The TRADE announces Leaders in Trading 2026 award winners

The TRADE is thrilled to announce the winners of its Leaders in Trading 2026 awards, who were honoured at a ceremony held at The Savoy in London last night. 

More than 300 industry leaders attended the event, which celebrated the achievements of the buy-side, sell-side, service providers, technology firms and trading venues over the past year.  

The TRADE was proud to support its chosen charity partner, Help for Children, on the night, with thanks also to KCx for sponsoring the after-dinner cocktails. 

Input for the highly regarded Buy-Side awards, awarded in partnership with SIX Swiss Exchange, was opened up to the industry following a period of nominations and voting. Louise McCormack of Fidelity International took home the coveted Trader of the Year, while Invesco was named Trading Desk of the Year. 

Among the other buy-side winners, M&G Investments claimed Multi-Asset Trading Desk of the Year, Pictet Asset Management won Fixed Income Trading Desk of the Year and MEAG collected FX Trading Desk of the Year. 

In another individual award, Frances Ritter of Vanguard took home the Market Structure Expert of the Year. 

This year’s prestigious Lifetime Achievement award was presented to Brian Mitchell, global head of dealing and implementation at M&G Investments, recognising a four-decade career spanning Morgan Grenfell, Robert Fleming, Baring Asset Management, Fidelity International and M&G. 

The TRADE also presented its Legacy Award, now in its second year of celebrating long-standing service to the industry, to Toby Baker, former head of FX trading at T. Rowe Price, in recognition of a 40-year trading career spanning Robert Fleming and a 25-year tenure at T. Rowe Price. 

Similarly, Adam Conn, head of trading at Baillie Gifford took home the highly coveted Industry Person of the Year award following a live vote on the night by more than 300 attendees. The award recognises his outstanding contribution to Baillie Gifford and the wider industry. 

The night also included the second edition of the Innovation Awards, celebrating those driving markets forward. KCx took home Best Trading Platform Innovation, MarketAxess was named Fixed Income Data Innovation of the Year, FlexTrade won Innovation in AI-driven Trading Workflows and Adaptive was recognised for Innovation in Next-Generation Exchange Technology.  

The Editors’ Choice categories remained highly competitive. Winners were selected by The TRADE’s editorial panel, with Virginie Saade from Citadel named Thought Leader of the Year, while Berenberg’s Scott Charity won Sell-Side Market Structure Excellence. 

In the trading venues arena, LSEG was named Outstanding Exchange Group and LSEG FXall claimed Outstanding FX Trading Venue. SIX Group won Outstanding Equities Trading Venue, Euronext MTS Markets took Outstanding Fixed Income Trading Venue and Eurex collected Outstanding Derivatives Trading Venue.  

Aquis Matching Pool retained Outstanding Dark Trading Venue, Instinet BlockMatch was named Block Trading Venue of the Year, BTIG won Outstanding Bilateral Trading Offering and Cboe Clear Europe took home Clearing House of the Year. 

EuroCTP claimed Outstanding Market Data Services Provider – Equities, while Etrading Software won the fixed income equivalent. Quantitative Brokers was named Outstanding Trading Technology Provider, and Berenberg collected TCA Provider of the Year becoming one of three wins for the firm on the night. 

Within the Algorithmic Trading and EMS categories, which are based on The TRADE’s annual surveys, BNP Paribas took home both Best Trading Performance and Best Provider – UK & Europe for algorithmic trading, while Virtu Triton retained Best Market Access and Best Provider – UK and Europe for EMS. Citi also held on to Best Provider – Large Clients. 

In September, prior to Leaders in Trading, The TRADE celebrated the twelfth edition of its Rising Stars of Trading and Execution, in partnership with Instinet. The list recognises 25 up-and-coming buy-side talents who stand out through their day-to-day work or thought leadership.  

The ceremony for the Rising Stars marked the twelfth annual event, with many of the previous year’s winners now earning nods within the Leaders in Trading categories.  

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners: