The Tradetech Daily

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley offers algorithms in listed futures including equities, fixed income and commodities in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, India and Taiwan. The firm says users of non-equity algorithms are not necessarily limited to one sector, with customers including those that actively trade futures as part of their strategy to those who use it as a hedging tool for a portfolio.

Morgan Stanley’s algorithms have been adapted for the Asian environment, for example, they take into account the less-liquid nature of the region’s markets.

Strategies/order types

Morgan Stanley’s algorithms support order types including: market/limit; stop market/stop limit; and market/limit on close/open.

Functionality

Morgan Stanley’s algorithms are offered through Passport, the firm’s multi-asset class trading platform.

Algorithms are also offered through FIX, Bloomberg and various vendor interfaces.

Customisation and future development

The bank offers Morgan Stanley Analytics (MSA) for pre-trade analytics, detailed order entry, order flow management, and post-execution performance measurement. MSA can be used to set up candidate baskets, slice an index, construct optimised hedges, view predicted trading costs and analyse the costs by drilling down into different markets, sectors and individual names. For posttrade performance attribution and assessment, MSA provides post-trade reports that analyse trade performance through graphical representation of actual trade prices and volume alongside market activity. MSA assesses overall trade performance with clear benchmark comparisons, and single-name performance with individual contributions to return. The post-trade reports also analyse various execution venues.

Morgan Stanley’s algorithms are fully customisable on a per client basis. Clients can also use Algorithm Manager, a trading tool that gives users dynamic control over the execution of their individual orders based on several different factors, including time, filled quantity, price and liquidity. For example, traders can switch strategies in real time to adapt to current market conditions.