Commodities futures and options broker Sucden Financial has launched a multi-asset direct market access (DMA) platform for its institutional and corporate clients using solutions from technology provider SunGard.
The new DMA system, called STORM, will provide Sucden Financial’s clients with access to a range of cash equity and derivatives exchanges and platforms to trade equities, options, commodity and financial futures globally.
The system employs several tools from SunGard Global Trading (formerly GL Trade), including the GL Net low-latency market data and order routing network and the GL Stream electronic trading platform that enables users to manage global order flows and executions.
Sucden Financial, a subsidiary of French commodities trading firm Groupe Sucres et Denrées, has in recent years expanded as a broker to institutions, trading groups, hedge funds and high-net worth retail clients. According to the firm, its clients are increasingly trading across a wide range of asset classes, using more sophisticated combinations of markets and contracts that require high-speed DMA to exchanges and trading platforms.
The firm chose SunGard’s GL solutions because it felt they provided the best combination of access to cash and futures markets with sophisticated functionality and low-latency quote data and order routing. STORM will provide direct access to derivatives and commodities exchanges NYSE Liffe, Eurex, ICE Europe and US, NYMEX, COMEX, CME, CBOT and the London Metal Exchange immediately, with the London Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange following shortly.
STORM will operate alongside STAR – Sucden Financial’s existing in-house-developed system. The new platform expands the range of exchanges and contracts directly accessible by clients in addition to providing DMA and a greater range of functionality, for example cross-asset spread trading. STORM also offers full pre- and post-trade risk management, which will block unauthorised access, trading in non-approved contracts and trading outside pre-set position and cash limits, for example.
“Our historical focus on soft commodities and metals remains but clients increasingly require access to other asset classes such as energy, fixed income, money markets and cash equities,” said Michael Overlander, chief executive officer of Sucden Financial, in a statement. “The new system will provide our clients with a fast, scalable single access point to all important global markets, offer improved functionality and simultaneously reduce our unit processing costs.”