Table of Contents

Program Trading Department

Articles from Traders Magazine

Buyside Ups the Ante in Program Trading

Program trading is booming, but the share of flow reaching the sellside is in decline. With business up so strong overall, though, brokers don't seem to mind. Armed with increasingly sophisticated technology, the buyside is doing more trades in-house, rather than shipping them out to brokers. The steady change over the past year or so has begun to alter the relationship between the buyside and their brokers. The trend has also changed how execution management system providers design the buyside's trading tools.

Liquidnet Beckons Program Traders

Ten months after acquiring agency brokerage Miletus Trading, Liquidnet is entering the program-trading business with a premium-priced offering. The carrot it's holding out to buyside portfolio traders is efficient automated interaction with Liquidnet's pool of institutional orders. Buyside portfolio traders can now access Liquidnet's buyside-only crossing network through the firm's LQTS desk. LQTS, short for Liquidnet Quantitative Trading Services, is the renamed suite of Miletus's algorithmic trading products. Versions of LQTS algos now provide integrated access to the Liquidnet pool and Liquidnet H2O's streaming flow from broker-dealers, in addition to executions in the public markets. These algos are called "Supernaturals."

BNP Paribas's Contrarian Move

BNP Paribas is beefing up its U.S. agency cash-equities business. The existing division-known as Global Execution Services, or GES-is being revamped in the U.S. with a broader mandate and product offering.