Wolverine Execution Services, the agency brokerage affiliate of the large market maker, launched two new algorithms: WEX VWAP and WEX Basket VWAP.

Wolverine Execution Services, the agency brokerage affiliate of the large market maker, launched two new algorithms: WEX VWAP and WEX Basket VWAP.

Both algorithms utilize a logic that seeks to minimize market impact and price slippage. WEX VWAP and Basket VWAP timeframes can be set to as short as five minutes or as long as the entire trading day. They do not require other user-defined parameters and settings, eliminating the need for time-consuming user configurations and inputs.

The VWAP algo works orders using Wolverine’s ‘Best X’ proprietary execution logic to spread trades along a historical volume distribution within a specified time period.

The Basket VWAP algo is designed to work with long/short equity or market neutral baskets. It manages executions for basket or index components using Best X logic and historical volume distributions. When executing long/short baskets this approach strives to keep the basket neutral throughout the execution, the company said in a statement.

Kevin Kernan

“The addition of these new algorithms is in direct response to client requests to marry the proprietary logic of Best X with a VWAP strategy,” said Kevin Kernan, WEX director of product development. “The superior performance our clients have seen from WEX Best X when compared to other arrival price algorithms was a key driver in creating these new algorithms for clients that use a VWAP strategy.”

The algorithms are available via the WEX electronic trading platform or any other FIX-compliant execution or order management system platforms.

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FlexTrade announces new integration with OTC Link ATS

FlexTrade announces new integration with OTC Link ATS

http://www.automatedtrader.net/news/at/144308/flextrade-announces-new-integration-with-otc-link-ats

First Published 14th August 2013
FlexTrade trading & market making functionality integrates into OMS workflows for sell-side clients
OMS/EMSATS

Vijay Kedia, president and CEO, FlexTrade
“Our objective is to address trading needs that are not widely available in the market place.”
Great Neck, NY – FlexTrade Systems, the provider of broker-neutral, multi-asset execution and order management trading systems, has announced a complete integration with OTC Link, a wholly-owned subsidiary of OTC Markets Group, to support trading and market making on OTC Link’s SEC registered Alternative Trading System, OTC Link ATS. The new functionality integrates OTC Link ATS’ capabilities into existing broker-dealer workflows for clients using FlexTrade’s sell-side OMS products.
“We now provide OTC Link’s broker-dealer subscribers with integrated workflows that will improve their ability to manage trading in OTCQX, OTCQB and OTC Pink securities,” said Vijay Kedia, president and CEO of FlexTrade. “Our objective is to address trading needs that are not widely available in the market place.”
The new functionality is available in both of FlexTrade’s sell-side OMS products, ColorPalette and FlexOMS. To access the product, customers need to be OTC Link ATS subscribers as the system uses OTC Link’s OTC Dealer IDs for trading access.
“FlexTrade is excited about the opportunity to work with OTC Link ATS’ subscriber market making firms around a new offering,” said Greg Ludvik, director, ColorPalette OMS. “We believe there is a market need for new alternatives to existing third-party solutions.”

Aquis Exchange To Offer Access Via BT Radianz Cloud

Aquis Exchange To Offer Access Via BT Radianz Cloud

http://www.mondovisione.com/media-and-resources/news/aquis-exchange-to-offer-access-via-bt-radianz-cloud/

Date 29/07/2013
BT given preferred supplier status
Aquis Exchange Members will benefit from subscription pricing
Allows quick and cost-effective access to Aquis Exchange
Enables straight through processing
Aquis Exchange Limited, the proposed pan-European stock exchange*, today announced a new agreement with BT that allows its Members to access its trading platform via the BT Radianz Cloud.
The BT Radianz Cloud — the largest secure networked financial community in the world — helps financial market participants globally to exchange market information, trade with each other and clear and settle transactions.
Under the new agreement, BT will not only be Aquis Exchange’s preferred cloud connectivity supplier, but the Exchange’s services will now be accessible to the thousands of members of the BT Radianz Cloud community globally.
In addition, Aquis Exchange Members can use the BT Radianz infrastructure to connect with Aquis Exchange’s clearing partners using one resilient access point. This allows the full trade cycle to be conducted seamlessly and helps institutions achieve straight through processing (STP).
Commenting on the agreement, Alasdair Haynes, CEO of Aquis Exchange said:
“The opening of our doors to the BT Radianz Cloud community to access Aquis Exchange is important for us. It provides us with an opportunity to gain rapid access to an unrivalled community of market participants, which is why we have selected them as our preferred cloud connectivity supplier. We believe in having the widest possible range of users to strengthen the ecology of our marketplace and extend the benefits of our subscription pricing model to all professional investors.”
Robin Farnan, Managing Director, Financial Technology Services, BT, said:
“We are delighted to have been selected as Aquis Exchange’s preferred cloud connectivity provider. Aquis Exchange now joins over 100 trading venues that are already part of the BT Radianz Cloud community and benefits from reduced time-to-market and cost of technology infrastructure. The availability of Aquis Exchange to the BT Radianz Cloud community is a great example of how technology can accelerate innovation and efficiencies in the financial sector.”
Aquis Exchange’s subscription pricing works on a similar model to that of the telecoms industry and is designed to encourage participation from all categories of professional trading firm. Users will be charged according to the message traffic they generate, rather than a percentage of the value of each stock that they trade. There will be different pricing bands to accommodate varying degrees of usage. There will be a very low usage band for small firms, that are traditionally disadvantaged by the pricing structure of the incumbent exchanges and, at the other end of the pricing structure, will be the top category where usage is unlimited (subject to a fair usage policy).
For Aquis Exchange Members that are not part of the BT Radianz Cloud, access is available in a number of other ways, including via direct line connection or co-location into Equinix’ LD4 data centre in Slough (Berkshire, UK)

Deutsche Borse and Liquidnet to launch block trading service

Deutsche Borse and Liquidnet to launch block trading service

http://www.atmonitor.co.uk/news/newsview.aspx?title=deutsche-borse-and-liquidnet-to-launch-block-trading-service

Published on   Jul 18, 2013

Deutsche Borse will launch a new block trading service on Xetra MidPoint on 29 July and has named Liquidnet, the institutional trading network, as the Block Agent for this new service.

This new block trading model provides a platform where more than 240 Xetra members can trade directly with Liquidnet’s network of asset management firms. Xetra MidPoint’s Block Agent model will combine the liquidity of multiple sources, increasing the probability that large orders will be executed at midpoint.

“Connecting Liquidnet provides our members the opportunity to execute block sized orders in a manner that serves the specific requirements of this segment, with all advantages of exchange trading via Xetra MidPoint. The Block Agent model offers access to considerably greater block liquidity for Xetra MidPoint execution, increasing execution probability for all Xetra participants,” said Martin Reck, Cash Market Managing Director at Deutsche Borse.

Mark Pumfrey, Head of EMEA, Liquidnet, said: “We have long championed borderless equity trading by opening up investment opportunities for our members in markets where they can create value and improve their investment performance. When combined with an average execution size of €1.1 million on our platform, the Xetra MidPoint liquidity will significantly enhance institutional block trading in German stocks. We believe this cooperation will make trading of these stocks more efficient, drive performance, and lead to an increase in foreign institutional investment.”

All German shares that can be settled via the CCP may be traded using the Block Agent model, including those of the four selection indices DAX, MDAX, TecDAX and SDAX, as well as other small and midcaps.

Citi brings block trading to Brazil with TOTAL TOUCH PLATFORM to access BLOCK LIQUIDITY

Citi brings block trading to Brazil with TOTAL TOUCH PLATFORM to access BLOCK LIQUIDITY

Tim Cave

11 Jul 2013

http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/2013-07-11/citi-brings-block-trading-to-brazil?omref=email_TradingTechnology

11 Jul 2013

Citigroup is to expand its US electronic block-trading platform to include Brazilian equities, in a move aimed at combating the rise of high-frequency trading that has made it tougher for institutional investors to complete large trades in Brazil.

Citi’s Total Touch platform, which offers investors electronic access to US equities and exchange-traded funds, has been expanded to include Brazilian equities for the first time, Citi said in a statement.

The Total Touch platform, which was first launched in 2010, combines both high-touch, or voice-driven sales trading, with electronic execution methods to allow clients access to block liquidity.

Block trading platforms allow institutional investors to trade large orders without prices moving against them. Such trades have become increasingly difficult to complete during the rise of automated trading, which has reduced average order sizes.

According to BM&FBovespa‘s 2012 results, HFT participation on the Brazilian exchange’s equities segment grew from 8.5% to 9.4% of overall volume during the year. HFT participation on its derivatives segment, BM&F, increased from 6% to 6.5% in 2012.

 

Fabio Gheilerman, head of Latin America trading at Citi, said: “The rise of high-frequency trading Brazil has increased the appetite among our clients to be able to trade blocks in the country. Leveraging Citi’s global presence and local footprint, we are able to respond to client demands for electronic execution with price protection.”

BM&FBovespa is Brazil’s only stock and futures exchange operator. It has been attempting to court high-frequency traders to boost volumes and steel itself against the prospect of increased competition from rival venues.

US-based exchange operators, NYSE Euronext, Bats Global Markets and Direct Edge, as well as the London Stock Exchange, are exploring the opportunity of creating an alternative stock exchange in the country.

BM&F has cut fees to lure HFTs and offered specialist services such as co-location, which allows firms to place servers next to the exchange’s matching engine and shaves crucial seconds off trading times. It has also gone live with a new high-speed trading platform called Puma, developed with BM&FBovespa`s partner CME Group.

 

Citi’s move follows an announcement in May that it had overhauled its US electronic trading platform for equities, resulting in closer links between its electronic and sales trading desks that have historically been kept separate. The revamp formed part of the US bank’s push to help clients locate buyers and sellers for their equity orders amid a continued environment of low trading volumes.

Kevin Russell, Citi’s global head of cash equities trading, said: “The global equities market is at a crucial and unique phase in its evolution. The intersection of experienced human trader knowledge and robust electronic capabilities creates an opportunity for market participants to take advantage of a hybrid approach to investing.”

–write to Tim Cave, timothy.cave@dowjones.com

 

SunGard provides Fox River algos to Silexx EMS

SunGard provides Fox River algos to Silexx EMS

http://www.automatedtrader.net/news/at/143822/sungard-provides-fox-river-algos-to-silexx-ems

SunGard’s Fox River Execution solutions algorithms now available on Silexx’s Obsidian platform

SunGard’s Fox River Execution Solutions has made its algorithms available to users of Silexx’s Obsidian execution management system (EMS). By providing Silexx customers access to Fox River’s entire algorithm suite, professional traders and risk managers using Silexx will now have the tools to help improve execution quality, as well as provide Fox River customers with the ability to access the Silexx EMS.

“SunGard’s Fox River algorithms will help provide Silexx traders and risk managers with improved fill trade rates and best price and execution. In addition, Silexx can offer customers a cost-effective, front-end gateway to Fox River algorithms.” – Thomas Frey, president, Silexx Financial Systems

“The availability of Fox River’s algos on the Silexx platform will help traders leverage innovation to achieve growth targets by reducing trading cost and risk while increasing execution performance.” – Bob Santella, president, SunGard’s brokerage business

Silexx’s Obsidian platform provides the ability to dynamically generate an interface for all of Fox River’s algorithm parameters, giving users the ability to integrate their algorithms on the Obsidian platform and control the parameters of every algorithm

UBS dark pool launches in Spain, the UBS MTF

 

Anish Puaar

02 Jul 2013http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/2013-07-02/ubs-dark-pool-launches-in-spain?omref=email_TradingTechnology

UBS dark pool launches in SpainUBS MTF, one of Europe’s largest broker-run dark pools, will start offering Spanish equities from Wednesday, as alternative markets continue to capitalise on reforms that have helped challenge the dominance of Spain‘s domestic stock exchange.

The alternative venue owned by the Swiss bank allows its members to match orders anonymously in European stocks and will join eight other so-called dark pools in offering trading in Spanish equities from July 3. According to data from Thomson Reuters Equity Market Share Reporter, UBS MTF traded €7.72bn-worth of European equities last month.

The addition of Spanish stocks to UBS MTF comes as dark pools and displayed alternative trading platforms, including Bats Chi-X Europe and London Stock Exchange-owned Turquoise, have finally made inroads into the Spanish market.

Bolsas y Mercados Españoles, Spain’s national stock exchange, has seen its share of equity trading fall from 92.5% at the start of the year to 80.21% at the end of June, according to the Thomson Reuters data. The dark pools analysed by Thomson Reuters accounted for 2.6% of overall trading in Spanish stocks last month, compared to 1.2% in February. Dark trading represented 4.4% of overall trading in EU-listed equities June.

Competition among trading platforms in Spain had been limited because of a reluctance from Spanish regulators to fully adopt EU-wide trading rules in the 2007 Markets in Financial Instruments Directive. The directive allowed equity trading to occur away from national stock exchanges for the first time, leading to a proliferation of alternative platforms that have gradually siphoned trading away from the domestic bourses.

 

But the new venues struggled to gain traction in Spain, mainly because of the high costs associated with the domestic clearing and settlement infrastructure, which is owned by the BME.

Richard Semark, CEO of UBS MTF, told Financial News, the introduction of his dark pool in Spain was due to increased demand for trading on alternative venues as evidenced by the recent market share surge.

“It’s taken a bit longer for Spain to open up to alternative markets, largely because of complications with the post-trade process, but changes to local rules mean these challenges are being solved. Settlement in Spain is still a more laborious and expensive process but we are now able to offer trading in the country in a way that is cost effective for our members,” he said.

The BME declined to comment.

 The growing share of alternative platforms in Spain means its equity market is finally beginning to bear a greater resemblance to other EU markets that have fully adopted Mifid.

In Germany, for example, 63.2% of share trading was conducted on Deutsche Borse last month, while the London Stock Exchange had a 51.86% share of trading in UK stocks in June.

More recently, alternative venues in Spain have also benefited from the end of a short selling ban in the country on January 31. The ban was introduced in July 2012 in a bid to restrict speculative trading activity but also curbed the ability of marketmakers to provide short-term liquidity.

Short selling – the practice of borrowing shares, selling them and then buying them back at a lower price in the future – allows marketmakers to manage the risk they take on from supplying continuous bid and offer quotes to the venues they operate on. Such firms make up the majority of trading activity on many alternative venues.

Knight-Getco outlines European bond blueprint as KGC Holdings

Knight-Getco outlines European bond blueprint

http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/2013-07-02/knight-getco-kcg-lays-out-european-blueprint?omref=email_TradingTechnology

One of the most senior European executives at the new trading company formed by the merger of Getco and Knight Capital has said the group is aiming to play an “important and strong” role in fixed-income markets, as they undergo an equity-like transformation.

The two firms today formally began operations under a new listed company called KCG Holdings, which in one sweep has become one of the world’s largest broking and electronic marketmaking firms.

Albert Maasland, formerly head of Knight Capital’s international business, and now KCG’s London-based global head of execution services and venues, said the combined group had bold plans for Knight’s Bondpoint platform.

Speaking to Financial News, Maasland said: “We expect to play an important and strong role in the electronification of fixed-income markets. Bondpoint has strong penetration in the US, and we’re already seeing customers, private banks and retail brokers use the platform here.”

Fixed-income instruments are less liquid than equities, so investment banks have traditionally taken these securities being sold in the market onto their books until they could find a buyer. However, regulatory pressure has made it prohibitively costly for them to fulfil this role, while the G20’s reform agenda is promoting greater electronic trading and central clearing.

 

According to the latest New York Federal Reserve data, dealer holdings of corporate bonds have shrunk to a fraction of their previous size over the past five years. That has led to concerns of liquidity crunch, resulting in several banks and asset managers, such as Goldman Sachs, BlackRock and Detusche Bank, attempting to build electronic bond platforms. While many of these ventures have struggled to build liquidity, Maasland said that KCG’s independent status was a factor that could work in its favour.

He said: “I think we’re going to see a pulling together of a number of platforms in the fixed-income space, and we want to play a strong part in that process.”

The comments come a day after Getco ̶ a high-frequency trading and electronic marketmaking firm based in Chicago ̶ and New Jersey-based broker Knight closed a $1.8bn merger deal. The deal was first struck in December, about five months after Knight suffered a $461m loss as the result of a trading error, with Getco one of five firms that came to the broker’s rescue.

Maasland is one of KCG’s 12-person global management team and reports to Daniel Coleman, Getco’s former chief executive who will take up that role at KCG.

 

As well as the group’s voice-driven institutional trading businesses, Maasland will oversee Bondpoint, its FX platform Hotspot, the KnightMatch equities platform, and Getco’s equities venues in the US and Europe, GetMatched.

Despite speculation that some of these platforms would be sold off, Maasland said “we like these businesses, they make sense, and they support our premise of helping firms to access liquidity efficiently across asset classes and across geographies”.

The new group will have just under 200 people working in Europe, Maasland said. He declined to comment on cost-cutting plans. In previous regulatory filings in the US KCG said it expects that combining electronic trading systems will save it up to $110m over three years.

Following a difficult first quarter for both companies – Knight reported a $9.4m loss, while Getco lost $9.3m – Maasland was optimistic for the year ahead.

 

He said: “It is a really, really tough market at the moment and there is excess capacity. But we bring a unique proposition created by two specialist firms: Knight’s client-centred approach and Getco’s technological expertise. Clients will get best of both worlds”.

BLOOMBERG PROVIDES SELF CLEARING FOR EQUITIES VIA TRADEBOOK

via Pocket http://www.securitiestechnologymonitor.com/news/bloomberg-self-clears-for-equities-clients-31791-1.html?ET=securitiesindustry:e4249:190117a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SIN_DailyClose__062713 June 28, 2013 at 07:50PM

Direct Edge introduces EdgeRisk Gateway to mitigate the risk of trading disruptions

Direct Edge introduces EdgeRisk Gateway to mitigate the risk of trading disruptions

http://www.automatedtrader.net/news/at/142907/direct-edge-introduces-edgerisk-gateway

Jersey City, NJ – Direct Edge has announced EdgeRisk Gateway, a new risk management tool that provides a dedicated access gateway for trading on the EDGA Exchange and EDGX Exchange.

EdgeRisk Gateway is an optional, fee-based service available to market participants who want additional protection against the potential risks of shared infrastructure. Such risks can include performance degradation or disruptions in service resulting from sharp increases in the order activity of other Exchange members.

“We have been developing the EdgeRisk suite of risk mitigation tools in close consultation with our client base and in consideration of a broad spectrum of risk considerations,” said Kevin Carrai, head of Connectivity and Member Services, Direct Edge.

“This product responds to those clients who want the option to purchase a dedicated gateway or operate a mix of shared and dedicated gateways to layer more risk mitigation into their trading operations.” Access gateways perform order validations and manage the flow of information between the order matching engines and the EDGX and/or EDGA Member.