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Test Finds Infrastructure Eliminates Latency Spikes

Mar 28, 2007 @ 07:17 PM By Ivy Schmerken,

With market data message rates skyrocketing, Wall Street firms are worried about data latency affecting the behavior of their algorithms. One cool technology that is getting some attention comes from the networking side where market data platforms have traditionally used Ethernet. On March 20, Securities Technology Analysis Center (STAC) published a report examining the performance of the latest software from Wombat Financial Software running on the Cisco SFS InfiniBand solution.

The test was conducted on servers using Linux on AMD Operteron Processors. Although the test was financed by Cisco, "Paying for a test does not equate with influencing the test and results or getting good results," says a Cisco spokesperson. "STAC ensures that the tests they do are neutral and fair in every way," adds the spokesperson.

STAC discovered that the combination of these technologies eliminated nearly two-thirds of the mean latency experienced by the Ethernet network, which is the network medium on which most clients run their market data systems.

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Man Financial Launches Fixed Income ATS

Mar 28, 2007 @ 04:07 PM By Cristina McEachern,

Man Financial, the U.K.-based futures broker, has implemented SDS Financial Technologies’ alternative trading system (ATS) and launched its Man E-Finance Fixed Income Marketplace.

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Competition Between Regional Exchanges, Nasdaq/NYSE Heating Up

Mar 28, 2007 @ 02:35 PM By An Industry Executive,

Contributed by Dave Hudzik, Managing Director, EMS Technology for Spartan Technologies , HydraTrade.

Well, it's been one year since I wrote about the regional exchanges competing with the Nasdaq and NYSE. The competition is heating up and boy oh boy I am seeing a lot of gusto from the little guys, two especially. The regionals have partnered up with some big names, but two ECN networks in particular aren't going anywhere without a fight.

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The Buy Side Should Get Equal Access to Low-Latency Executions

Mar 21, 2007 @ 02:28 PM By Ivy Schmerken,

There is so much focus on low-latency these days, but this has not been so much of a concern for the buy side. This is understandable because most buy-side firms use algorithms hosted by the sell-side, and most of the so-called low latency services coming out are targeted at broker dealers and hedge funds.

But perhaps the buy-side should pay attention to make sure there is a level playing field.
Buy-side firms that are executing trades through broker-sponsored algorithmic trading strategies should make sure they are getting equal treatment with the hedge funds customers when it comes to low-latency access to execution venues.

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Hedge Fund Buying Frenzy Continues

Mar 14, 2007 @ 02:39 PM By Cristina McEachern,

The latest major deal in the investment bank/hedge fund phenomenon came from Lehman Brothers this week. The firm announced it was buying a 20 percent stake in hedge fund manager the D.E. Shaw group, which currently has about $29 billion in aggregate investment capital.

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Massaro on CNBC's Squawk Box

Mar 8, 2007 @ 01:16 PM By Kerry Massaro,

I had the pleasure of being interviewed on CNBC's Squawk Box this morning. Co-Anchor Carl Quintanilla asked me to tell him all about dark pools, Reg NMS, NYSE competition and market consolidation all in a matter of five minutes. It wasn't easy, but I gave it my best shot. Click Here.

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TradeTech Recap: An Equities Vision

Mar 8, 2007 @ 12:09 PM By Cristina McEachern,

From transaction cost analysis (TCA) to algorithmic trading, dark pools and Reg NMS, this week’s TradeTech USA Equity Trading Summit in New York City was a barometer of change in the buy side world. And with Reg NMS going into effect for exchanges this past Monday it was obviously the talk of the conference.

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BNY ConvergEx Turns on Block Crossing Network

Mar 7, 2007 @ 06:59 PM By Ivy Schmerken,

In a sign that dark pools of liquidity are continuing to proliferate, on Tuesday BNY ConvergEx Group LLC launched ConvergEx Cross, a new block crossing service that matches orders and is open to buy- and sell-side firms.

The proprietary crossing network combines the natural liquidity of the BNY agency brokerage business with the technology of Eze Castle, the buy-side order management system it merged with in October of 2006. It took only four months for ConvergEx to put together the crossing network, which has been registered as an alternative trading system (ATS) and went into production beta testing on Feb. 6 before going live on March 6.

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NYSE Asks SEC for Relief from Routing to ADF

Mar 2, 2007 @ 04:15 PM By Ivy Schmerken,

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for relief from the trade-through rule because it cannot route orders to certain alternative trading systems and the International Stock Exchange that display their quotes on the NASD Alternative Display Facility. The NYSE is requesting relief for a 30-day period, from March 5 until April 5.

Reading between the lines, this means the NYSE is not fully compliant with Reg NMS and is asking the SEC for "a limited no-action" allowing the exchange to trade-through the protected quotes of NASD ADF participants for one month, beginning Monday, March 5th until April 5th.

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BATS Trading Mulls Over European Expansion

Mar 1, 2007 @ 01:47 PM By Ivy Schmerken,

BATS Trading, the Kansas City-based ECN, is contemplating an expansion into the European equities market, said Dave Cummings, CEO of BATS Trading, in Monday’s e-mail to his subscribers.

After lying on a beach in Mexico last week reading “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman, Cummings was inspired by the book to think about globalization effects and the worldwide free flow of information via the Internet. So he decided to ask his readers – there are 1,500 people on his e-mail list – what they think about BATS expanding into Europe.

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R.G. Niederhoffer Capital Management (New York)
Roy Niederhoffer
President and Founder

You have to rotate your models more rapidly today than you used to. Models that used to work have stopped working with greater rapidity lately. I think that this probably represents the entrance of a large number of players into the hedge fund space in ... More >>