Advent Offering Fox River Algos To Counter HFT

Advent Software’s Moxy order management system is offering institutional traders algorithms designed by SunGard’s Fox River Execution to bring high-frequency trading tools to the buyside.

The companies announced on Thursday that the algos are now available with the Moxy OMS, which aims to provide traders with customized flexibility and control.

"One of the major concerns of the buyside is what’s happening to their orders and how are their orders being taking advantage of by professional trading communities," said Paul Daley, head of new product development for SunGard’s Fox River.

SunGard acquired the broker-dealer Fox River last year. The division focuses just on execution and its clients are primarily on the buyside.

Integrating Fox River’s suite of algos with Moxy is supposed to help customers to overcome market fragmentation and achieve best execution.

The suite contains seven main algorithms, including algos designed specifically for ETF and dark pool strategies. Each is customizable both on a firm level and on an individual trader level.

"We could have two different traders sitting next to each other that are on Moxy, and as long as they are able to identify themselves separately, we could have one version of an algorithm for one trader and a slightly different version for another, depending on what their needs are," Daley said.

Doug Yokoyama, senior vice president and general manager of the asset management group at Advent, said in a statement the company is focused on bringing the tools traders need–including algorithms–into the Moxy workflow. He noted more than 850 trading desks now rely on Moxy.

According to a recent TABB report, algorithms account for 30 percent of total share volume in U.S. markets. Three quarters of U.S. firms employ algorithmic trading on their desks, the report found.