Tora
Markets covered
the TORA Compass trading platform which accounts for an average of 5% of the
volume on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. TORA is the only venue that provides VWAP
block crossing on a continuous basis as liquidity emerges to capture price
improvement, rather than point-in-time crossing
Order protection
The TORA Crosspoint network is designed to
be completely anonymous so that trades can be matched in a closed environment
to prevent information leakage. TORA selectively enters into agreements with counterparties
so participation in the pool is tightly controlled. Extensive anti-gaming
surveillance is in place and attempts to ping the pool or send IOI messages are
monitored so behaviour can be excluded from participation. All orders are firm
so participants who expose flow to the pool can be sure that the other side of the
order does not back away. Regular post-trade toxicity analysis also provides information
on counterparties so adjustments can be made to order flows.
Access
Buy-side institutions who trade through the
TORA Compass platform can access TORA Crosspoint directly from the desktop or
via TSOR, TORA’s next generation smart order routing algorithm. Traders can
also expose flow through venues where a liquidity sharing agreement is in
place.
Order types and matching logic
Trades are matched based on price and time priority. TORA Crosspoint
supports pegged, market, and straight limit orders and VWAP crosses. There is
also support for throttling orders in line with the TWAP and volume-in-line trajectories.
This allows the front-end trading platform, TORA Compass, to shadow most types
of DMA, or algorithmic executions
Connectivity
TORA provides access to eight broker pools
and two lit venues in Japan. Volume tripled in the first quarter of 2012.