FlexTrade Systems Inc., a broker-neutral multi-asset algorithmic trading system provider, has launched FlexSpread, a cross-currency spread platform aimed at allowing traders to make deals among multiple securities in different currencies.

FlexTrade said the platform, which was designed for the equity markets in the Americas, Europe and Asia, simplifies currency hedging and can program a range of options to handle currency exposure, from adjusting on an equity-fill basis, to adjusting when a currency reaches a certain amount. FlexTrade also includes an algorithm to manage cross-currency risk arbitrage deals.

“The application is completely global and you can trade cross-currencies. So you can do a pair trade of a sterling-denominated equity versus a euro-denominated equity,” says Max Palmer, FlexTrade’s director of algorithmic solutions. “You can choose which of those two currencies you want to balance in … We do all of the cross-currency conversions to maintain balance, and then in addition, the customer can choose any number of ways to hedge their currency. “

The firm added that FlexSpread features a number of different trading options, including a pairs strategy where a trader can sell or short one security and buy another in equal dollar amounts, or in a dollar ratio. Traders can also do cross-currency equity pair trades in which a trader executes a pair trade in two securities denominated in different currencies.

“One of the things that we allow people to do is on a pair trade, they can just enter dollars,” Palmer adds. “There’s no need to take any conversion and try to convert it into shares and worry about overnight changes.”