Winter is coming.
But some traders are fleeing to the warmer climate of Miami Beach to attend the last major educational and networking event before year-end – the WBR Equities Leaders Summit. The marquee winter meeting, spanning three days from December 5thto the 7th at the Trump National Doral Miami Hotel, promises to be a must attend event. According to WBR, it is the leading buy side driven equity trading conference, attracting over 300 leaders representing the who is who from the full value chain- key regulators, buy side, sell side, trading platforms and technology partners.
More than half of the attendees represent the biggest names on the buy-side. So much so, the first day of the conference is devoted entirely to the institutional traders and their firms. There are six power sessions devoted solely to the buy-side that will discuss liquidity, data usage and algorithms from which to choose.
WBR confirmed that the days schedule will go ahead as planned despite the stock markets decision to close in observance of the National Day of Mourning. WBR said in a statement that it will observe a moment of silence at the beginning of the Wednesday sessions in honor of the late former President George H.W. Bush.
Day Two, December 6th, opens the conference to the general attendee list with Lucy Bradley, Editorial Director, Worldwide Business Research providing the opening remarks. She is followed by Conference Chairperson Dave Weisberger, Head of Crypto, ViableMKTS who kicks off the days events. Themes for the day start with Disrupt or Be Disrupted, followed by Solving the Liquidity Conundrum and then segueing into a variety of technology and strategy sessions.
We have found the ELS Roundtable sessions to be a unique feature of the conference, began CODAs Mike Lazar, Managing Director-Institutional Sales. Traders feel comfortable providing honest feedback and seem genuinely interested in discovering new liquidity sources. Weve been able to further enhance our offering via that collaborative setting.
Imperative Execution CEO Roman Ginis commented: Its great to participate at this years Equities Leaders Summit alongside some of the biggest names in equities trading to debate todays key issues in market design. Our IntelligentCross product is all about market efficiency helping institutions minimize market impact – a key implicit cost of trading that affects everyone with an investment account from Main Street to Wall Street.
Aite Groups Spencer Mindlin, who is moderating a session, told Traders Magazine that he expects the following themes to be pervasive throughout the conference and stir up debate among the attendees:
* MiFID II is over, now what? What will be the effects on the US?
* Tick Size Pilot is now over and the industry is bracing itself for CAT rollout and the Access Fee Pilot.
* Brett Redfearn, Head of the Division of Trading and Markets at the SEC will discuss his pet topic – data fees. The question hell likely pose is whether this is a Main Street issue or a Wall Street issue, whether the SEC should referee, and if so, how.
* There’s been enormous M&A activity in in the capital markets space after a year and half of high profile deals. What can the market expect going forward?
* AI, decision analytics, and workflow automation will continue to dominate the conversation as firms across the investment trade lifecycle are under pressure to cut costs and improve efficiencies.
* Venue competition and changing ownership structures, and how new entrants will affect the marketplace.
And of course, there will be networking galore including a Havana Nights-themed reception.
We are heading down to Miami looking forward to connecting with our peers on the successes and challenges of the past year, said Jonathan Clark, CEO of Luminex Trading & Analytics. With the return of volatility, markets are again headline news and were expecting to hear some great discussions on how innovations in data and analytics are helping to move things forward. Improving access to liquidity will be front and center.
Lastly, the usual bevy of vendors and sponsors will be out in force offering the latest technology and new services to assist attendees. One new attendee this year is Battea Class Action Services, a shareholder recovery firm which told Traders Magazine that is was very excited to be sponsoring the Equities Leaders Summit.
We look forward to meeting all the attendees and discussing the opportunity, the timing, and the challenges in recovering existing and pending settlements, said Kevin Doyle, Global Head of Marketing at Battea. Billions of dollars will be available to eligible investors in domestic and international equities, the foreign exchange antitrust manipulation, and derivatives settlements, however, industry members will soon learn that the extensive class period, determination of jurisdictional execution locations, lack of securities identifiers, a vast array of instruments, and complex loss calculations make this a challenge.
Traders Magazine and its sister publication Market Media will be at the conference providing color and commentary through the proceedings.
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Or search WBR ELS on www.tradersmagazine.com
