Cboe Global Markets has announced new options on Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) futures which are expected to begin trading on Cboe Futures Exchange (CFE) on 14 October.Catherine Clay, global head of derivatives at CboeThe new options on VIX futures will offer investors an additional tool to help manage US equity market volatility. They complement Cboe’s existing securities-based VIX index options, which are designed to provide similar risk management and yield enhancement capabilities.The new product uses an option-on-future structure, which could potentially allow more market participants, including those restricted from accessing securities-based options, to trade a VIX options product.Cboe’s VIX Index options have seen record trading volumes over the past two years, with average daily volumes reaching over 851,000 contracts in 2024, up roughly 60% when compared to 2022.“Investors have long utilised VIX options and VIX futures to help hedge and manage volatility exposure, and Cboe is proud to expand our volatility product suite at such a critical time,” said Catherine Clay, global head of derivatives at Cboe.“The launch will complement our existing volatility offerings, including the recently launched Cboe S&P 500 Variance futures, and enable more investors with the ability to help manage volatility and risk through the election season and beyond.”Read more: Cboe set to launch new Cboe S&P 500 Variance FuturesCboe Global Markets added that options on VIX futures will have a European-style exercise, PM settlement and physically settle into front-month VIX future.The contracts will be regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and cleared by The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC).The post Cboe Global Markets to launch options on VIX futures next week appeared first on The TRADE.

How are use cases for multi-asset TCA changing on the buy-side? What is driving this demand? Over the past decade, technological advancements and increasing financial regulations have been the primary drivers behind the evolution of trading analytics and transaction cost analysis (TCA). These components are the backbone of the PGGM trading analytics desk. Our mission is to optimise the transaction chain, provide comprehensive insights into trading processes and order flows within financial markets, and ensure accountability in order execution. We firmly believe that measurable insights from transaction data enhance both understanding and control over the trading process, leading to more efficient order execution and improved outcomes for our client. Initially, we focused on best execution reporting to comply with Mifid II requirements. However, we have evolved into leveraging data-driven TCA processes and are currently building a multi-asset data platform. This platform aims to offer our clients deeper insights into the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of their trades, provide a complete feedback loop (including pre- and post-trade analysis), and support the decision-making process for portfolio managers. What are the pros and cons of building in-house versus using a third-party provider? Using a third-party provider often results in solutions that are designed to meet the needs of the average user. In contrast, developing in-house allows us to customise every feature specifically to our business requirements. This approach enables us to combine and utilise information from multiple data sources without the constraints often imposed by external vendors. By integrating this data into a comprehensive platform, we can generate insights that would be unattainable from a single source, yielding more detailed information on brokers, algorithms, and trading venues. These insights can then be transformed into actionable business intelligence, providing us with a robust dataset for our models. However, a significant drawback of our in-house approach is the difficulty in benchmarking our performance against industry peers. Many TCA data vendors offer anonymised peer comparisons, which can be valuable. Given that our trade execution processes are highly customised, the value of such peer comparisons is limited. Therefore, we are exploring alternative benchmarking methods to compare our trades. How can TCA use be further optimised/automated on the trading desk? Our desk has reached a level of maturity that allows us to meet all reporting and regulatory requirements. In addition, we provide traders and portfolio managers with easy access to their trading data, offering them a realistic view of their performance, beyond standard metrics like turnover.We are now shifting from merely monitoring to actively optimising, starting with equities and fixed income, and extending to FX next year. This transition includes providing explicit pre-trade insights and integrated trade signals, ensuring that portfolio managers and traders have all the relevant information at the time of decision-making. With these insights, we can further specialise our trading strategies and in the future probably automate more standardised trades. Additionally, we are exploring the development of in-house trading algorithms tailored specifically to our trading needs.The post Achieving TCA maturity on the trading desk appeared first on The TRADE.

Matrix Executions has launched a new electronic alternative trading system (ATS) for US listed options named Matrix QRX ATS. Designed specifically for institutional investors, the offering provides price improvement, liquidity enhancement, and best execution practices including algo suite integration, and exchange auction mechanisms. Matrix QRX ATS offers blind indications of interest (IOIs), paired crossing orders, and low latency matching to streamline orders of all types while ensuring optimal pricing.Read more: Cboe director departs to re-join Matrix as head of options execution strategy“With QRX ATS, Matrix Executions is setting a new benchmark in the trading experience for institutional traders, focused on price discovery, trading cost mitigation, and market efficiency,” said the firm in an announcement on social media.The post Matrix Executions launches ATS for US listed options appeared first on The TRADE.

In the current tech-driven landscape, stemming from virtual interaction continuing post-pandemic, counterparty relationships are being bolstered again to increase collaboration and strengthen market resilience according to panellists at the Fixed Income Leaders Summit.Idea generation, market research and market colour are gained from sell-side institutions, which are then fed back into the buy-side, said one panellist, something which is less achievable virtually.During and post- the Covid pandemic, the emergence of virtual conferences has seen a significant uptick. But panellists argued this has had both pros and cons. Despite the benefits of these virtual interactions – most notably the frequency in which they can take place and the removal of travel barriers – panellists argued that they are not as effective as in person meetings.“With a virtual meeting, you can find yourself multi-tasking and not fully engaged when compared to an in-person meeting. Human interactions are always better,” noted one panellist.A second panellist echoed this, adding: “You don’t gain culture from an algo, you get it from speaking to people and hearing what they need.”Read more: The evolution of the buy- and sell-side relationshipAnother panellist noted: “In a tech driven world, transparency and consistency are needed to ensure counterparty relationships are managed correctly. It is important to know who we can count on. Commitment from our counterparties is needed to build long term partnerships.”However, whether that is done virtually or via in person and with more human connection is something participants are now exploring.With advancements in technology, the role of humans within counterparty dynamics has shifted. Panellists acknowledged the worth of direct human interactions, particularly in times of market stress.“We strive for tech innovation, but we still have hundreds of people on our team. People are still relevant,” emphasised one panellist. “When volatility is stable, we use automation. When volatility increases, we need relationships and to talk to people.”Another panellist echoed this sentiment, noting that the levels of volatility in a given moment dictate which route to take when it comes to choosing between tech versus human interactions.“Data [and technology] is great, but we still need to talk to people,” they added.For trust-based relationships to continue to thrive in a tech-driven landscape, candid conversations are needed, the panellists added.“It is essential for us to know where banks are outperforming or underperforming,” said one panellist, explaining that having social engagements and human relationships can help drive success in this regard.Another noted that in “crisis mode”, participants often go back to traditional ways of dealing, however they still use technology – adding that the new ways to relate to participants can be fruitful. Despite advancements in technology being useful, panellists agreed that finding the balance is critical.The post The importance of human connectivity – ‘You don’t gain culture from an algo’ appeared first on The TRADE.

Jason Green has been named director at BNP Paribas, focused on systematic macro sales following 10 and a half years at Morgan Stanley. Whilst at Morgan Stanley he most recently served as executive director in electronic FX institutional sales.Before that, Green worked in fixed income derivatives solutions at Barclays Investment Bank. Read more: BNP Paribas macro and credit global co-head departs following fixed income rejigBNP Paribas declined to comment when approached by The TRADE.The post Morgan Stanley director joins BNP Paribas in macro sales role appeared first on The TRADE.

The London-based trading team at Ninety One has a very particular set of skills. The active investment manager specialises in emerging and frontier markets trading across fixed income, credit and specialist equities. And sitting on its global trading desks are a pod of traders known for their ability to interact with some of the most inaccessible financial markets around the world.At the helm of the team is global head of trading Cathy Gibson who oversees trading across the asset manager’s offices in London, the US, Asia Pacific and South Africa. Gibson is a seasoned trader with an extensive career in markets. She joined Ninety One in 2021 from Royal London Asset Management where she had been head of dealing for three years. Previously in her career, she spent two and a half years as head of fixed income trading for UK asset management at Deutsche Asset Management [now DWS] and nearly five years at Pioneer Investments as a senior fixed income dealer. She began her career with a two-year stint as a principal dealer at Bank of Ireland Global Markets. In her more recent roles however, Gibson has stepped away from the markets and instead refocused her attentions on leading and developing her global team. Having a cohesive team globally has proved an increasingly essential tool for institutions in light of the ongoing globalisation of finance and the turbulence caused by market events in the last few years. Varied approaches to the Covid-19 pandemic starting in 2020 paired with the subsequently varied approaches central banks have taken to abate the economic fallout has left traders, in particular those in the emerging and frontier fixed income space, more reliant on their relationships than ever, both internally and externally. “Markets have been tricky. Show me a time when they haven’t,” asserts Gibson. “Markets are constantly challenging and that’s the key aspect to our role.”For Gibson, the key to an effective team is autonomy and each individual trader feeling a sense of ownership to their day-to-day activities. “When people have ownership in their function and they can see their contribution to the business, that really motivates them to make sure that they are constantly improving,” she explains. “In general, my experience is that people don’t like change being done on to them, but they have no problem being part of it and driving it.”Ninety One’s trading team consists of 17 globally with six – soon to be seven – based in London. The firm also has trading hubs in New York, Hong Kong and Cape Town. Given the wide breadth of products that they cover, the team leverage each other day-to-day to understand how the markets are ticking over. “When we see an inflow and notice that some of that cash has been deployed in Asian markets earlier in the day, it gives us insight into market liquidity,” says trader Ed Wood. “There’s often a connection between the markets they trade and those we handle here in London. This can provide valuable perspective, such as when duration is heavily bid, it might mean certain bonds are difficult to source for us.” Wood joined Ninety One in 2021 after serving for a year and a half at Aviva Investors as a credit trader and for five years at Vanguard as a fixed income trader. Wood now trades the credit side of things at Ninety One across regions and also supports the local rates and FX traders on the desk. For him, it is the correlation between real world events and the markets that drew him to his role in finance in the first place. The changing stance of the US Federal Reserve when it comes to interest rates and the looming election, paired with the Bank of Japan’s decision to raise rates, is just one topic that has kept traders busy as of late. “It’s impossible to be involved in the markets without paying attention to developments in the US. However, Japan’s current situation is particularly significant, as they’re [The Bank of Japan] one of the few central banks raising rates while others are cutting,” says Wood. “This has broad implications, as demonstrated recently when the Nikkei dropped over 12% in a single trading session, affecting volatility and liquidity for weeks. This context is crucial for our day-to-day operations. If a portfolio manager wants to execute a trade days after such an event, they need to understand that liquidity may be reduced, and they must be confident in their strategy if they’re willing to pay more in the bid-offer spread.”One of the newer members to the Ninety One team is Liam Hagan – formerly recognised as one of The TRADE’s Rising Stars of Trading and Execution in 2023. In the same year, Hagan joined Ninety One from Amundi where he had been serving as an FX trader for almost four years. He now trades foreign exchange for the G10 and emerging markets, while acting as a backup for the emerging markets fixed income traders when necessary.“You’re looking at news headlines and the news flow really matters and can have massive ramifications on the day to day workflow in FX,” he explains. “Oftentimes your family sees the six o’clock headlines, and they ask have you heard about this? and you say yeah I’ve been living that over the course of the last eight to 10 hours.” Previously in his career, Hagan also spent four years on the sell-side at Société Générale in various FX sales roles. He moved to the buy-side in 2019 for a change of pace, looking to be more holistic in his approach to execution. “The sell-side tends to operate on a 24-hour basis,” he adds. “And what happens in one 24-hour period doesn’t necessarily have a bearing on the 24-hour periods either prior or post, which can be a little bit frustrating at times because you are somewhat chasing the narrative, whereas on the buy-side, your approach becomes much more long dated and holistic.”The frontierNinety One specialises in trading the emerging and frontier markets, an area of expertise that brings with it a layer cake of nuance that the team must incorporate into their day-to-day workflows. Frontier markets are more established than LDCs [least developed markets] but are less established than the emerging markets. They’re newer in terms of access to capital but less developed in terms of how feasible it is to get into them.It means workflows aren’t always as straightforward, explains emerging markets trader Richard Willis. Willis is one of the longer serving members of the trading team in London. In nothing short of a baptism of fire, he took his first steps into trading in January 2007 in the build-up to the global financial crisis. “Historically, investment banking and trading was fairly wild and there was a lack of control generally in terms of the way banks managed traders, P&L and risk,” he adds. “Post the GFC [global financial crisis] things have changed 180 degrees in terms of regulation and compliance regimes.”Starting his career at Absa Capital on the Africa trading desk, Willis explains that as a junior market maker he was given a book of business – Nigerian and Ugandan bonds among other things – and told to face off against seasoned asset managers and peers. “Working at a bank, on a market making trading desk is arguably one of the most fun, but also one of the most stressful roles you can play,” he says. “You’ve got competing market makers that you are up against. You’re also going against very sophisticated investors who are no longer naïve. For example, if they look at a country like Poland, the buy-side research analysts and portfolio managers are analysing the nuances of each of these bond curves, so they’re probably know things a lot of time better than the sell-side trader.”He moved to the buy-side and his current role at Ninety One in 2016 after five years at Barclays in an emerging markets trading role. He explains that he left the sell-side for a change of pace but that his experience there has proved useful in his current seat.“What they [Ninety One] liked is that someone from the so-called ‘dark side’ was coming to join them to hopefully protect them from the advantages that the banks do try to take on the naïve in these frontier markets,” he says.He now trades emerging markets bonds, credit default swaps (CDS), interest rate swaps (IRS) and foreign exchange.When asked what key trends the emerging and frontier markets have seen as of late, Willis explains that there have been several substantial but necessary devaluations in national currencies to encourage foreign interest in markets such as Nigeria and Egypt. “You’ve seen it a few times in the history of their respective financial markets, the need for fairly substantial devaluations,” he explains. “We’re talking circa 50% in both their currencies this year. The cheapening in the local currency and the local assets, attracts offshore investment which is crucial for the long-term development of these countries.”Subtleties and nuancesThe nature of the frontier and emerging markets lend themselves to more off-the-beaten-track workflows. Given the liquidity landscape can often be more sparse or difficult to navigate, the use of local brokers alongside the bulge brackets is something Willis thinks is essential to minimise market footprint. Due to lower demand, bulge brackets will sometimes not cater for the particulars of what frontier traders are looking to execute. “Say a large real money account wants to buy South African Government Bonds at the same time as us because of the positive sentiments there post the elections, I know the logical approach is to go to a bulge bracket US investment bank because it’s easiest means. But sometimes you want to go to the road less trodden, and that’s when you make use of local brokers,” he says. “My preference typically is to go under the radar of the bulge bracket banks and to make use of smaller regional banks that access to domestic clients.”Market nuances also mean the trading team at Ninety One are more voice driven and focused on relationships-based trading when it comes to trading FX and frontier pairs. This makes us somewhat of an outlier in comparison with the street, Hagan says.“It’s very much about us having a picture as to whom has the ability to access the liquidity both onshore and offshore, who’s got a reliable enough franchise that they can potentially show us a risk price and then who internalise and offset the risk in a manner that’s not detrimental to either us or the wider market,” he says.Data is therefore even more essential. On the FX side, Hagan confirms that using multiple single dealer platforms from a data perspective is usually a good strategy as teams can gain access to a better picture of market whether that be volumes in sector flows, revaluations country-by-country or real-time flight data around liquidity available either above the offer or below the bid.“What we focus on be at the EM currencies and the frontier currencies, particularly like Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, these are markets that are very fragile, illiquid, and sometimes unobservable, even in Bloomberg,” he explains. “It can be very difficult to work out the quality of data sources. Who is saying they’re good five by five but is actually only good in one by one, and who has the ability to take down larger risk and partner with us on the larger trade in order to minimise the information leakage and then the subsequent market footprint that we see on our trades.“There’s a pressing need to interpret data sources in so far as working out what’s reliable, how big offers or bids are available in as opposed to G10 focus, which is much more liquid and more commodifiable and increasing the electronic. It’s definitely a seat that leans more towards the high touch approach certainly from an FX perspective.”It’s because of these subtleties and the firm’s global remit that global head of trading Gibson confirms outsourcing any or all of the trading desk’s functionality is not likely to be on the cards any time soon.“If I saw a value of an opportunity in terms of part of the book of business being outsourced I would have to consider it. However, I genuinely just don’t see how outsourced sourcing trading is actually going to lead to better outcomes for the investors,” she explains. “If you outsource your trading, and my trade gets stuck behind a queue of somebody else who’s already been trading it or lumped in with another big block because someone else is trading it there’s no way the client gets a better outcome.“Ultimately, while I can see the user case for smaller asset managers with more limited trading hours, for a manager of our size with our capabilities, I just can’t see an outsource function coming anywhere close to the execution standards we can achieve for our clients.”Equities equities equitiesSitting in the European equities seat at Ninety One is Damion Kumarasinghe. Like Willis, his career was forged during testing times. He took his first role at Cofunds in 2000 “just to the tail end of the dotcom bubble bursting” as he puts it. He moved to Investec Asset Management – now Ninety One – in 2004 in an operations role before moving onto the dealing desk covering money markets and some FX in 2007 just in time for the global financial crisis.“It was really interesting to see how that crisis [global financial crisis] started to emerge in money markets as rates started spiking before it really fully fed through to the other markets. Those were incredibly tough times, with long, exhausting days. It was an intense experience—one I’m glad to have lived through, though I wouldn’t want to repeat it,” he says. “Each day brought uncertainty about whether our counterparties would be around the next. We were frequently forced to suspend relationships as they teetered on the brink of collapse. It was a chaotic period – banks were reporting record trading days, but for all the wrong reasons. Volumes were huge, but the market was unravelling.”Kumarasinghe then moved into an equities seat. The desk was a lot smaller then and so oftentimes he would be covering the US and Asia out of London. Market dynamics in Europe are heading in the same direction as the US, he tells The TRADE.“Larger block liquidity is still very tough to find. You can get volume on screen, but you can sometimes struggle to find the more substantial block liquidity,” he says. “My concern would be that traders are getting more comfortable just trading throughout the day in small size and are reluctant to commit to larger blocks, especially if they cannot be confident that they are seeing all of the prints going through the market. I’m hoping that the consolidated tape helps with that to some degree.“It [finding liquidity] varies from situation to situation. Often we won’t commit orders fully to a broker. We’ll always keep some on the side just in case any liquidity emerges and we have to be quick move on that liquidity if it appears. We may be working an order with a broker and then we see that we’re not really capturing the volume that’s going through the market and we see it going elsewhere, so we have to be prepared to move our order if needs be.”With the addition of Sam Spencer who took over trading US equities, Kumarasinghe now only covers Europe. Unsurprisingly, fragmentation – something that has become a poster child for rhetoric surrounding the region – is often front of his mind. Europe, with its 27 member states each with their own venues and players, is naturally more fragmented than the US or Asia. And, as Kumarasinghe notes, new entrants looking to launch platforms and venues in the region must be mindful of their role in exacerbating this. “It’s a bit disheartening when a new entrant appears without providing any differentiating USP,” he says. “We need to have access to those liquidity sources so once they’re established, we’re going to use them in an all likelihood, but it just makes our job a little bit harder and sometimes fragments liquidity further. “There are always new entrants looking to come into the market, new intermediaries trying to insert themselves into the workflow. Sometimes that doesn’t necessarily leave us with a better endpoint. It can result in more fragmentation in the market as well as additional layers of fees. There’s a point where you definitely get diminishing returns.”Technology wish listsThat being said there remain some areas where the traders at Ninety One are hoping to see some innovation. For Wood, the most important future development is seeing frequently used tools such as e-trading or list trading extend into into more niche areas of the market such as loans, CLOs or swaps where flow is still transacted bilaterally. “There’s a noticeable gap between widely traded products and niche markets that haven’t been as effectively addressed,” he says. “Technology platforms and banks need to see profitability to continue supporting and advancing those markets. Many banks will prioritise decisions that drive market growth if they see a financial benefit. We’ve seen this with new issuance automation and electronification, which still haven’t reached the desired level of efficiency.”The traders at Ninety One, both in London and in their offices around the world, have a cohesive and collaborative approach to executing in the markets. The markets have by no means been easy for the last few years but as Gibson says, when have they ever? “Traders by nature enjoy a challenge. That’s their reason to be. Getting best client outcomes, chasing the best price, finding the best liquidity, the real value add is in those difficult situations and that’s where people get a sense of real and honest job satisfaction,” Gibson concludes.Given the fact that several of the Ninety One traders have stuck around through multiple financial crises and still come back for more, it appears that may be true.The post Trading at the frontier appeared first on The TRADE.

Cloud was a key focus area within a panel discussion on the next stage of data integration and analysis that took place last week at the Fixed Income Leaders Summit (FILS), with the advancement said to have the potential to help enhance execution performance.Data has increasingly become available for trading teams, however, as discussed among other panels at the conference, it is only beneficial if clean and appropriate. Access to data is key for the next stage of data integration and analysis to be truly actualised.“We believe all our trading team should be able to consume data in its entirety from the get-go. We don’t believe in barriers to accessing the data. We try to democratise it as much as possible,” said Odin Costa, senior fixed income trader at Dimensional Fund Advisors.“By giving people access to the data, this might create different ways of doing things. That’s quite a powerful story that we want to keep fostering.”  Cloud has helped bolster this access while also providing additional ways in which data can be consumed and this has resulted in a complete change in the landscape, added Kevin Flood, head of trading and execution analytics at Royal London Asset Management.“You now have the ability to build out team databases which you can work on, sandbox, and do some experimental stuff, without affecting other users,” he said. “You can share amongst teams, and you can really do some interesting prototypes with that kind of data.”Data providers acknowledge that they recognise clients’ desire to consume data where it’s most efficient for them and most practical for them. In some cases, this means building a full API suite where they can interact with data and integrate it where they need to inside their own platforms.“It also means delivering the full set of analytics in some cases, so that they can incorporate it into their own platforms that they have with whoever their cloud provider is,” said Kevin O’Connor, global head of analytics at Virtu Financial.“In some cases, we’re still delivering large time series in file formats because it’s going to another platform that is going to combine it with many other data sources and it’s the most efficient way. There’s still plenty of file delivery going out there. We’d like to push everybody to an API infrastructure that we control but recognise that that is not how all people consume data.”Echoing a similar sentiment, Costa added that they’re not fully there yet when it comes to data using the cloud, with legacy systems still taking precedence.“We have more of a legacy system where all the data has to be ingested and integrated. We need to take care about how we provision it, how we rationalise it and then how do we manage all of the computing power which is done in house.“Once you move to the next step into this cloud computing world, you reduce this problem. It’s definitely a better world to be in and something that we’re also looking forward to.”Guido Galassi, head of domestic markets and data at MTS Markets, added that “the challenge is to upload huge data sets, clean them and make them usable, but it also brings benefit because it makes our data more distributable.”Cloud adoption and its usage for data analysis and consumption does, however, continue to gain traction among trading desks, with many acknowledging the benefits that it provides.“The cloud computing element now is a fundamental enabler for our data ideas on the desk. It allows size of data, speed and scalability. It also allows you to collaborate across teams,” added Flood. “It’s fundamentally what we need on the desk to build out trade ideas, liquidity ideas and getting through to the PMs.”As with any technological advancement, benefits can be accessed if approached appropriately. The pairing of cloud and data has the power to democratise data access as panellists mentioned, alongside helping improve execution strategies based on these strategies.The post The future trading desk is cloud-driven appeared first on The TRADE.

Euronext has launched an expanded range of single stock options from Germany, Ireland and Portugal, strengthening its European derivatives offering.The firm is introducing 21 new German single stock options, completing its coverage of all DAX 40 index constituents, as well as six Irish and four Portuguese single stock options.These stock options mark the first that Euronext has listed on Irish stocks.The new listings round out the range of options contracts available across Euronext markets to give investors increased access to key assets in Europe through Euronext’s single order book.Dedicated market makers will ensure onscreen liquidity for investors on the new stocks, according to the firm.Read more: Fireside Friday with… Euronext’s Anthony AttiaTrading in the new options is powered by Euronext’s Optiq trading platform, which offers access to a large and diverse pool of liquidity.Clearing will take place through Euronext Clearing, offering risk management and portfolio-wide margin efficiencies.Euronext added that the expansion of single stock options is designed to deliver greater value to investors by allowing them to trade a broader range of European options on a single platform.“This growth of our derivatives offer was made possible following the successful completion of the expansion of Euronext Clearing to all markets across the Euronext Group,” said Anthony Attia, global head of derivatives and post-trade at Euronext.  “It not only allows us to broaden our equity derivatives offering, but also paves the way for future product launches as part of our new strategic plan, which will be announced in November, leveraging the full strength of our integrated pan-European model.”The post Euronext bolsters European derivatives offering with German, Irish and Portuguese single stock options appeared first on The TRADE.

Australia-based digital FX, risk management and payments company Instantia has selected ION Foreign Exchange (FX) for the trade execution, trade management, risk and settlement management of its FX business.Instantia offers a client-centric way to manage currency exchange, FX strategies, and cross-border payments.The business also offers a risk management intelligence tool, providing insights to key business decision-makers.The ION FX solution was chosen by Instantia for its end-to-end processing functionality of FX cash and derivative products, including trade execution and risk management.“This partnership is crucial as it will help us revolutionise FX by consolidating currency hedging positions into a user-friendly interface and expand into other APAC markets,” said Richard Poulton, chief executive at Instantia.Using ION APIs, Instantia developed custom client- and dealer-facing user interfaces to enhance the user experience.Read more: Fireside Friday with… ION’s Edoardo Pacenti“ION Markets FX is strategically positioned to address the diverse needs of FX market participants. The ION FX end-to-end solution uniquely suits institutions providing FX services for cross-border payments, and FX risk management,” said Alex Pirmohamed, chief product officer at ION Markets (FX).“Our platform’s robust functionality facilitated Instantia’s quick time to market, and we remain dedicated to supporting their ambitious objectives.”The post Instantia selects ION FX for trade execution and risk management appeared first on The TRADE.

Nasdaq is set to launch volume-based trajectory trading solution PureStream in Europe in Q1 2025, pending regulatory approval.Sean HooverThe offering – already available in the US and Canada – will give clients access to EU shares on Nasdaq Europe. Speaking to the TRADE earlier this year, Sean Hoover, PureStream chief operating officer, said: “Subscribers and clients have both made it clear that the unique value of streaming in the US is something that they would welcome in Europe.“We are excited about our partnership with Nasdaq, who has publicly announced its intent to roll out our streaming order types in Europe later this year, subject to the necessary approvals.”Specifically, PureStream enables access to latent algorithmic liquidity using liquidity transfer rates – all in line with the volume goal of each strategy. Currently, Nasdaq is the only venue in Europe offering this. There has been a lot of discussion surrounding the race for first mover advantage in Europe’s emerging crossing network landscape in recent times.  Despite low European volumes, these venues offer increased choice and competition for institutional investors looking to achieve more effective outcomes.Several European exchanges are underway with plans to bring out offerings of this ilk throughout the course of the year, The TRADE understands, while some other US alternative trading systems (ATS) – as well as PureStream – are also preparing to make the crossing over the Atlantic.Within Europe there have been some significant moves rumoured. Talk of Aquis launching a new TWAP and VWAP trajectory crossing capability this year has been widespread, while Cboe has confirmed plans for the launch of its new volume weighted average price (VWAP) crossing service for equities at the end of this year.Read more: Cboe BIDS VWAP-X: Introducing venue-based trajectory crossing to EuropeThe tool uses open-ended liquidity transfer rates to substantially improve the process of price and liquidity discovery – minimising institutional investors’ market impact. PureStream’s solution is aimed at helping both the buy- and sell-side when executing long-term trajectory orders – pairing trading interests in open-ended streaming batches, meaning traders do not need to rely only on sourcing liquidity on a single point-in-time basis. Read more: PureStream: The disruptor venue determined to make waves in the institutional liquidity landscapeNikolaj Kosakewitsch, senior vice president and head of European equities and derivatives at Nasdaq, said: “This launch underscores our commitment to offering world-class platforms that support the evolving needs of the global capital markets. PureStream on Nasdaq Europe will provide greater choice of trade execution mechanisms to our clients and help institutional investors navigate the European trading landscape.”The post Nasdaq to launch PureStream in Europe early next year appeared first on The TRADE.

Edgar Castel is set to join Nordea as an equity trader following almost five years at Candriam, The TRADE can reveal.Castel most recently served as a trader focused on equities (cash and swap), foreign exchange, and listed derivatives.He will begin his new role as of 1 November, based in Denmark, The TRADE understands. Castel was one of The TRADE’s Rising Stars of Trading and Execution in 2023, recognised as a budding buy-side talent in the institutional trading space. Over the years the Rising Stars initiative, in collaboration with Instinet, has recognised many up-and-coming buy-side talents, several of whom have gone on to head up some of the largest and most successful desks across the world’s leading asset managers and hedge funds.Candriam declined to comment when approached by The TRADE.The post Candriam trader to join Nordea in equities role appeared first on The TRADE.

Transaction cost analysis (TCA) was central to an automation discussion that took place last week at the Fixed Income Leaders Summit (FILS), with panellists noting that one cannot come without the other.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 actionableWhen 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.The post Automation and TCA must go hand in hand appeared first on The TRADE.

Marex Prime Services has established a “dedicated presence” in Dubai as the firm looks to bolster its operations in the Middle East. Mazen NajjarThe builds on the firm’s existing presence in the region as Marex looks to enhance its offering to institutional clients across MENA. Shahab Hashemi, chief executive (MENA) at Marex, said: “This strategic move strengthens our current operations and better positions us meet the evolving needs of our clients in the region. Incorporating prime services to our offering allows us to deliver more tailored and localised solutions to hedge funds, family offices and other institutional clients.”As part of this push, Mazen Najjar has been appointed in an institutional sales role in the prime services team, the first hire for the team in the jurisdiction. Prior to joining Marex, Dubai-based Najjar spent six years at IG Prime.Mazen is set to focus on developing the prime services team’s regional sales strategy, bolstering its presence in the region and forging partnerships. “We welcome Mazen Najjar to our Dubai office. His extensive experience in prime brokerage and client-led approach will be invaluable in delivering localised support to our growing hedge fund and family office client base,” said Jack Seibald, global co-head of prime services and outsourced trading at Marex.“This development builds on Marex’s momentum in the region and reinforces our commitment to providing enhanced support and tailored solutions to institutional clients.”The post Marex Prime Services establishes UAE presence appeared first on The TRADE.

Seema Arora was appointed managing director and head of execution services for EMEA at Stifel after most recently serving at Instinet for five and half years before leaving earlier this year. Prior to joining Instinet, Arora spent almost 11 years at Kepler Cheuvreux in senior execution services sales roles and also previously spent six years at JP Morgan as head of execution sales and five years at Desdner Kleinwort as head of program trading sales.Citadel appointed Mukunth Raghavan head of American Treasury quants, based in New York. He joined Citadel from Goldman Sachs where he most recently served as vice president within the bank’s global equities team. In an earlier stint at Goldman, Raghavan worked as vice president, quantitative strategies within the bank’s equities prime services. Elsewhere in his career, Raghavan spent three years at McKinsey & Company, most recently serving as a management consultant.Ninety One appointed Tina Gandhi as a trader. Gandhi joined Ninety One from Muzinich & Co where she spent nearly five years, most recently serving as an emerging markets credit trader. Prior to that, Gandhi worked as a director at Mizuho, focusing on UK real money and hedge fund credit sales. Before Mizuho, Gandhi served as a director at Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking, with a focus on hedge fund credit sales.The post People Moves Monday: Stifel, Citadel and Ninety One appeared first on The TRADE.

The TRADE is delighted to announce the Rising Stars of Trading and Execution for 2024, in collaboration with Instinet – a celebration of up and coming talent on the buy-side.Now in its tenth year, the Rising Stars initiative recognises key buy-side individuals who go above and beyond the call of duty whether that be through day-to-day activities or through thought leadership on industry platforms.Previously recognised individuals have gone on to head up some of the largest and most successful desks across leading asset managers and hedge funds.To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the initiative, The TRADE in collaboration with Instinet, will be hosting a special standalone event at Plaisterers’ Hall on 15 October to celebrate the 25 individuals.Rising Stars alumni are also invited to attend the event and meet the newest additions to the prestigious list.The evening will also include a panel discussion featuring past rising stars, including BlackRock’s Marie Geekie, Liontrust Asset Management’s Matt McLoughlin, Arbuthnot Latham’s Joe Bellman and Instinet’s Simon Dove.Please join The TRADE and Instinet in recognising this year’s Rising Stars of Trading and Execution for 2024.If you are buy-side and interested in attending the event, please contact Karen.delahoy@thetradenews.com.Rising Stars of Trading and Execution for 2024:Jade Beckmann, trader, Pictet Asset ManagementAlex Boronkay, dealer, Evenlode Investment ManagementJesper Bremholm, trader, Kuvari PartnersMaddy Davies, trader, Liontrust Asset ManagementEmily Fluet, execution trader, Jain GlobalJoseph Forde, FX trader, Brown Brothers HarrimanBaris Halitoglu, cross asset trading, Nordea Asset ManagementStephen Hatfield, head of trading operations (equity), GSA CapitalJerome Helbling, systematic analyst, MillenniumKendell James, trader, Federated HermesNav Jassar, fixed income dealer, M&G InvestmentsAlbert Karavis, trader, Invesco Asset ManagementElliot Marshall, trader, North Rock Capital ManagementAlan Martin Lucero, FX trader, Norges Bank Investment ManagementSimone Martucci, equity trader, Anima AlternativeNicola McGreal, equity trader, BlackRockCarla Quintero, trader, HSBC Asset ManagementAdam Reekie, multi-asset dealer, UBS Asset ManagementOliver Simmons, trader, Bell Rock CapitalLars ter Braak, trading researcher, RobecoGiulia Tesoro, trader, MillenniumHenry Thomas, trader, DE ShawSimon Toulon, EMEA equity trader, BlackRockHannah Warren, equity trader, Kintbury CapitalDaniel Wright, equity trader, FMRClick here for more information about the Rising Stars of Trading and Execution 2024 event.The post The TRADE announces the Rising Stars of Trading and Execution 2024 appeared first on The TRADE.

Ninety One has appointed Tina Gandhi as a trader, The TRADE can reveal.Gandhi joins Ninety One from Muzinich & Co, where she spent nearly five years, most recently serving as an emerging markets (EM) credit trader.Prior to that, she served as a director at Mizuho, focusing of UK real money and hedge fund credit sales.Before Mizuho, Gandhi served as a director at Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking, with a focus on hedge fund credit sales.Ninety One confirmed her appointment.Read more: Fireside Friday with… Ninety One’s Sally BartunekThe post Ninety One taps Muzinich & Co for new trader appeared first on The TRADE.

Which post-trade inefficiencies are becoming increasingly apparent and restrictive during periods of market stress?As payments become more critical for large banks, we are noticing changes in settlement volumes, liquidity pressures, and operational challenges linked to market volatility. Typically, higher trade volumes increase risk due to volatility and intraday liquidity pressures related to margining and settlements. Additionally, the rise in trades exacerbates operational issues, such as mismatches, breaks, and strain on affirmation processes when handled manually.There are both positive and negative aspects to consider. Increased volumes create revenue opportunities for firms with the technical capabilities to manage risk, intraday liquidity, and the additional operational demands. Real-time visibility and control are crucial in this context, exposing the limitations of legacy systems and processes. Real-time views of exposures, obligations, account balances, and reconciliation, as opposed to delayed processes, coupled with anomaly alerts, credit line usage, and counterparty risk parameters, become key differentiators for financial institutions.How are firms adapting to T+1? Has the response been better than expected?Firms have been actively preparing for the shift to shorter settlement cycles for US equities and bonds, driven by the need for greater efficiency and reduced risk in an increasingly unpredictable market. Many institutions are investing in process re-engineering to enable faster settlement times. We consider these changes “necessary but not sufficient” for a firm to declare success. We anticipate that settlement and RTGS systems will globally move towards T+0 for most asset classes within the next five years, further increasing pressures on risk, liquidity, and operational challenges.We are heading towards a world where, for example, a fund in Asia must meet obligations in EUR, GBP, and USD for trades executed on behalf of clients seeking exposure to these markets. The settlement window may be just a few hours. They will need to conduct an FX transaction efficiently, settle the currencies soon after the trade, and use the proceeds to settle the next leg. In this scenario, back-office systems and current settlement venues, including CLS, will not be sufficient. Relying solely on custody banks would lead to suboptimal FX rates. Firms need to prepare for these market changes. Systems that offer real-time visibility and control will be critical and key differentiators for market participants.What are the more pronounced bouts of market volatility challenging current liquidity management processes?This summer has seen considerable market instability, primarily driven by geopolitical tensions and divergent monetary policies. These events have increased risk-taking in complex financial products, directly impacting companies’ risk exposure, settlements, and operational workload. Three factors exacerbate the problem: global market interconnectedness, which spreads instability quickly; the increased trading of riskier, more market-sensitive financial products, and shorter settlement times for cross-border transactions, requiring faster payment processing.Liquidity pressures have been particularly severe in two key areas. Firstly, emerging market currencies have long struggled with liquidity, prompting businesses to stagger payments and schedule transactions to avoid exhausting available funds. Secondly, even in more stable currency markets, intraday liquidity remains a challenge. With interest rates still elevated, it is crucial for companies to maintain clear visibility of their balances and access collateral-backed funds. This creates opportunities for banks that manage cash reserves effectively. The current market for intraday short-term lending and currency exchange remains in its infancy, but we believe this area will grow significantly due to strong demand.The post Fireside Friday with… Baton System’s Arjun Jayaram appeared first on The TRADE.

Stifel has selected a former Instinet executive to join its ranks as managing director and head of execution services for EMEA, The TRADE can reveal.Stifel did not respond to a request for comment. Seema Arora has been appointed as execution services head for EMEA at the firm after most recently serving at Instinet for five and half years, leaving earlier this year.During her tenure at Instinet, Arora was a keen supporter of The TRADE’s Rising Stars of Trading and Execution initiative supporting up and coming talent on the buy-side and was nominated for the Industry Person of the Year Award at Leaders in Trading 2023.Prior to joining Instinet, Arora spent almost 11 years at Kepler Cheuvreux in senior execution services sales roles.She also previously spent six years at JP Morgan as its head of execution sales and five years at Desdner Kleinwort as head of program trading sales.The post Stifel names former Instinet execution sales head Arora to EMEA lead role appeared first on The TRADE.

In the fixed income landscape, ‘liquidity is in the eye of the beholder’ as noted by one panellist when discussing how firms can best leverage trading toolkits and sell-side relationships to navigate evolving bond liquidity and market fragmentation.Liquidity can mean several different things, the panellist explained. Depending on where you sit in the ecosystem various factors come into play when selecting liquidity and a provider, with cost playing a consistently crucial role.“Liquidity has a cost whether we like it or not. It comes from the mismatch between two investors, timing and size – someone has to gain from the mismatch,” noted another panellist.One panellist said that liquidity is about providing a reasonable price based on facts and not feelings. “What matters is not looking at a trade by its liquidity but instead, whether a provider is allowing you to trade effectively. A holistic approach is useful for buy-side,” they said.Evolving sell-side During the panel, the changing role of the traditional sell-side was discussed, with a particular focus on alternative providers’ increase in market share in fixed income.Today, alternative liquidity providers have grown to compete with traditional providers as opposed to simply disrupting the landscape. It was noted by panellists that regardless of provider type, a holistic approach to providing liquidity is preferred.Regulations such as Dodd Frank were noted as allowing new liquidity provider entrants to enter the free market. Technology was also suggested by panellists as a key driver behind the proliferation of new entrants, as well as incentive, with alternative providers ultimately plugging into gaps left by traditional players.“Incentives are divers for innovation,” said one panellist. “Looking where traditional banks left gaps is useful. It should be noted that starting from scratch is easier than banks using legacy technologies.”The diversification of toolkits was also noted by a panellist as a driver behind the growth of alternative liquidity providers, particularly given the increasingly diverse instrument universe firms are looking to trade.What traditional and alternative providers prioritise is ultimately different. Alternative liquidity providers – who are often more technologically focused – are often more focused on electronic smaller tickets flow for example.As volumes increase across the spectrum, panellists argued that there is plenty of space for new liquidity providers as well as traditional ones.“The differences are clear,” said one panellist. “It’s not about climbing rankings but bringing innovation into the market.”Bonds ETFsWhen exploring the liquidity landscape more generally, bond ETFs and the growth of this segment was also highlighted by panellists as being positive, with more sell-side said to be using ETFs alongside other tools to boost liquidity. Alternative liquidity providers have been leading on the provision side. However, traditional banks are investing and getting more active in ETFs with increases in market share.“Traditional branks are integrating ETFs with other parts of their capabilities,” highlighted one panellist. “We are seeing a diversification of ETF liquidity providers which is good ultimately.”“ETFs shine during volatile instances. When underlying bond markets become difficult, ETF volumes surge, giving the ability to shift risk,” added one panellist. ETFs are still a small percentage on bond markets, as noted by panellists. Holistically, the assets under management they cover is relatively small. However, panellists agreed that their usage could be key to boosting liquidity particularly in volatile periods.The post FILS EU 2024: ‘Liquidity is in the eye of the beholder’ appeared first on The TRADE.

BestEx Research has launched a new functionality for execution algorithms for stocks and futures – named Order Aggregation – aimed at increasing efficiency when managing multiple orders. Nigam SaraiyaSpecifically, the tool addresses a major issue facing the buy-side, wherein higher slippage occurs when sending multiple parent orders for the same instrument when they arrive at different times. The Order Aggregation feature sits within BestEx’s execution algorithms for equities and futures and allows traders to consolidate new orders with existing ones in real time, treating them as a single parent order.Nigam Saraiya, chief product officer at BestEx Research, said: “An algorithm trading multiple orders for the same symbol can add to overall expected slippage. The more information an algorithm has – in this case, awareness and control of the total size being traded – the better it can decide on order placement and execution speed.” Through this approach, high execution speeds are reduced, liquidity seeking is optimised, and trading costs are lowered.The tool has been designed with the aim of fitting into existing workflows with minimal disruption, explained BestEx.“Traders simply opt in, and fills are allocated on a pro-rata basis back to the original parent orders—no need for additional customisations within their OMS. While it’s not a silver bullet, it’s a significant step forward in making algorithms more intelligent and effective in handling the nuances of multi-order trading.” Order Aggregation is particularly well-suited for trading desks that deal with large, complex orders, BestEx confirmed, wherein fair allocation without disrupting compliance workflows is key.The new tool was developed in response to a request from Nordea Asset Management, a BestEx Research client, The TRADE understands – one of the first to put the new functionality into action. Speaking to the impact of the offering, Eugene Seo, head of equity trading at Nordea AM, asserted: “It is necessary that multiple orders in the same security do not compete against each other but instead are aggregated and represented as a singular order in the market. Aggregating them helps us reduce signaling risk and ensures fair volume distribution across working orders. “It ensures volumes are distributed on a pro-rata basis, so our investment teams are represented fairly […] Given our large average order size, our reliance is on conditional order types to achieve volume through larger and less predictable fills.”The post BestEx Research launches new aggregation functionality for execution algorithms appeared first on The TRADE.