The TradeTech Europe conference, traditionally held in Paris, will move to London for 2010 – its 10th anniversary – in response to feedback from the buy-side, conference organiser Worldwide Business Research (WBR) has confirmed.
With the prospect of a swine flu pandemic increasing as the northern hemisphere’s winter season draws nearer, companies in the financial sector are being urged to step up their business continuity planning to cope with lower staff levels.
Humility is not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of rough-and-tumble derivatives traders on the old Liffe exchange with their gaudy blazers bursting with self-confidence. Yet John Sussex’s autobiography, written with financial journalist Joe Morgan, reveals remarkable modesty mixed with inevitable pride in his substantial achievements. At the same time he recalls with candour the white-knuckle rollercoaster ride of the financial markets and the trading careers that animate them.
Market participants might be more concerned about the risks of unscrupulous traders moving the market against them through gaming or abusive trading, but sudden shifts in trading patterns caused by more benign activity can be equally costly.
Automated, quantitative strategies used to discover and capture alpha in equities will start to converge with more traditional equities strategies, as both traditional asset managers and quants borrow from each other’s strategies, according to Adam Sussman, director of research at research and consulting firm TABB Group.
While it may be impossible to completely rid the financial markets of abusive practices like front-running or painting the tape, regulators and exchanges must compete in the technology arms race if they wish to limit the impact of deceitful trading.
Gaming is a significant concern for buy-side traders when executing orders in both displayed and non-displayed pools of liquidity. However, gaming is notoriously difficult to separate from genuine trading activity. And the increasing complexity of Europe’s equity market structure is only making the task harder.
Controversy over so-called ‘flash’ order types, where trading venues briefly display unfilled orders to select participants before routing elsewhere, flared up again in the US this week when a New York senator called for their abolition. However, some feel certain concerns about these order types apply equally in Europe, despite the structural differences between the two markets.
US equity brokers expect the commissions they earn from institutional trades of domestic equities to fall by 23% and hedge fund commission payments to drop by 32% in 2009-2010, according to the latest equity investor study from research and consulting firm Greenwich Associates.
While the industry has largely applauded last week’s agreement between exchanges, multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) and brokers to harmonise tick sizes across Europe, many acknowledge it is only a first step, and more effort is needed to create true unity.