Wedbush Securities, a full service US brokerage and investment bank, has said 10 long-only investment institutions are using its new trading infrastructure that aims to put traditional buy-side firms on a level playing field with high-frequency trading (HFT) outfits.
Wedbush first launched its new trading platform in March, leveraging the Lime Brokerage low-latency trading infrastructure it acquired in June last year. Since then, the firm has built up a user base that includes global and smaller hedge funds as well as traditional asset managers that require a combined connectivity and market data solution.
“Users have the same access as HFT clients,“ said Kevin Beadles, head of execution solutions group, Wedbush Securities. “The primary goal is to provide a level playing field and give the money managers or institutional accounts the same technology platforms and advantages that a lot of the low-latency firms have.”
Wedbush’s market data infrastructure is co-located in data centres, while its execution connectivity is directly co-located at each exchange to enable the lowest possible latency. The Lime technology allows Wedbush to offer algorithms, including liquidity seeking and benchmarking algos such as VWAP, TWAP, percentage of value and implementation shortfall, as well as custom-made algos developed by the Lime Brokerage team together with clients.
In addition to the algo capabilities, Lime Brokerage provides the Citrius low-latency data distribution platform, as well as LimeInside, an exchange co-located sponsored access service for high-frequency traders.
LimeInside lets high-frequency trading firms co-locate at major US trading venues without the potential for exceeding trading limits or violating other regulatory requirements imposed on the sponsoring broker. In addition, Wedbush insists the network connects to many alternative sources of liquidity.
“This platform is not just for algo execution,” said Beadles. “The network infrastructure provides access to trading venues including alternative trading systems and dark pools, as well as the market data feeds.”