NYSE Technologies unveils new options tools
Trading technology provider NYSE Technologies, a subsidiary of exchange group NYSE Euronext, has launched two products designed to help trading firms manage the growth in quote capacity requirements for US options trading.
The Filtered Options Feed is a managed market data feed that categorises US options market information according to user-defined parameters, reducing bandwidth requirements; while the TAQ Options service offers end-of-day files and access to a six-year historical archive of US options quoting activity from the Options Price Reporting Authority (OPRA). In addition, the historical TAQ Options service offers customers the ability to receive an end-of-day quote report of all the day's OPRA market data.
Delivered over the firm's SFTI network and hosted from NYSE Technologies' US liquidity centre, the solutions are designed to allow customers to use OPRA data without incurring the costs of connectivity management and the ongoing maintenance associated with a standard options data feed.
Vegasoul opts for QuantHouse technology
Asset management firm Vegasoul Capital Management (Asia) has selected trading technology provider QuantHouse's QuantFEED and QuantLINK low latency solutions to facilitate its global trading operations.
Vegasoul Capital Management uses proprietary quantitative trading strategies and risk management systems, while QuantHouse is a provider of trading solutions including low-latency market data technologies, an alpha generation development framework and infrastructure trading services for systematic trading firms.
“For Vegasoul Capital Management, using next generation trading technologies is a key success factor in the increasingly competitive high-frequency trading space,” said Vincent Wong, founder and CIO at Vegasoul Capital Management.
Stephane Leroy, global head of sales and marketing at QuantHouse, added that he hoped the combination of QuantFEED and QuantLINK technology designed to enable sub-millisecond trading would allow Vegasoul to focus on model development and innovation to achieve optimal performance.
MarketAxess offers trading for preferred stocks
Electronic fixed income trading platform operator MarketAxess has launched trading for preferred stocks and consumer-based asset-backed securities (ABS) on its e-trading platform.
ABS trading on MarketAxess began in February and now has 14 market-making dealers providing liquidity to the platform, with 100 institutional investor customers signed up to trade. Product coverage includes credit cards, equipment leases, floor-plans, student loans, timeshares and autos.
MarketAxess is the first electronic fixed-income marketplace to offer trading of preferred stocks for institutional investors, with liquidity provided by 13 market-making dealers through the MarketAxess corporate bond platform. Electronic trading of both ABS and preferred stocks takes place using the patented MarketAxess request-for-quote trading system.
“We have brought increased liquidity and transparency to the corporate bond markets through e-trading, and are pleased to leverage our platform for consumer ABS and preferred stock trading,” said Kelley Millet, president of MarketAxess.
Canadian AltaCorp Capital chooses Fidessa technology
Canadian financial advisory firm AltaCorp Capital has gone live with trading technology provider Fidessa's Canadian trading platform on a software-as-a-service basis. Operating since January 2011, Calgary-based AltaCorp, which also has offices in Toronto, has selected Fidessa to support its growth ambitions.
AltaCorp will utilise Fidessa's order and execution management and smart order routing technology to maximise trading opportunities across its chosen markets. The firm will also have access to more than 150 trading venues via Fidessa’s global FIX connectivity network, enabling it to provide direct market access and algo services to clients worldwide.
“The trading platform is helping us grow AltaCorp into other markets, most notably the US, and we felt very strongly that there was no other technology partner that could provide the rich functionality and the room for growth we were looking for in our Canadian operations,” said George Gosbee, president and CEO of AltaCorp.
Fidessa's products serve 26,000 users across 950 clients around the world. The firm's connectivity network links 2,400 buy-side institutions and 600 brokers as well as the 150-plus markets across EMEA, Asia Pacific and the Americas. Fidessa recently reached 25 hosted customers across Canada.
Trading technology firms make key hires
Trading solutions provider Pragma has appointed Jaime A. Jofre as chief technology officer. Jofre will be responsible for leading Pragma's technology teams across application development, quality assurance, infrastructure, and application support.
Jofre previously served as head of product development technology at buy-side crossing network Liquidnet. Prior to this, he worked at J.P. Morgan Chase, where he was responsible for the global equities and futures and options algorithmic trading technology program, and Merrill Lynch, where he held several senior technology positions.
Meanwhile, UK-based trading technology provider Fixnetix has appointed Eric Barret as general manager for sales, Americas, to be based in New York. Barret is a 13-year international industry veteran fluent in French, English and Spanish. He will assume his new role immediately and report to Jason Mochine, global director of sales.
Meanwhile UK-based trading technology provider Fixnetix has appointed Eric Barret as general manager – sales, Americas, to be based in New York. Barret is a thirteen-year international industry veteran fluent in French, English and Spanish. He will assume his new role immediately and report to Jason Mochine, global director of sales.
Furthermore, trading technology provider Fidessa group has appointed Justin Llewellyn-Jones as chief operating officer of Fidessa corporation, its US based operation.
Llewellyn-Jones will take on the role of COO reporting to Mark Ames, CEO of Fidessa, and will continue to maintain his assignment of the last three years as managing director of Fidessa's US hosted services business.
Prior to his current role, Llewellyn-Jones was senior vice president of service delivery for Fidessa's US hosted services business. Before that, he was director of client services at Broadridge Financial Solutions, a provider of technology-based outsourcing solutions to the financial services industry.