Squawker, a sell-side negotiation platform due to launch this quarter, will match counterparties using consolidated European mid-price and VWAP data as reference points for execution, offering users more flexibility for block trading.
Squawker has teamed up with SIX Financial Information, the data arm of SIX Swiss Exchange, which will provide the venue with real-time market data to support execution.
Sqauwker offers banks and brokers the ability to advertise trading interests over its platform and enter into trade negotiations, without revealing the counterparty or trade information. The platform offers brokers a different model for matching blocks compared to dark multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) that cross trades based on the mid-point price of a stock’s primary listing market.
Christopher Gregory, co-founder and CEO of Squawker said the SIX Financial Information partnership would be crucial to the venue’s success.
“Using SIX Financial Information’s data via the Squawker platform, Squawker’s sell-side trading participants of mid-price interest will always execute at the consolidated mid-price of Europe’s national exchanges and major MTFs,” he said. “Similarly, VWAP-interested participants will be able to agree a block trade at any point thought the day that is guaranteed to execute at the day’s consolidated VWAP price.”
In May last year, agency broker Instinet added a consolidated pan-European price feed to its BlockMatch MTF as its reference point for matching block trades, making it the first dark pool to match trades at the bid, mid or offer price of a European best bid and offer.
In November, Squawker announced that its technology infrastructure would be hosted and managed by BT Radianz Services.