchange and fixed income, headed up by Robbert Wijgerse. However, unlike the many buy-side desks looking to achieve synergies by merging asset classes, Robeco chose to separate its trading desks by asset class in 2017 in the pursuit of greater efficiency.

The asset manager now has its core desks for equities, fixed income and foreign exchange in Rotterdam. Making up its global equities refit are two low touch and two high touch traders based in the city, with another two high touch traders in Hong Kong and two based in the US.

“In the end, the efficiency that we hoped to reach with having one desk was not realised and therefore we said we want to focus on one specific asset class with dedicated equity traders, fixed income traders and FX traders,” says head of equity trading and operational portfolio management at Robeco, Robbert Wijgerse. “We now have the same focus on the asset class as the underlying portfolio managers have.”

Algo wheels and more

Robeco claims to be an early innovator when it comes to electronification and has a large refit in quant-based and program trading out of its central location in Rotterdam. Among the innovations the institution suggests it was quick to adopt is algo wheels, claiming to have used them for cash equities since as early as 2016. Making up the firm’s Rotterdam-based low touch duo are senior equity trader Bastiaan Berendsen and equity trader Tomaz Mota. 

“There was more demand [on the trading desk] for people that were smart with systems, keen to use algos, and who also have more of a research-focused idea of trading and less on gut feeling,” says Berendsen, who joined Robeco in 2006 as a data and application manager.

Berendsen recently travelled to Robeco’s Asia offices to explore launching more algo wheels for equities in the region. “More than 50% of all of our equities orders globally are executed via an algo wheel, and we are using algo wheels for index futures but is not yet at the same level of flow.” 

Berendsen’s experience proved essential when Robeco made the decision to implement FlexTrade as its execution management system, having previously used Charles River for both order and execution management. 

Like Berendsen, Tomaz Mota has had a similar journey to the trading desk. Until joining Robeco around two and a half years ago due to a desire to feel more connected to the action, he had always been in roles relating to trading but never in the front-office.

“[As a trader] you’re in contact with the decision- making from the portfolio managers and you get more of a view of the market instead of just being in the pipes and fixing how things settle and how the transfers are done,” he says. “Executing the trades is much more exciting.”

Among the projects the low touch team is working on via its EMS provider is the merging of orders for index futures, as well as feeding trading and order information via APIs directly into the trading system to enhance execution.

“We are not immediately going to trade on the signal – there will always be human oversight at least in the foreseeable future – but these solutions can really lead to being one of the best trading desks in the future,” explains Berendsen. 

“We are working together with FlexTrade to see how we can trade these [index futures] via algo wheels. We want our brokers to be able to accept receiving pre-allocations for these orders. If we’re trading for multiple accounts, we need to pass on the accounts numbers to them via FIX. That’s one of the big improvements of having FlexTrade – making sure that we are not going to cross for accounts that do not allow crossing for instance.”

Much of the innovation opted for by Robeco’s low touch trading offering is fuelled by its in-house trading research team who work with the trading desk on a project-by-project basis – aimed at enhancing the way the team executes to minimise costs and reduce market impact. The asset manager first incorporated trading researchers into its workflow in 2016 – somewhat earlier than many firms across the street. This is something that Berendsen says has had tangible results on the way the institution executes, in particular around its level of passive trading.

“We have large quant strategies in developed and emerging markets,” he explains. “For trading many different stocks, it makes sense to trade relatively passively. In general, the quant strategies do not expect to have a lot of short-term alpha, so then you don’t need to be trading extremely aggressively in the market.”

Research is rocket fuel 

The team’s trading researchers are Robeco’s not-so-secret sauce. Also based in Rotterdam with the low touch team are Lars ter Braak and Martin van der Schans, making up Robeco’s entire global trading research refit. The pair sit on the desk with the execution team and have regular updates with the trading desk. According to Van der Schans, having a trading research offering is essential for assessing the wider picture of the markets, allowing the traders to focus their attention on what’s taking place on their blotters day-to-day. 

“The world of the traders is [centralised around] the trades they have to finish on a particular day,” he says. “For research, you need a bit more focus and some distance from what’s going on. The skillset is different. Traders are much more practical fast decision makers and they are quick on their feet. As a researcher, you have more time to dive into details, think about things, and build things from the ground up.”

The pair’s primary focus is analysing the firm’s interaction with the market and the impact they are having with it via how the trading team is taking positions. As a long-term investor, the institution is keen to avoid influencing prices in the market. 

“We started out with evaluating execution algorithms and trader behaviour but now we’re at the point where we started research on providing real-time recommendations to traders,” says Ter Braak who joined Robeco in 2021. “Order allocation is an interesting challenge. First and foremost, you must ensure that you are comparing apples to apples, which we do through randomised controlled trials. Second, you should allocate most orders to the best performing brokers, while others should receive sufficient orders to determine which broker performs best in the next period.”

Jules Boletis

Central to much of the team’s work of late has been a focus on enhancing its use of real-time data to improve execution and aid the high touch decision-making processes. The driver behind it – using the data to assess whether alternative behaviours could have reduced the firm’s costs through back testing.

“Over the years, we have stored data centrally in a database and we have continued to add carefully selected datasets to enhance our decision-making process,” explains head of the equities trading desk, Wijgerse. “Going forward with the use of new technologies, we’d like to assist traders with their decisions during trading instead of post-trade like typical TCA [transaction cost analysis]. Originally TCA is more backward looking and we want to be forward looking.”

Trading research at Robeco for the last few years has been focused on automatically routed flow that goes to broker algorithms – importantly focusing on this selection process and its broker ranking capabilities. Now, both Ter Braak and Van der Schans are looking towards the firm’s global high touch traders.

“Our high touch traders typically execute larger trades that can potentially have a lot of market impact,” says Van der Schans. “They are trying to identify when to speed up or when to slow down in the execution. If the trade is large, it’s not always easy to find the liquidity. They have to determine when the price is good and when they want to do more.”

Global high touch

Robeco has two equities high touch traders in each region it operates in – two in Rotterdam, two in Hong Kong and two in the US – allowing it to offer an around the clock trading model. 

Jayson Suen

Representing the firm’s European equities high touch refit are senior equity traders Edwin Scheffers and Dennis Grashoff – two of the longest standing members of staff in Robeco’s equities trading team, with 15 and 34 years under their belts, respectively. Both are first hand witnesses to the rapid evolution of electronic trading. 

“If you don’t have any luck, you won’t make it in this industry, but you need to have a very good network and be connected with a lot of brokers. In the past you would pick up the phone. These days a lot of things are going by IB chat to deal,” says Grashoff. “The only sad thing about that is you don’t hear the tension in somebody or the room on the other side. If something is happening you hear that in the background. On the chat you don’t see that.”

Scheffers confirms the team has IB chat scraping tools with automatic notifications to make sure the pair are able to capitalise on potential natural liquidity opportunities. If natural can’t be found, the pair favour a dark only liquidity algorithm to kick off an order in a way that won’t create too much market impact. For Scheffers, a love of the markets has kept him tied to the desk and committed to staying in a high touch role throughout his career.

“I hardly ever leave the desk during market hours. I bring my sandwiches from home and I like to watch the market [throughout] the whole day and do not want to miss any opportunities during lunchtime,” he says. 

“I started my career on the sell-side. At that time, I would stay behind my screens all day. If you would say that a colleague trader was out for lunch or something, they [clients] would immediately withdraw their orders. You had to stay on the desk, see everything, and contact them immediately on every market-move.”

Representing Robeco in Hong Kong are trader Jayson Suen and head of Robeco’s Asia Pacific trading desk, Valéry Derbaudrenghien, who joined Robeco two and three years ago respectively, both from previous buy-side roles. The pair cover a 12-hour trading day kicking off with Australia and New Zealand at around 6:30 am local time. And, given that they are just two on the desk, the pair have derived an early and late shift system to manage the day. 

“The bulk of what we trade comes overnight and will be quant orders,” explains Derbaudrenghien. “That keeps us busy right from the morning.”

Robeco has an equities offering in Asia but has also recently launched a fixed income fund from Singapore thanks to increased demand in the region. The fund began trading at the start of last year. The firm trades half of its Asian equities flow electronically and half with cash, Derbaudrenghien confirms, adding that the way the firm’s Asian trading offering is set up makes it unique in comparison with its local peers.

“Part of the Asian trades will still be traded from Rotterdam because we have large quant programs and cash must be managed between regions. Therefore, everything that’s very liquid will be traded overnight through programs by our Rotterdam colleagues with oversight from the Hong Kong desk,” says Derbaudrenghien.

Given the market structure nuances of Asia, Suen stresses the importance of the high touch traders on the ground in the region to find natural liquidity. Asian markets have fragmented and regionalised regulatory and market structures to adhere to, he explains, with varying levels of appetite for dark trading. This is something the Hong Kong based pair must manage.

“The Asia region is very different compared to Europe and the US because the liquidity here is very light. It was worse during Covid because there was no volume,” says Suen. “We base a lot of algos on the machines, but then at the same time, we trade a lot in the crossing platforms and in the dark venues.” 

“At times, you can cross against a VWAP order 100 shares at a time without problems and it will complete half of your order in the dark,” adds Derbaudrenghien. “Managing the dark is very important for Australia, Hong Kong and Japan. Overall, we cross a lot of blocks in those markets and in ASEAN markets as well, or in New Zealand early in the morning.”

Across the Pacific sits Robeco’s US-based high touch trading team. As a European asset manager with a trading desk based in the US and a global outsourced middle-office provider, Robeco has found itself better equipped than others to weather the fallout caused by the market’s shift to T+1 settlement in the US.

“However, that [the T+1 shift] has definitely had an impact on portfolio implementation and operations and not just the trading desk,” says Wijgerse.

Tamara Botteldooren

Sitting in the US are trader Jules Boletis and senior trader Tamara Botteldooren, both of whom were drawn to the region by a love of the markets and of living abroad. After three months on an exchange programme to Boston with Robeco, Botteldooren asked to move to the US permanently. Originally joining Robeco in 2004, she is now in her second decade at the asset manager. 

“The firm I left to join Robeco was still using spreadsheets to send orders,” she explains. “I joined Robeco as they were already way ahead of everyone else technology-wise back in 2004. Today we are still one of the leaders.”

Working alongside her is Jules Boletis who has been with Robeco for five years and has spent the last two of those in New York. The US desk does not have local portfolio managers. Instead, Botteldooren and Boletis represent and execute on behalf of the Rotterdam and Hong Kong based equities portfolio managers. 

“Our value add is in market insights, knowledge of trading strategy and the implementation thereof. One of the sources I’m using more and more for data and information is social media. Mainly Twitter [X],” explains Boletis. “Having a social media feed, it feels like you are in a multi-asset dealing room even if you are in a small team in New York because you receive so much information. It’s stock-specific [insights] but also market wide because different assets all correlate. It’s important to be in the loop of all those market movements.”

Each member of the global Robeco equities team brings an individual skillset to the trading desk. As an innovator from early on, the long-only asset manager’s set up has left it agile in the wake of major market shifts taking place globally in recent years – not least the seismic shift to T+1 that has left many others floundering. And this is a strategy it intends to carry through to the future, whatever that may bring.

“If we do the same thing over and over again, we stay the same,” concludes Wijgerse. “In order to stay good, we need to become better.”

The post Chasing innovation on Robeco’s global equity trading desk: ‘In order to stay good, we need to become better’ appeared first on The TRADE.

Through the integration, FlexTrade’s clients will be provided with direct access to the digital assets liquidity pool via FlexTRADER EMS and FlexONE OEMS.

The integration will also provide connectivity, consolidated depth of book and order placement within FlexTRADER and FlexONE.

“At Coinbase, we empower clients to execute complex digital asset trading strategies by offering access to some of the most liquid trading venues globally,” said Brian Foster, global head of wholesale at Coinbase.

“We are excited to make this available to FlexTrade clients through the OEMS.”   

FlexTrade’s multi-asset E/OMS offers institutional grade trading, compliance and analytics to the full order lifecycle of digital assets and cryptocurrencies.

FlexTrade stated that this integration is a continued step in the development of the firm’s digital asset offering.

Read more: In conversation with… FlexTrade’s Andy Mahoney

“This integration brings deep liquidity to FlexTrade’s digital asset clients including access to Coinbase’s execution algorithms,” said Uday Chebrolu, senior vice president of FX and digital assets at FlexTrade.

“This step marks our continued commitment to building a digital asset O/EMS addressing the needs of our multi-asset institutional clients across global markets.”   

The post FlexTrade expands access to digital asset liquidity through Coinbase Prime integration appeared first on The TRADE.

The FlexOMS solution will also serve as the full-service technology platform for JonesTrading’s outsourced trading offering.

JonesTrading partners with more than 1,500 institutions and hedge funds and its offering includes a wide range of liquidity sources, electronic trading and execution management services worldwide.

In Q3 2023, JonesTrading stated that it identified the need to replace its incumbent sell-side OMS solution which led to the selection of FlexTrade’s multi-asset sell-side trading order management solution, FlexOMS, to expand its equities, outsourced and electronic trading desks both now and moving forward.

Read more: In conversation with… FlexTrade’s Andy Mahoney

“[…] Crucial in our decision was selecting a partner that could value-add in addition to the technology by offering the services and long-term relationships that we need to continue to build out our service offerings,” said Jack Garceau, chief technology officer at JonesTrading.  

“To continue growing, FlexTrade was that reliable partner that could meet our business needs from a technology perspective and deliver in the contracted time frame that the project demanded.”

The project began last year with FlexOMS encompassing JonesTrading’s equities, electronic trading and outsourced trading desk.

Through the use of FlexOMS’s open architecture and API-technology, the solution also connected the entirety of JonesTrading’s vital downstream systems including reporting, accounting, best execution and finance systems, within the given deadline.

“Our open-architecture, client-first approach has delivered cutting-edge trading technology and seamless straight-through processing to JonesTrading’s multiple business lines,” said Rajiv Kedia, principal and associate founder at FlexTrade Systems.

“We look forward to partnering further with JonesTrading to optimise and expand their use of FlexOMS to other business areas.” 

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The initial scope of the partnership intends to focus on pre-trade decision support for the buy-side and corporates, liquidity optimisation and reporting for sell-side users on LSEG’s platform and to deliver Tradefeedr’s analytics within LSEG’s Workspace platform.

Tradefeedr’s unified APIs will be integrated with LSEG’s FX trading ecosystem and FXall trading venue to develop a “new standard for automated FX trading”.

 “Tradefeedr will be a welcome addition to the LSEG Workspace and LSEG FX ecosystems,” Dean Berry, group head of workflows at LSEG.

“By bringing together LSEG Workspace, FXall, and Tradefeedr, we aim to deliver another key element in our strategy to empower customers with data, analytics, and workflows across the trade lifecycle.”

Tradefeedr claims to have up to 21 liquidity providers, 50 buy-side and 10 trading venues included in its analytics network.

 “As our Open APIs gain market traction, they are becoming the new standard for trading analysis, decision support and buy-side to sell-side collaboration,” said Balraj Bassi, CEO and co-founder of Tradefeedr.

“This partnership will enable us to bring new clients and liquidity providers to the Tradefeedr network, which will drive the interoperability of data and standards, enhance market transparency, and further improve FX analytics for the benefit of all participants.”

LSEG has made significant investment into its FX offering in recent months, leveraging it’s now fully integrated FXall platform acquired as part of its Refinitiv deal in 2021.

The exchange operator’s new Singapore–based NDF matching platform went live in November last year, followed by an announcement unveiling a new integrated FX solution in partnership with FlexTrade in December.

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