Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley operates a number of routers in various regions globally using its Smart Order Routing Technology (SORT). SORT routers send orders to external lit marketplaces based on a number of factors including, but not limited to, best price, reliability and stability of the venue, historical and real-time fill rates, speed and cost. |
Key features
SORT makes routing decisions based on these factors
to access exchanges, electronic communication networks and other lit liquidity
sources. Interlisted SORT is a product that aims to achieve best execution by
routing orders for fungible inter-listed securities through either a US or
Canadian market centre based on prevailing prices and liquidity.
Morgan Stanley also offers its dark aggregator NightVision
that routes orders to the dark pools to which it is connected.
The firm’s routers operate in various regions globally and
are similar in practice, with the exception of nuances to comply with local
regulations. They take into account internal and external latencies and have
capacity well in excess of anticipated daily volumes.
Access
Access is provided both directly and indirectly,
via direct market access, algos and the cash desk.
Customisation
The firm’s basic routing logic is designed to be
consistent with regulatory and best execution obligations. To the extent it is
permissible, the firm lets clients customise routing logic with respect to
their orders.
Morgan Stanley Analytics provides pre-trade analytics,
detailed order entry, order flow management, and post-execution performance
measurement. Other post-trade reports are provided end of day with respect to
further execution details.
Future plans
The firm seeks to continually optimise routers to keep up with technical advances, to reduce internal latencies, and account for external latencies and makes changes to its routers based on changes to the market landscape.