Speaking to The TRADE, Rob Kirby, head of EMEA sales and business development at QuantHouse, explains: “Quod are a great partner of ours and have been for a number of years. We work closely with them, and also with other OMS/EMS providers as well. We are data agnostic and those types of partners are absolutely critical for QuantHouse.

“Quod has integrated all of the historical market data now, which gives us and them, the opportunity to onboard more and more clients within that space even more efficiently.”

Specifically, through the strategic partnership, QuantHouse’s low-latency and historical data will be used to train QuodFinancial’s AI/machine learning models to adapt to and anticipate market movements.

The AI-driven trading algorithms will enable trading firms to carry out real-time, highly accurate transaction cost analysis (TCA) at the point of execution. As a result, traders will not need to manually adjust their TCA assumptions or trading strategies in the event of unexpected market events.  

“QuantHouse has got a reputation in the marketplace for low latency, high performance normalised market data which is critical to exchange-type customers. We have MTFs as long-standing customers but we also have a decent proportion of OMS, EMS partners as well. They like using our data because of the reliability and the speed of it,” asserts Kirby.  

Read more – Buy-side set to leverage newly combined real time and historical BMLL and Quanthouse offering

Across the trading ecosystem, market participants are highly cognisant of the importance of avoiding a “garbage in, garbage out” situation when it comes to data and technology, in particular when coupled with the theme of AI. Subsequent algorithms are only as effective as the data which powers them.

Speaking in an announcement on Tuesday, Medan Gabbay, chief revenue officer at Quod Financial asserted the importance of solid technological infrastructure when it comes to data automation: “In financial services, the performance of your technology is defined by the quality and speed of the data that powers your systems. This has never been more true or more important than now, as we go through a transition of data automation and AI/ML.”

As AI gains traction across the industry, there has understandably been some trepidation about what the incorporation of this technology could entail.

Read more – The buy-side on AI: ‘The fear is real, but the rewards are there’

Speaking to this, Kirby highlights that though market participants are cautious, particularly in such a highly regulated industry, the increasing use of AI is an inevitable development.

“Clients are always looking for optimal ways to cut costs and increase the efficiency of what they’re doing. If you look at the way AI and machine learning looks at data, and the huge amounts of data sets which are only becoming larger, AI is a clear answer. There are ways of providing risk mitigation, which will allay some of the fears that are in the marketplace today.

“AI is not just a big buzz word, it’s being deployed in ways which are completely changing the industry. It is bringing in huge cost efficiencies and is allowing some of these traders to be able to focus on exactly what they should be focusing on – the execution part of the strategy. That’s, I think, the most exciting thing.”

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Paul Humphrey

The collaboration will combine BMLL’s historical Level 1, 2 and 3 data with Quanthouse’s real-time service in a bid to allow hedge funds and asset managers to better understand market behaviours and test their investment strategies.

This will help them to achieve alpha “more predictably”, BMLL chief executive Paul Humphrey told The TRADE.

“Making QuantHouse’s real-time and BMLL’s historical data available at the same time is a game-changer because it removes costly and complex data engineering requirements,” he explained.

“Buy-side firms are now able to accelerate time to insights and time to market, helping them maintain a competitive advantage. This partnership delivers the buy-side with both historical and real-time data sets to help them understand how markets truly behave.”

The pair went through a process of “data symbology” prior to announcing their partnership. All data is now harmonised and available in one format across all venues and asset classes, in order to better allow firms to analyse real-time data and historical data simultaneously.

“What we are witnessing across the industry is a rising demand for high-quality datasets to carry out research, understand liquidity dynamics and make better-informed trading decisions,” added Humphrey.

“The challenge is that the data engineering required to harmonise data sets from across different venues and asset classes is often cost-prohibitive. What buy-side firms need is high-quality, granular data, delivered in a harmonised, ready-to-use format.”

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The new global team acts as the final step in the integration of the QuantHouse business with Iress’s existing market data capabilities, following the acquisition in May 2019.

This follows an update in QuantHouse’s leadership team amid its integration into Iress, which saw Arthur Tricoire and Sebastien Tiphine appointed as general manager for its global commercial business and head of products, respectively.

Financial services firms have increasingly begun to adopt API data and cloud services at pace. A recent study from Google found that 67% of surveyed sell-side firms consume cloud-deployed market data, while 88% intend to consume more in the coming year.

The survey found that buy-side firms have an even higher rate, with 90% of surveyed firms consuming cloud-deployed market data today, with 70% intending to increase that in the next year.

Iress’s new API data and trading solutions team has been created to support these firms and help them take advantage of the transition.

Iress’s product set offering includes market data feed API solutions such as the QuantFEED low latency data platform; data products such as historical data on-demand, reference data and analytics; and infrastructure and connectivity such as managed hosting and connectivity solutions.

“We now offer a comprehensive suite of trading data solutions, coupled with managed services, to provide end-to-end trading solutions either on-prem or on cloud platforms. These capabilities, together with our focused global team, puts us in a strong position to respond to fast evolving requirements in today’s volatile markets, where timeliness means opportunity,” said Tricoire.

“As part of our commitment to deliver for our clients, we will continue to stay ahead of market trends through constant reinvestment and future-proofing of our products and systems. We are confident that current and prospective clients alike will find value in our expanded capabilities and our ability to help them perform at their best.”

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As part of the transition, Pierre Feligioni, who co-founded QuantHouse in 2005 and has since acted as chief executive officer, is departing to pursue new opportunities.

Arthur Tricoire, who has served in various positions at QuantHouse over the years, most recently as managing director for the Asia Pacifc region, has been appointed general manager for its global commercial business.

Alongside this appointment, Sebastien Tiphine, who most recently served as presales team lead and product strategy, has been appointed head of products.

According to QuantHouse, these changes will allow the firm to continue to execute on behalf of 500 global clients through closer alignment with Iress following its acquisition by the firm.

Iress announced in 2019 that it would be acquiring QuantHouse for €38.9 million, subject to material earnout for the period ongoing until the end of this year.

“Given the increased adoption of API data platforms in open application ecosystems and booming processing availability, we are thrilled to blend our expertise within a dedicated team at Iress,” said Tricoire. “This will allow us to support the evolving requirements of data driven trading systems, helping our clients perform at their best.” 

Alongside the promotions of Tricoire and Tiphine, other key appointments include Denery Fenouil as head of engineering, Anna Pesman as head of client services and Salloum Abousaleh as managing director for the Americas.

“We are committed to enhance the value we offer to clients, taking full advantage of a combined technology platform. This deeper relationship with Iress will provide tangible benefits for our clients,” said Tiphine.

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Trading systems provider FlexTrade has integrated market data solutions from QuantHouse with its order and execution management system (OEMS), FlexONE.

Illinois-based hedge fund Magnetar Capital was the first buy-side client to adopt the QuantFEED market data in FlexONE in January, providing the firm with a single-source front-end data service.

“We’re proud to be the first to implement QuantHouse and FlexTrade’s best-in-class joint offering and enjoyed collaborating with their teams on what the integrated solution could look like,” said Ernie Rogers, chief operating officer and chief financial officer at Magnetar.

“The combined power of QuantFEED Solutions for market data with the FlexONE OEMS has given Magnetar an edge, optimising executions and data consumption in one user-friendly platform.”

QuantFEED normalises and disseminates information for users via a single application programming interface (API) from over 145 sources. It includes referential data, end of day, historical data-on-demand and European or national best bid and offer data.

Market data from Goldman Sachs trading venue SIGMA X  was added to QuantFEED’s list of sources in September 2019, providing users with information on executed trades within the bank’s auction book.

“Our clients employ sophisticated trading strategies and operate in a trading environment that is both complex and demanding,” said Aaron Levine, VP of OEMS solutions at FlexTrade. “Working with the Magnetar and QuantHouse teams’ was a pleasure, as they also share the same passion for technology and innovation as FlexTrade.”

In February, Lyxor Asset Management installed the FlexNOW cloud-based EMS which the fund manager said would help it navigate challenges in remote working conditions due to the pandemic.  The system provides traders with access to thousands of stocks and futures across broker algos.

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Now more than ever before, accessing the right tools on the trading desk is crucial with traders moving from six screens to two and from location to location.

Strides have been made to accelerate the digitisation of workflows while maintaining system resilience and security in the new normal. Going forward, we expect to see an even greater focus on empowering employees to be as productive as possible surrounded by hyper-personalisation, intelligent contextual workflows and democratisation of desktop apps to deliver the very best user experience.
– Adam Toms, CEO, OpenFin Europe

The speed race shifts up a gear – How fast you acquired data used to be the main driver of alpha – with hedge funds racing to build infrastructure and invest in co-location. Going forward performance will be driven by how fast you derive intelligence from that data – testing and tweaking algorithms and trading strategies at speed. 

Cloud-based ecosystems with next-generation analysis tools exponentially expand what’s possible, at more reasonable cost.  Easily ingested data streams via APIs will continue to level the playing field – but creating the intelligent frameworks to quickly get the most value from the data to inform trading will be where the race is won.
– Stephane Leroy, co-founder, chief revenue officer, QuantHouse

The future of investing is bright – more transparent, more personalised, and delivered as a service. During 2021 the industry will transition from a product model to a service model – with more Asset and Wealth Managers applying smart technology to build, visualise, tune and deploy client portfolios and solutions in a highly personalised manner – enabling customisation at scale. How will established firms do so?

We have seen a growing number, especially large and medium-sized managers, getting comfortable with a partnership-based model, whereby they build on top of an existing platform like ours in order to accelerate their go to market and increase their ROI. Because ALPIMA’s platform is configurable and designed to be programable, our enterprise clients don’t need to recreate the wheel and build all the technology required to meet their objectives and satisfy rapidly changing customer needs.  This trend will likely accelerate in 2021 and beyond.
– Pierre Mendelsohn, CEO, SaaS platform for investment management ALPIMA

The events of 2020 have changed how we work and removed many obstacles to improving efficiency. This drive will continue throughout 2021. Banks will reduce costs by removing layers of middle management and exiting unprofitable business lines. Automation of low-value, high-volume business will continue, so sales automation tools for higher value interactions (and to satisfy Compliance) will become essential.

Differentiation in customer service will come as the result of specialisation, as it will in the build and deployment cycle. Trying to build everything in-house will stop, and banks will continue to turn to specialist technology firms for components or complete systems. Those with the flexibility to offer both will prosper. The use of mobile technology in an institutional setting will accelerate as both buy-side and sell-side become unchained from traditional workplace settings.
– John Ashworth, CEO, Caplin

The race for speed is over. The race for data and analytics is on. And the industry is waking up to the predictive power of historic data to support alpha-discovery and decision-making processes. Whereas this trend has certainly pre-dated the pandemic, COVID-19 has accelerated the pursuit of predictability and the need to make sense of how the markets behave, fuelled by high levels of volatility and uncertainty. Predictability only enabled by deep, rich historic data.

This is why I think access to the most granular, Level 3 order book data and the tools to analyse it will be crucial for market participants looking to maintain a competitive edge. It gives systematic hedge funds, quants and algo traders the ability to look beyond recent market events, analyse long term cycles and trends, and backtest their trading strategies. 
– Paul Humphrey, CEO, BMLL Technologies

2021 will see increased adoption of new technologies and automation across the industry, as we all adapt to new ways of working. Accessing liquidity and deal flow opportunities will continue to be a top priority, however, equity capital markets have remained largely untouched by innovation and automation.

Given the decrease of active capital and a reduction of liquidity in particular in small and mid-cap stocks, it is more important than ever to make sure this segment of the market follows the rest of the industry. Some of the largest asset managers – already in Beta on our platform – have made it clear that discovering liquidity, often in excess of 5 days ADV, is a major pain point and needs to be addressed. I believe that we, as an industry, are on the cusp of changing this. Technology is the answer to bringing innovation and automation to equity capital markets.
– Mark Badyra, CEO, Appital

The post The TRADE’s Crystal Ball 2021: Technology and data appeared first on The TRADE.

QuantHouse said in a statement that SIGMA MTF market data, including indicative auction quotes, is now available through its QuantFEED service, which normalises and disseminates information for users via a single API (application programming interface).

“SIGMA X MTF continues to meet the needs of our clients as transparency develops in the equities landscape post-MiFID II,” said Paul Brennan, chief operating officer of SIGMA X MTF at Goldman Sachs. “We think the QuantHouse community will benefit from accessing SIGMA X MTF market data, offering the opportunity to identify high quality liquidity to help improve trading and execution outcomes.”

The Goldman Sachs MTF offers liquidity on the basis of non-discretionary crossing with flow from external participants and the US investment bank, with its periodic auction book currently the second largest in Europe by volume traded.

Goldman Sachs said that following a recent analysis of its SIGMA X MTF auction activity, which have surged in popularity among traders following the introduction of MiFID II, there is often a surplus of unexecuted liquidity in most periodic auctions.

“Our store acts more and more as a “Netflix kind of” portal for the API user community to source advance solutions. We are happy to now offer Goldman Sachs’ SIGMA X MTF market data to our client base across the globe,” added Stephane Leroy, chief revenue officer and co-Founder of QuantHouse.

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Trade surveillance specialist Eventus Systems has teamed up with QuantHouse to bolster its cloud platform with global market data for trade surveillance and market risk.

Eventus Systems will joins QuantHouse’s API Ecosystem meaning that clients can use the surveillance platform, known as Validus, which monitors trading operations and has more than 250 procedures to track market manipulation such as spoofing, layering, wash trading and collusion.

QuantHouse will also provide Eventus with access to its QuantFEED to allow clients to run the platform in T+1, as well as in real-time. Eventus stated the QuantFEED product will allow it to onboard new markets quickly without maintaining separate data feeds.

“Validus was designed from the ground up to incorporate all relevant data types and sources needed to deliver a holistic and comprehensive view of a firm’s trade surveillance and market risk,” added Travis Schwab, CEO of Eventus. “All of these systems rely on first-class, granular data, which is why we chose QuantHouse as one of our core data providers. QuantHouse’s API Ecosystem will also enable us to expand into new markets and offer our solutions to a wider global base of users.”

Earlier this month, US commodities broker INTL FCStone deployed the Validus platform to replace its outsourced trade surveillance system after announcing several expansion initiatives. Following the deal, Eventus said it now provides trade surveillance and risk management to more than 20% of registered US FCMs.

“Adding Eventus Systems to our API Ecosystem means we are able to help market participants both in the Americas and worldwide access the capabilities of the Validus platform currently used by top tier financial firms,” Salloum Abousaleh, managing director for the Americas region at QuantHouse, commented.

“QuantFEED provides more than 150 data feeds via a single API, which makes our solution straightforward and easy to implement. This fits in seamlessly with Eventus Systems’ model, which provides a powerful, flexible, cloud-based solution for clients.”

The post QuantHouse and Eventus partner on trade surveillance appeared first on The TRADE.

The move means that QuantHouse’s clients can access the FastMatch FX tape, which is currently the only FX consolidated tape available in the market, via a single API (application programming interface). The data from the tape includes transactions from various market participants, as well as FastMatch’s ECN, to provide a reference point for executed trades.

“FastMatch’s FX Tape makes post-trade information for the spot market accessible to everyone as we deliver transaction information from a broad range of sources,” said Kevin Wolf, CEO of Euronext FastMatch.

“FastMatch experienced heightened interest in the FX Tape recently from several central banks following the January 2019 USDJPY flash crash which validates the value of an independent reference point in the market. We anticipate that QuantHouse will act as a complementary channel for those wishing to access the FX Tape in addition to our suite of Spot FX market data products.”

QuantHouse’s API aims to help FinTech providers with turning their software and hardware products into global and on-demand solutions. More than 300 buy-side firms and investment banks are connected to the API ecosystem.

“Whether you sit on the buy-side or sell-side, anyone who trades FX will benefit from being able to access the FastMatch FX tape. We commend FastMatch for looking to create the first consolidated tape for the FX market and are delighted to be able to help expand their reach through our API global community of users,” Pierre Feligioni, CEO and co-founder of QuantHouse, added.

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QB’s best execution algorithms for US cash treasury markets and global futures, which offer strategies to optimise execution and minimise market impact for outright, listed spread and inter-commodity trades, will be accessible through the ‘qh API Ecosystem’.

The API initiative, launched in September last year, assists FinTech providers with turning their software and hardware products into global and on-demand solutions, with traditional industry models of per-customer implementation often considered slow and costly.

“Our quant and systematic buy-side clients such as global macros, CTAs and hedge funds can now leverage QB’s advanced algorithms for best execution and analytics,” said Salloum Abousaleh, managing director for the Americas at QuantHouse.

“We have seen a significant increase in demand from the buy-side not only for best execution, but also quality insights and access to a dashboard.”

Last month, QB expanded into the Asia Pacific region with a new office in Sydney, Australia for 24-hour trading in US cash treasury markets and futures. Initially supporting CME and ICE, QB plans to expand to new exchanges including the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and the Japan Exchange Group (JPX).

“QB’s algorithms are designed to provide a hidden footprint while working to achieve the best possible execution,” Alastair Hawker, global head of sales at QB commented.

“This is made possible by QB’s proprietary micro structure research, analytics, event tracking and short-term pricing signals. We look forward to helping more clients improve their execution through QuantHouse’s ecosystem store.”

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