Nomura
Nomura’s dark and smart routers underpin its entire electronic trading suite. The dark router sources liquidity from various non-displayed equity trading venues; direct access to these venues can be achieved via Nomura’s SmartDark algorithm or Dark Block Posting option. The firm’s smart router provides access to non-displayed liquidity at both parent and child order levels.
Nomura accesses NX MTF, Instinet BlockMatch, SmartPool, ITG Posit, CS CrossFinder, GETCO and the dark orderbooks of Chi-X Europe, BATS Europe and Turquoise.
Access
Non-displayed venues are assessed in terms of (i) the amount of liquidity they can provide (ii) the quality of liquidity (iii) their ability to achieve post-trade transparency requirements (iv) the additional latency opportunity cost versus the additional liquidity impact for Nomura’s smart order router; and (v) the openness of access to the venue and fit with Nomura’s platform.
Liquidity interaction
The dark router splits orders and simultaneously posts multiple child orders across multiple non-displayed venues based on the probability of execution; upon receiving executions from a venue, it re-allocates accordingly.
Nomura offers clients a specialised service called Illuminator, which controls access to dark venues based on toxicity of venues and optimises strategy parameters taking into account available liquidity, fills received during the day and historic fill patterns, etc.
Anti-gaming logic
Nomura’s dark algorithm sets minimum fill sizes per order as defined by the client or the strategy. The algorithm allows selection of venues based on toxicity levels and supports limit prices.
Service and reporting
Nomura provides a dedicated electronic sales-trading desk and a service desk. Together these provide education and assistance throughout the trading process as well as real-time technical support. Nomura’s TradeSpex analytics portal provides clients with post-trade transparency on routing decisions taken daily via an execution venue breakdown report.