Tag Archives: wall street letter

Tech Talk

Broker-Neutral Trading Technology Firm Offers New Suite of Sweet DMA Tools

Leave a comment

Below extract courtesy of Wall Street Letter, as reported by WSL staff columnist Sean Creamer

wall-street-letter-logoOMEX Systems, a provider of web-based, broker-neutral and FIX-compliant front, middle, and back office platforms for broker-dealers and buyside firms, will craft a direct market access offering to aid broker-dealers in choosing algo providers, according to John Houlahan, chief operations officer.

New York City-based OMEX , which introduced its OEMS (Order and Execution Management System) in 2009, is creating newly-enhanced functions for traders interested in setting up direct market access to allow brokerages to place and modify orders on a faster basis, noted Houlahan.

John Houlahan, OMEX Systems

“We are also building out functionality to facilitate direct market access clients via internal algorithmic parameter metrics,” said Houlahan. “We are building a DMA tool to allow broker-dealers to pick and choose various algo providers to place, modify, and monitor trades for intraday modification for cash desk, options, fixed income and futures.”

OMEX is also preparing to make its trading and execution functions available across the pond, so that global broker-dealers can have access to the offering, Houlahan said. The expansion comes on the heels of the firm being certified for use in the Mexican exchange network, he added.   Continue reading →

ETF News, People Profiles, Tech Talk

Agency BrokerDealer Enhances Offering for ETF Multi-Basket Trading

Leave a comment

Below courtesy of Aug 6 edition of Wall Street Letter, article written by staff reporter Sean Creamer 

wslWallachBeth to enhance multi-basket trading

 

WallachBeth Capital, a New York City-based agency brokerage, will enhance its existing portfolio and multi-basket trading in exchange-traded funds and other equities to make greater use of OMEX Systems, according to executive members of both companies.

The firm currently uses OMEX for trading in equities, including ETFs, and options, as well as critical middle and back office functionality but it will take on additional functionality from the vendor in order to propel the firm even further into multi-basket trading, according to Michael Wallach, CEO.

“What we are doing with OMEX is attempting to customize the trading technology so that we can have enhanced pre-and post-trade abilities and analytics for multiple basket orders and portfolio management,” said Wallach.

David Beth, President, WallachBeth Capital
David Beth, President, WallachBeth Capital

David Beth, President and Chief Operating Officer at WallachBeth, noted that add-ons would bolster the current system used for trading baskets.

“We are looking for state of the art analytics, coupled and bolted to the [execution management system] for pre- and post-trade analytics, as well as including the ability for traders to quickly be able to change strategies or algos during and after executing an order,” said Beth.

In preparation for this change, last month the firm hired Matthew Rowley as its chief technology officer, a veteran of Crédit Agricole and Fidessa, who will oversee the firm’s technology push and to enhance existing applications.

Wallach noted that adding this functionality won’t be burdensome, but will involve a re-routing of some client network connections.

For the full coverage, please visit the Wall Street Letter website (subscription required, but FREE TRIAL is available)

Continue reading →

ETF News, Global Macro Strategy, Tech Talk

Wall St Execs Do The Flip-Flop While Being Grilled In Washington; Payment For Order Flow Exposed

Leave a comment

wsl

Conflict of Interest is Of Interest to Senate Panel Members “just learning about” industry-rampant Payment For Order Flow Schemes . Market Structure To Be Re-Structured?

Excerpts below courtesy of The Wall Street Letter’s on the spot coverage of the U.S. Senate investigation of Wall Street’s affection for high-frequency trading aka HFT, and with specific focus on order routing and execution practices, particularly with regard to kick-back inspired payment for order flow schemes, “maker-taker” rebate schemes and likely conflict-of-interest issues within the context of brokers such as Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade (among others) failing to ensure so-called “best execution,” a role that necessarily precludes receiving payment for directing customer orders to any counter-party other than the one offering the best available price for that sized order at that point in time.

Here’s the WSL story as of 8 pm EST on the first day of testimony from members of the securities industry; no surprise to note certain executives take the ‘walk backwards’ and no longer defending the practices that have enriched their business models:

Market participants commenting in front of Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing into ‘Conflicts of Interest, Investor Loss of Confidence, and High Speed Trading in U.S. Stock Markets’ noted that the SEC needs to re-examine or dismiss the maker taker rule and subsequent rebates as they’ve harmed consumer confidence and efforts to provide best execution.

Tom Farley, president of NYSE, noted to Senators Carl Levin, John McCain, and Ron Johnson that the maker taker model has led to a proliferation of sell-side broker dealers executing orders on exchanges that are offering induced rebates to create liquidity, rather than sending orders that offer the best execution. Continue reading →