Inside Trading

A former block trading executive is hoping to replicate the action in the upstairs market electronically.

Keep it simple. That is the mantra at Barclays Capital as it emerges from a yearlong revamp of its electronic trading products and desk. And with this new simplicity, the bank hopes to increase profits and raise its profile in the equities trading business.

With shrinking commission wallets, many buyside firms are consolidating their broker lists. And in choosing which brokers to work with, they are looking for consistency and focus, according to a recent report.

Knight Capital Group is in the process of restructuring its institutional sales and trading division. Chief executive Tom Joyce told analysts and investors in late November that the firm is "rethinking and reconfiguring its offering" to money managers.

Floor trading might be in decline, but it's far from dead. Designated market makers on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange have been making headlines recently.

As high-touch trades continue to decline and trading algos get more and more complicated, Tabb said buyside firms are turning to the sellside for execution consulting that combines high-touch service with low-touch technology.

Proposals by two of the exchanges operated by NYSE Euronext mark the second time in the past two years the exchange operator has looked to sub-penny pricing to gain an advantage over brokers in the trading of retail orders.

In the wake of Pipeline Trading Systems' settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, many people are wondering if dark pools will be able to retain the trust of traders given the misrepresentations made by such a well-known venue.

Fewer is better. That's the message brokers have been hearing from clients over the last year, as buyside traders have reduced the number of algorithms on their desktops.

Independent research is taking on a bigger role at Bloomberg Tradebook. The agency brokerage has nearly doubled the number of "indie" research providers it offers to institutional clients.

Odd lots-which aren't reported to the consolidated tape-have grown as a percentage of shares traded and could now make up as much as 20 percent of market volume. That's according to a recent paper by Cornell University's Professor Maureen O'Hara, together with Chen Yao and Mao Ye of the University of Illinois.

State Street Corp.'s deal to purchase Pulse Trading offers the Boston-based bank the ability to leverage its huge transition management business through Pulse's dark pool, BlockCross, according to industry observers. With the addition of BlockCross, they say, State Street Brokerage would be better able to attract more block-size liquidity from money managers looking to trade anonymously and in size, giving the broker both sides of a trade.

On the tenth anniversary of 9/11, about 200 trading professionals gathered at Fordham University to commemorate and reflect upon the memories of former colleagues, friends and loved ones who perished that day in the Twin Towers.

A new survey by Liquidnet found that two-thirds of institutional investors are worried about the impact of high-frequency trading. The firm polled clients and found that of about 300 respondents, 43 percent were "concerned" and 23 percent were "very concerned" about HFT and its effect on their trading performance.

Goldman Sachs Electronic Trading announced Aug.19 it has launched its dark pool, Sigma X, in Canada. Goldman Sachs Canada Inc. will offer access to Sigma X Canada to registered investment dealers and their clients to trade Toronto Stock Exchange listed securities. Sigma X was launched in the U.S. in 2005.