Squawker Trading, on the heels of a successful rollout of its Squawker trade negotiation system in Europe, is considering an expansion into the U.S.
Nothing is imminent, but Chris Gregory, Squawkers chief executive officer, told Traders: Were exploring all our options and from feedback weve received from the sell-side community, we do believe there is a real opportunity for Squawker in the US.
The vendor completed a pan-European rollout in October and is now used by over 70 brokers in Europe to negotiate trades. The company expects its software to be in use by 100 of the 400 broker-dealers in Europe by the end of the year.
The technology is used exclusively by the sellside looking to move hard-to-trade blocks in anonymous fashion. While most trading is done on order books, about 10 to 15 percent of orders are traded over the phone or on Bloomberg chat, according to Squawkers research. It is the latter slice of the market that the company is targeting.
Weve been absolutely thrilled with the uptake of Squawker in Europe, Gregory said. Its going from strength to strength and we continue to add two to three clients each week.
