Kicking off this whistle-stop summary as the number one most impactful innovation in the industry is the order and/or execution management system (OEMS) – the beating heart of trading desks around the world. Brought to market in the early 2000s, the sometimes combined and sometimes separated systems were designed to enhance the previously manual processes associated with managing and executing orders. They offer a nifty alternative to the previous plethora of both written records and later, excel spreadsheets that traders were previously forced to grapple with each day to keep things in order.

These systems touch upon all elements of the trading lifecycle throughout the front-to-middle-to-back-office including execution, order, risk and portfolio management. Traders’ order blotters sit within these systems and trading teams use these systems to consolidate data sources and research in one place to increase efficiency and speed when going about day-to-day activities. They also use them to access the market, connecting directly to counterparties to access liquidity. An EMS overlays an OMS by enhancing connectivity, aggregating data and being more flexible as it solely pertains to execution needs.

The systems are constantly evolving to meet the needs of the industry with new third-party vendors integrating their offerings via API in order to gain access to clients using them. While adoption is widespread in equities other asset classes such as fixed income have been slower to adopt these systems given the nuances of the workflows and liquidity landscapes in these markets. For more information on the various providers in the EMS market, check out The TRADE’s annual survey.

2. Bloomberg Terminal

Up next and needing little introduction is the Bloomberg Terminal, Bloomberg’s data and proprietary trading platform. First brought to market in the early 80s the system has over the decades earned its title as the leading market data source and a must have for any financial institution looking to execute in the markets. This is reflected in its annual subscription now nearing $30,000. For this reason, the system is favoured by institutional investors as opposed to individual ones.

Its black background and computerised white text might seem a little out of date to individuals outside of the industry but its role in the financial markets has cemented this interface as a poster child for financial services. Home to Bloomberg’s central data services the interface offers users access to news, data, analytics, and multi-asset trading tools. Given its widespread adoption by institutions it’s also a people move source as users can see up to date contact details of peers. According to Bloomberg, it offers  sell-side and independent research from over 1,500 sources as well as proprietary research on various industries and markets.

3. CLS

Coming in at number three is the multi-currency settlement system, CLS. While perhaps not one of the most exciting aspects of the trade lifecycle, settlement is a central process that acts as a pillar for the capital markets. The settlement period relates to the space of time between the trade date and the settlement date when a trade is considered complete. Within this window both the buyer and seller must undertake any necessary actions to ensure the transaction can be completed.

Established in 2002, the CLS network is designed to minimise risk and offer operational efficiency to institutions within the settlement window by avoiding bilateral settlement that is more likely to fail.

The settlement window has found itself in the industry spotlight as of late thanks to the recent decision from regulators in the US to move North American markets to a T+1 settlement period, down from T+2.

4. Central limit order book (CLOB)

While it is easy to romanticise the sheer graft that went into trading a few decades ago, the introduction of central limit order books (CLOBs) and streamed pricing were much-needed innovations. The idea that in order to understand the changing price of an individual stock or security, one would have to study daily directories and newspapers is something that many of those starting out in the industry today will never understand. With no central directory of orders in the market, understanding pricing must have been a headache to say the least, leaving many individuals subject to arduous process of calling everyone in the phone book.

CLOBs allow for transparency of live orders that are prioritised by price and time. By seeing what is available on the order book, traders have an idea of how much volume can be executed at a specific price. Facilitated by exchanges, a CLOB allows buyers and sellers to submit their trading interests and then utilises a matching engine to match buy and sell orders based on specific requirements such as price time priority. Once a trade has been matched the buy and sell orders are removed from the order book and the bid and ask prices are updated accordingly to reflect the change.

CLOBs offer greater transparency and consolidated liquidity meaning participants have a greater chance of trading. They’re typically used in equities given that this asset class trades on exchange unlike fixed income and some foreign exchange assets. Thanks to huge leaps in technology, participants can hide their full amounts in what’s known as “iceberg orders” that replenish the order book once liquidity has been matched and removed from the book.

5. Algorithmic trading

Rounding out the top five of The TRADE’s rankings of the most influential innovations to come to trading are algorithms and the concept of executing algorithmically or automatically. Most common for low touch and ‘easy flow’ algorithms are often used for small orders in highly liquid markets. Algorithms are a computer programmed trading workflow that follows a defined set of parameters. These parameters could be anything from liquidity seeking to volume dependant or venue-specific such as dark seeking.

Algorithms often offer traders a quick and easy route to market. They remove the opportunity for human error by taking away any manual processes and offer a low latency solution that will often achieve best execution and avoid any unwanted price changes.

While this all sounds fantastic and you may be wondering why they aren’t used for all flow, there are some downsides. Unpredictable activity in the markets such as Black Swan events can render algorithms that rely on historical data useless and result in losses for firms. At the other end of the spectrum, a lack of human judgement and intervention can sometimes result in lesser results in nuanced situations that require human intuition.

Buy-side institutions will often use a broker’s algorithmic suite for execution, with many sell-side institutions vying for the interest of clients with the launch of new and innovative products with flashy names. Less common is the development of proprietary algorithms inhouse on the buy-side given the cost, time to implement, and the speed at which priorities evolve. For more information on algorithmic trading providers, check out The TRADE’s annual survey.

6. The FIX Protocol

Think of the FIX Protocol – or the Financial Information Exchange Protocol – as a universal language allowing institutions to communicate clearly when looking to execute in the market. Used by the buy- and sell-side as well as venues and regulators the FIX Protocol is an industry standard used to complete transactions. It was originally cooked up in the early 90s by Robert Lamoureux and Chris Morstatt in order to exchange equity information between their respective firms Fidelity Investments and Salomon Brothers.

The crux of the protocol isa language comprised of a series of messaging specifications to be used in trade communications. Each specification whether it be size or time or client type has a number or letter associated with it making trading intentions clearer and more clean-cut no matter where they have come from. The protocol was designed in an attempt to simplify workflows and reduce error by creating an industry standard to adopted by all.

The standard is non-proprietary and free. It is owned by the FIX Trading Community made up of buy and sell-side firms, vendors, industry associations and trading venues. While originally only focused on equity information, the FIX protocol began supporting straight through processing (STP) in the 90s and also later added indication of interest (IOI) capabilities to its roster.

7. Dark pools

Dark pools are trading venues where institutional investors can access liquidity without giving away any pre-trade information. Dating back to the 80s these private pools emerged in the US as a way of institutional investors executing without showing their hand to the market in a bid to limit market impact, later arriving in Europe. Given the proliferation of high frequency trading (HFT) several investment banks chose to launch these alternative trading systems (ATS) as a means of protecting institutional clients who are typically slower to execute.

They were originally designed to facilitate block trading but have since evolved to support trades of all sizes – something that has led to criticism from some corners of the market in recent years. Some regulators – in particular those in Europe – have begun exploring how to limit dark trading in recent years given its potential role in reducing volumes on the price forming lit order books hosted by exchanges.

Dark trading is a popular practice globally. While there are specific dark pool operators such as Liquidnet and Virtu, many of the incumbent exchanges also have dark pool offerings.

8. All-to-all trading

Next up is all-to-all trading – which does what it says on the tin. The protocol is a type of trading that allows buy-side institutions to provide liquidity and trade amongst each other. Historically trading has always involved a sell-side counterparty that will access the market and source liquidity on behalf of a buy-side client. The introduction of all-to-all trading has subverted this workflow and is an attempt from venues operating these liquidity pools to offer buy-side firms an alternative means of trading.

The protocol is heavily focused on the fixed income markets and has seen recent growth in the foreign exchange sphere. It has seen a boom in recent years as institutions have looked to diversify the way that they executed. Chief among the catalysts for its growth was the Covid-19 pandemic which began in 2020 and subsequently saw many traditional sell-side institutions reduce their balance sheet and withdraw from the market.

Tradeweb launched its all-to-all corporate bond trading functionality in 2017. Rival fixed income trading venue Bloomberg launched its global all-to-all bond trading service in 2022. However, first off the bat was MarketAxess which launched its Open Trading all-to-all trading environment in 2012.

9. Transaction cost analysis (TCA)

Transaction cost analysis (TCA) is perhaps one of the most heavily discussed industry topics as of late thanks to the plethora of data now needed to execute and to prove best execution to clients. The process is used by institutional investors to analyse data to evaluate their trade performance post-trade, ensuring they have achieved the most competitive pricing. The data is used to make decisions on which sell-side counterparties to keep on an algo wheel or ‘panel’.

While the process has historically been a post-trade one, in today’s trading environment many desks are now assessing how to feed this information into their processes pre-trade in order to ensure further efficiencies.

Today, buy-side trading desks are increasingly using new technology to evolve their TCA use towards something more proactive, utilising predictive analytics that enable participants to anticipate and mitigate execution risks, optimise trading strategies, and help to generate alpha. The data is increasingly being used as more than a simple measurement, but instead is being applied to make better informed trading decisions.

TCA can be done in-house but is also offered by third party providers.

10. Systematic internalisers (SIs)

Next up in The TRADE’s innovation rundown are systematic internalisers (SIs). Usually hosted by bulge bracket banks, SIs are an internalising mechanism that allow banks to execute flow over the counter or off exchange. They’re an alternative venue to the lit order books hosted by exchanges. Within SIs, banks can cross flow from their various business divisions using their central risk books without going out to the market to find the other side. Within these ecosystems they can cross client flow with each other or cross it with their own proprietary workflows.

As an alternative trading venue to the lit order books these venues have found themselves under scrutiny as of late from some that argue that SI volumes are harmful to wider market structure as they do not contribute to price formation and fragment liquidity. Flip the coin and many participants argue that if a trade achieves best execution, it doesn’t really matter where it was executed so long as it achieved the optimal outcome.

In Europe, the SI regulatory regime was introduced in 2007 as part of the Mifid I regulation. The quasi-dark venues properly took off in 2018 with the introduction of Mifid II and greater restrictions on dark trading.

11. Direct market access (DMA)

Many of the innovations in this lengthy list offer a new way for buyers and sellers to access the markets and direct market access (DMA) is no different. In years gone by, buy-side firms have placed orders via a sell-side broker to be traded on exchange. However, DMA is the process of directly connecting electronically to an exchange in order to trade on exchange securities without using a broker or intermediary.

These pipes require advanced technological capabilities and are usually developed by sell-side firms. Buy-side firms will often pay to integrate said pipes in order to gain direct access to the exchange without having to go through the sell-side counterparty. The process offers a disintermediation of the typical broker trading workflow and creates greater optionality for investors looking to access the markets.

12. Hight Frequency Trading (HFT)

High frequency trading (HFT) firms have extraordinary computing capabilities. Sometimes known as proprietary trading desks, these firms are famous for their high-speed connections to the markets that leverage co-locations at exchanges and enhanced proprietary data feeds to gather information. They capitalise on the information gathered in one location to trade ahead of slower institutional investors on other venues.

The process was first brought to the world’s attention in Michael Lewis’ 2014 novel ‘Flash Boys’ which unpacks the role of latency in trading in light of the shift to electronification. The crux of the story: electronification and the laying of fibre optic cables to access venues had opened the door for these faster and more predatory firms, able to nip in ahead of institutional investors.

Today, HFT firms will often use microwaves using satellite dishes at exchanges to gain greater speed still. Some venues, such as Aquis, banned HFT on their venues as part of their USP. Aquis, however, moved to lift this ban last year in order to expand its liquidity pool in a decision that had both supporters and critics.

13. Exchange traded funds (ETFs)

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) have seen a journey to dominance in the last ten years in the advent of more passive trading strategies as opposed to more active ones. ETFs offer investors a chance to buy and sell a basket of securities as if it were a single stock and transaction.

ETFs track and mirror how a pool of exchange traded securities is trading on exchange and price themselves accordingly. They can simply track an index or they can be made up of a custom basket of stocks. The first ETF to launch in the US was the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) in 1993. ETFs, among other index tracking investment vehicles, have become popular in the increasingly passive trading era where low risk index-based strategies offer greater returns for investors in exchange for half the fees charged by active investors. Given their low risk and low fee model they’re extremely popular with retail investors.

While these trading products are usually passive, active ETFs with an active manager picking and choosing what goes into them, have also seen a surge in popularity in recent years.

14. Periodic auctions

Coming in at number 14 are periodic auctions, an innovation which offer an alternative location for investors to trade instead of the lit order book. Like SIs, periodic auctions saw a boost in interest following the implementation of Mifid II regulation in 2018 and the restrictions it imposed on dark trading venues.

The core difference between a periodic auction and a CLOB is that periodic auctions are not continuous. Various models exist but at their core, periodic auctions collect buy and sell offers to determine a price and then triggers a call period whereby participants can see the indicative price and how many shares can be expected to be executed. Participants then have the option to submit firm orders into the auction. These built in inherent speed bumps favour slower investors and prevent them from being picked off as they might be in the lit books.

The venues have become increasingly popular in recent years because they help investors seek price improvement by prioritising order size over speed at the order allocation phase. They are price-forming rather than price-referencing and they introduce randomness in trade timing. Several alternative trading systems (ATS) being brought to market recently have built their offerings around the skeletal structure of a periodic auction.

15. The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX)

The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), has become an increasingly essential tool for traders as of late and, given the current market dynamics it’s likely it’ll remain front and centre in traders’ minds for a while yet. Created by Cboe Global Markets in 1993, the original index was used to measure the market’s expectation of 30-day volatility suggested by at-the-money S&P 100 Index (OEX Index) option prices.

In 2003, the index was updated as part of a partnership with Goldman Sachs. Designed to reflect a new method of measuring volatility the index is now based on the S&P 500 Index (SPX) for US equities. It estimates volatility by consolidating the weighted prices of puts and calls on the SPX. It has become a priceless tool for participants looking to track market volatility and for those trying to understand investor sentiment in times of market stress.

The need for such tools has been exacerbated in the last few years thanks to several major unprecedented market events, not least the global pandemic and the new ‘black Monday’ seen on 9 March 2020.

16. Portfolio trading

Next up is portfolio trading. The concept is heavily linked to ETFs and is not dissimilar from program trading in that it allows for the trading of a basket of stocks. Portfolio trades allow traders to execute a basket of stocks in one single transaction, minimising costs and allowing traders to bundle less liquid or more difficult to trade instruments in with more liquid transactions. The concept has exploded in the last few years, egged on by market conditions and volatility brought on by the pandemic and other macroeconomic factors.

Electronically, it is a relatively new phenomenon to the last four to five years, and the protocol has gained momentum alongside other forms of electronic trading that differ from request for quote (RFQ) protocols on multi-dealer platforms, as participants look to minimise their market impact and avoid information leakage. Manually, however, the practice has existed for many decades using a laborious process involving excel spreadsheets and phone calls. Portfolio trades have historically helped many institutions to move big blocks of risk.

The protocol appeals to the sell-side for several reasons, namely the fact that they can take a basket of securities and use them in other trades, special purpose vehicles (SPV) or, importantly, the exchange traded fund (ETF) create and redeem process.

17. Axe trading

The next innovation on The TRADE’s list is axe trading, which is based on… you guessed it, axes. Coined from the phrase ‘an axe to grind’ an axe shows a trader’s interest in buying or selling a specific security. Shown as a grid these tools are used by participants to indicate to their counterparties what they want and need to get done in a certain security so that they might go off and set about getting it done for them in the markets.

Outside of a chosen list of counterparties, traders will usually keep axes private as they indicate potential future moves and this information could be used by someone looking to front-run them in the markets. The process was one typically associated with just bonds but it has since expanded into different securities. Several vendors and platform providers have sought to launch new and innovative solutions that integrate dealer axe data into workflows in a bid to streamline the trading process. The concept has given birth to new platforms and vendors in the market with axe-led quoting and execution management systems (QEMS) at their core.

18. Conditional orders

Conditional orders do what they say on the tin. Many different order types exist under the umbrella of the word conditional but the general premise is, they are orders that will only be actioned or executed if certain conditions are met. Unlike a typical market order where it is placed into the market and the price is not guaranteed, conditional orders set out the parameters on how they should be filled from the get-go. This sometimes means they never get executed as the conditions are not met. They are particularly popular with the buy-side as they allow firms to access liquidity without committing to a trade. Traders can represent orders on multiple venues without running the risk of being executed in multiple different places.

Some of the most common include the ‘limit’ order which will only be filled at a specified price or better, a ‘contingent’ order which simultaneously executes two or more transactions on the back of each other, or a ‘stop’ order which orders the buying or selling of a stock one it reaches a certain price.

19. Actionable indication of interests (IOI)

An indication of interest (IOI) is a conditional and non-binding indication of a buyer’s interest in a security that is still in the underwriting stage. It’s a way of participants gauging available liquidity in the market without committing to placing an order. Sell-side firms will often pitch IOI liquidity to clients as a way of offering a natural other side. An actionable IOI takes this one step further, firming up an indication and offering the liquidity up in a click to trade format.

IOIs can be executed via a variety of workflows. Firms can submit an IOI to a venue seeking liquidity as a non-actionable IOI. When a match is found they can then firm up said IOI to make it actionable. Some EMS providers have integrated this workflow into their technology to streamline it further. Participants can access actionable IOI liquidity straight from their trading blotter within their EMS.  

20. Request for quote (RFQ) and request for market (RFM)

Our final innovation on the list is request for quote (RFQ) and the request for market (RFM) protocols. Both have revolutionised the way fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) traders operate in recent years. Both sit under a similar umbrella but other slightly different iterations of each other’s offerings. At the core of both is the idea of allowing fixed income traders to access multiple liquidity providers at once.

Given how bilateral fixed income trading has historically been and how sparse liquidity can be in different markets, the protocols allow participants to maximise their chances of finding the other side by sending out requests to trade to multiple people.

RFQ allows buy-side firms to send out a request for a price to multiple firms at once for the purchase or sale of a security. RFM is a slightly different concept and offers firms the chance to request a price for both the buy and sell so as not to give away the direction they intend to trade in. The idea being that firms can protect themselves from market impact by concealing this information from the rest of the market.

These are the 20 innovations we at The TRADE believe have shaped our community’s landscape most heavily in the last few decades.

Our industry is continuously shifting and innovating. Every year new trends and phenomena come to market intended to disrupt and improve the way that traders go about executing in the market. With continuously growing data sets and the prospect of artificial intelligence and greater automation being used on the trading desk in the near future, it’s likely this list could look very different in a few years’ time.

For more TRADE 20 lists visit thetradenews.com

The post The 20 greatest trading innovations appeared first on The TRADE.

TCA is central to making automated execution more fruitful by supplying insights into processes pre-trade to inform decisions, noted speakers when exploring ways to implement the right tools and skillsets to future-proof the trading desk.

Data – particularly ‘clean’ data – was highlighted as of particular importance. Ultimately, without data to back up automated strategies and their efficiency, said strategies will not be adopted. 

“TCA is important for automation, but we need to know if those automated trades were executed well and whether the execution was better than if handled by a human trader,” highlighted one panellist.

Increases in automation on trading desks has meant that more real-time TCA is required, panellists emphasised, although it was noted that not all firms have the budget to build out this capability yet.

TCA should move past being more of a regulatory exercise, to something that can be practically used to improve execution, panellists noted. “Efficiency gains can be accessed through TCA; TCA helps ensure it is safe to execute in an automated manner.”

Read more: Conscious usage of TCA: Making trade analytics more actionable

When exploring automation more generally, panellists noted that with automation, some challenges do arise and there is no one size fits all solution. In larger firms with huge trading teams, one panellist argued that collaboration becomes increasingly difficult with automation.

Ensuring collaboration is efficient and that the teams are working towards the same goal as a group can be challenging, they noted.

Automation is not a one size fits all, echoed one panellist, who emphasised that automation needs to adjust on the workflow you are trying to achieve.

The panellist noted that on the private banking side for example, speed is essential and an area where automation can truly be useful. However, on the asset management side, there’s a little bit more room for execution to be slower – with automation in this instance being used differently.

“The whole value chain should be considered when automating,” said one panellist.

Scale and efficiency were labelled as the two biggest things that become available with greater automation on the trading desk.

“With the proliferation of ETFs, there’s a greater number of smaller sized tickets that need to be executed, especially in and around the benchmark points of time – whether that is 12:00, 15:00 or market on close. So being able to get those and get them executed efficiently at those benchmarks, with little slippage in time, that’s a huge advantage.”

The panellist continued to say that as a firm increases its assets under management, there’s more trades to execute which can either be done through hiring more people or through more efficient execution.

Panellists went on the acknowledge that over the past five to eight years, there has been a massive influx in the ability to automate individual bonds, allowing for improved scale and efficiency.

With growing advancements in technology and an ever-increasing amount of data becoming readily available to the trading desk, panellists concluded that automation paired with TCA will be able to help future proof fixed income execution in the coming years.

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Through this collaboration, Charles River Development can now participate on Glimpse sans technology integration, sharing their fixed income data across the Glimpse network.

The partnership also allows users to consume Glimpse post-trade data feed and dealer rankings directly in the Charles River OMS at zero cost. 

“This collaboration marks a significant milestone for both current and future Glimpse members, enhancing their ability to share trade data, gain deeper insights, and further increase transparency in the fixed income markets.

“[…] This is a game-changer for our network and a huge step forward on our journey to democratising data access for the buy-side,” said Glimpse speaking in a social media announcement. 

Read more: Glimpse Markets and Wave Labs extend relationship with new strategic partnership 

Other notable firms to join Glimpse recently include KBC Asset Management, T. Rowe Price and Andra AP-fonden.

The post Charles River and Glimpse Markets unveil partnership appeared first on The TRADE.

Paul Humphrey

The latest funding round included Optiver as lead investor, with co-participation from existing investors FactSet, Nasdaq Ventures, IQ Capital’s Growth Fund, as well as additional investment from CTC Venture Capital.

As part of the move, Optiver has also joined BMLL’s board of investors. 

The investment comes at a time of continued accelerated growth for BMLL. Over the last 18 months, the business added more than 40 equities and futures datasets globally and today covers 98% of the MSCI All Country World Index.

BMLL has also grown its global footprint, opened a US-base and increased its client roster.

“We are thrilled to welcome Optiver as a significant shareholder and are delighted to have the ongoing support from our existing investors who have backed the latest round,” said Paul Humphrey, chief executive at BMLL.

“We have an incredibly diverse team of supporting investors, with deep-seated global market and technology expertise, and we are poised to scale the business further, as we build out and scale our data feed business and futures coverage and wider product offering globally.”

Read more: BMLL expands kdb+ database offering with INQDATA technology partnership

This investment follows BMLL’s Series B round in October 2022, which secured a $26 million strategic investment from FactSet, Nasdaq Ventures and IQ Capital’s Growth Fund. Snowflake Ventures joined the Series B round in September last year.

BMLL has previously raised $36 million through Series A and seed funding rounds.

“The high quality of BMLL’s data, their advanced analytics tools and their best-in-class team have together significantly improved our ability to generate insights that influence our strategies,” said Pat Cooney, managing director at Optiver Europe.

“We believe these benefits can extend beyond our firm and provide substantial value to other market participants as well.”

The post BMLL secures $21 million injection from Optiver-led investment round appeared first on The TRADE.

The CTP for shares and exchange traded funds ETFs will initiate in June 2025 with plans for a decision on by the end of 2025.

This in keeping with the previously confirmed timeline wherein ESMA confirmed it would be no more than six months after the launch of the selection procedure for bonds.

“Today’s announcement on the launch dates of the first selection procedures for the CTP for bonds and equities aims to foster a successful competition with multiple solid offers in transparent and fair selection procedures,” said ESMA.

Specifically, the “reasoned decision” on the selected applicant will adhere to the rules applicable to concession contracts (outlined in the Financial Regulation – EU, Euratom 2018/104636), which prescribes the steps and timelines to follow.

Read more: ESMA publishes new public consultations as Mifir review continues

Contract notice and procurement documents will be published on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal on the respective launch dates.

“Prospective applicants are invited to register and familiarise themselves with the Portal. In the coming weeks, ESMA intends to share additional guidance on the assessment of exclusion criteria,” confirmed the watchdog. 

Last December, Etrading Software confirmed plans to bid to become the consolidated tape provider (CTP) for both the UK and EU as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA) continued with data consolidation plans.

The move followed news that the Bloomberg, MarketAxess and Tradeweb JV for a CTP bid had been scrapped due to “various developments”.

Following confirmation, it would enter the tender process to become the UK’s consolidated tape provider for fixed income, Ediphy has also confirmed its intention to bid for the European fixed income tape as well.

Last year a JV between major exchanges across Europe announced the incorporation of the new company, EuroCTP, through which the participants aim to bid to become the EU’s equities and ETF consolidated tape (CT) provider.

Read more: Battle lines are drawn over European consolidated tape project

Throughout the application periods, ESMA has confirmed it will be available to field questions from prospective bidders with applicants “granted as much time as possible, within the boundaries of EU procurement rules, to provide details on their projects”.

The post ESMA to pick bond CTP by July 2025 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.

The CTP will focus on enhancing transparency, liquidity and participation in UK fixed income markets, set to operate as an industry utility, built with an ‘at reasonable cost’ philosophy.  

Read more: FCA moves to consult with industry on UK consolidated tape model as back and forth continues

“The [fairCT] initiative remains open to engaging with others,” confirmed the group, and will focus on the FCA’s priority to lower the costs of accessing trading data and market participation.

In addition, Ediphy has confirmed its intention to bid for the European tape as well. 

The market has been expecting that the UK would prioritise a fixed income consolidated tape first due to the opaque nature of the asset class compared to others such as equities.

With bond trading in the UK currently fragmented and liquidity spread across numerous trading venues and various lit and dark trading protocols, the CT is set to right some key complexities.

Read more: If you build it, will they come? 

Chris Murphy, chief executive of Ediphy, said: “Our approach is fundamentally different from other contenders. First, we aim to return any economic value generated by the consolidated tape provider over its costs and reasonable returns to the users of the tape. Second, we have built this initiative as a collaboration between multiple participants representing all stakeholder groups. 

“No other potential tape provider brings this diversity of experience nor delivers as fully on the alignment of product and customer needs, as proposed under the FCA Consumer Duty commitment.”

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Named DataScope Warehouse, the new solution offers cloud-based access to LSEG’s fixed income and equity data records.

The solution supports Structured Query Language (SQL), allowing users to explore and query the pricing and reference database.

Cloud collaboration is also facilitated by the solution, offering access to LSEG data via any cloud partner.

LSEG customers will benefit from immediate and total access via a direct share to the full database of record for fixed income, bank loans and legal entity data, as well as coverage of global equities, derivatives, and funds from more than 180 exchanges worldwide, said the exchange.

At launch, DataScope Warehouse will initially be delivered via Snowflake cloud infrastructure, with more cloud providers scheduled to be rolled out next year.

Read more: LSEG acquires Axoni post-trade technology

“Our customers are looking for flexible solutions that allow them to consume as much data as they need exactly when they need it. The launch of DataScope Warehouse will be key in enabling our customers to spend less time on data remediation and more on discovering insights and boosting productivity in their businesses,” said Kristin Hochstein, global head of pricing and reference services.

The post LSEG launches new cloud-based enterprise data solution appeared first on The TRADE.

Chris Stoate

FINBOURNE’s dashboards and an open API environment will help TT International professionals to unlock data held within existing systems, and quickly surface and centralise reconciled data for application across operations, according to the firm.

“With over 30 years’ experience in high alpha specialist investing, we recognise that transformation, driven by clean, high-quality data, is vital to our continued success and future growth,” said Chris Stoate, head of risk, operations and technology at TT International.

“Implementing FINBOURNE’s technology underscores our commitment to delivering exceptional client service, streamlined integration and access to real-time and quality data to support our goals.”

Through the development and the corresponding data integration, enhanced real-time insights, and improved processes, TT International will be able to make better investment decisions alongside transforming its operating model.

Read more: FINBOURNE Technology increases funding total to over £100 million

“Asset managers are increasingly seeking technology that enhances efficiency, transparency and decision-making capabilities,” said Thomas McHugh, chief executive and co-founder at FINBOURNE Technology.

“We are delighted to support TT International to deliver unparalleled client service by providing the flexibility to innovate and scale to their strategic plan.”

The post TT International taps FINBOURNE Technology to bolster data ecosystem 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.

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