Blogs
1 May 2013 - 11:58 AM
There has been a lot of debate around the role of SEFs in the global derivatives market. Some commentators are even claiming that the whole concept is dead and buried before the rules have even been finalised.
But debating the viability or otherwise of SEFs is completely missing the point. The right question is how will standardised and custom derivatives contracts trade and clear in a post Dodd-Frank/EMIR world? What these regulations are... read more
29 April 2013 - 7:58 PM
I was in New York last week, on a perfect spring day, for the Waters North America Trading Architecture Summit. Unfortunately, I was locked in a cavernous hotel for the entire time but Waters did put on a great show as always. The summit was well attended with standing room only for some panel discussions.
Of the two streams during the Waters Summit – Trading Technology and Enterprise Infrastructure – I spent most of my time in the... read more
11 April 2013 - 6:02 PM
The ongoing Libor scandal is one of the most serious breaches of control in an industry where risk and compliance failures are routinely front page news. At a time when the reputation of the financial industry needs all the support it can get, yet another scandal has shaken the trust that society places in this vital part of our global infrastructure. And the scandal shows no sign of going away with regulators around the world placing a further... read more
18 February 2013 - 8:45 PM
Recently Getco announced two grim figures. Their net income fell 82 percent and revenue declined by 41 percent. Even against the backdrop of the January Effect which has created a sugar-high for the S&P500, a winning streak just shy of its all-time high of 1565.15 set in 2007, Getco’s losses are sobering news. And they coincide with the precipitous drop in stock-market volume coupled with erratic... read more
7 February 2013 - 2:57 PM
Been reading quite a bit lately about how good old-fashioned equities are finding their way back into investors’ favour. And this time it is more than just the indices that are on the move, volume traded is going up too. In many ways, volume or consideration is a more useful indicator of the general health of the trading industry and the US has reported record influxes into managed market funds and ETFs recently. A similar trend is being... read more
1 February 2013 - 7:37 PM
Back in November, the UK’s Foresight Committee released its findings on “The Future of Computer Trading in Financial Markets”. In a nutshell, the findings reflected a pragmatic view of the dangers of HFT and raised some practical approaches to making markets safer for everyone – circuit breakers, consolidated tape and what have you. I found the paper balanced but inconclusive; not the end of the discussion but a better... read more
23 January 2013 - 2:00 PM
It’s always seemed like the wrangling over regulation in Europe’s capital markets was, in many ways, a proxy for the broader political debate raging across the region. No surprise, then, that on the eve of today’s speech by David Cameron we saw that the European finance ministers have agreed the creation of a vanguard transaction tax bloc that will implement its own Tobin-style financial transaction tax across 11 countries,... read more
20 November 2012 - 10:08 PM
Convergence according to Wikipedia is the merger of previously distinct technologies into a new form; requiring new theories, new products, and new practices. The convergence of cloud computing, big data and low latency technologies have begun to meld together within the financial industry.
Increasing competition and thinning margins are pushing the technology envelope in the hunt for alpha. This has manifested itself on many fronts, increasing... read more
12 November 2012 - 4:01 PM
I’ve just returned from my first trip to Singapore, speaking at TradeTech Asia and visiting with a handful of trading firms. I was duly impressed. Asia-Pacific is undergoing a sea change. Their penchant for all things ‘high-tech’ is a focal point for growth as they become leaders in the global economy. The Asian trading landscape is on the move creating improvements, in networking infrastructure and technology. Regional... read more
7 November 2012 - 1:14 AM
In the past, we’ve taken a consistent position on the need for greater control and diligence in automated trading whilst urging caution on the seemingly unstoppable HFT witch-hunt. A balanced argument requires us to face the potential dangers of HFT, but better to gather evidence first and cast judgement second – don’t you think?
We found the recent Foresight Committee findings on “The Future of Computer Trading in... read more
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