Traders require solutions with the speed and performance of a Ferrari, but with the dependability and versatility of a family SUV, so to speak, according to Jordan Naylor, CEO of Matrix Executions.
He explained that trading professionals face a challenging landscape: complex markets, fragmented liquidity, regulatory shifts, operational pressures to “do-more-with-less,” needs for seamless integrations and workflows across teams, systems, and vendors.
“That’s where Matrix comes in,” Naylor told Traders Magazine.
Matrix Executions is an agency-only broker-dealer and trading technology provider headquartered in the Chicago Board of Trade building.
Matrix executes millions of contracts per day and upwards of a hundred million contracts per month.
“On busier days, we’ve executed over 10% of the daily OCC volume. Our HT team regularly executes over 50% of the daily BOX floor volume (on a few occasions we’ve executed as much as 80% of it),” Naylor said.
Matrix was launched in 2018 with a team of veteran derivatives experts, technology engineers, and options-trading stalwarts.
The team has deep roots in Chicago and many on the team have been in the options business for 30-40 years, Naylor said.
Having witnessed the evolution of electronic options first-hand, Matrix has a unique vantage point, he added.
“We stand out as a highly-sophisticated operation with a start-up ethos. If we wanted to be average, we would just stick to providing traders with great technology and great data,” he argued.
“Instead, we’ve strived to be “the best.” We pride ourselves in being agile, adaptable, and effective – and helping our clients be too,” he added.
Matrix clients include the buy-side (hedge funds, pension funds, prop firms, market makers) and sell-side (institutions, bulge-bracket banks, broker-dealers).
The firm is a member of all US options exchanges, providing electronic routing & execution services for options and equities.
Matrix provides high touch execution through brokers on the BOX and Cboe floors, where they recently launched a new SPX team.
Matrix also offers sales-trading and outsourced trading services.
The broker-dealer has an extensive normalized FIX network and complex rules engine, providing ultra-low latency DMA routing and highly-customizable algorithmic routing via Matrix’s proprietary algo suite.
“We deliver advanced on- and off-exchange liquidity sourcing with access to over a dozen liquidity providers (including 8 of the top 10),” commented Naylor.
He added that Matrix has two proprietary OMS/EMS front-ends: Matrix Pro (advanced OEMS targeting buy-side firms) and Matrix Elite (highly-configurable OEMS targeting sell-side firms).
Ensuring seamless client workflows, Matrix is integrated with 30+ 3rd-party systems.
The broker-dealer covers most clearing firms, offers clearing (flipping, allocations) on all exchanges, and provides CAT solutions for complex workflows, Naylor said.
According to Naylor, Matrix delivers “the best of both worlds”: “Our “breadth” and “depth” of experience (and intrinsic understanding of the industry) has defined our ecosystem of bespoke solutions, advanced workflows, and state-of-the-art technology.”
He added that Matrix’s “secret sauce” is our ability to understand the complex “big picture” and skillfully digest it, simplify it, and transform it into a tangible, flexible, and functional solution for clients.
“As traders ourselves and technologists at our core, we keenly understand industry demands (from regulatory reporting to high-octane algos),” Naylor stressed.
“As the creators and architects of our solutions and underlying infrastructure, we have tremendous autonomy over our tools and services,” he added.
According to Naylor, Matrix has a long track-record of success in creating secure, reliable, elite technology.
“Our dedicated, specialized operations streamline client needs – customization, implementation, training, and support is performed in-house,” he said.
Naylor pointed out that Matrix works incredibly closely with clients to understand their workflows, connectivity, and objectives.
“In short, Matrix’s client-centric, full-service approach helps us serve our users holistically, and efficiently,” he commented.
According to Naylor, a few trends are gaining momentum – the resurgence of floor trading and high touch operations, extended trading hours, and handling complex orders.
“There’s also significant buzz regarding products like Flex Options and Zero-Day to Expiration Options (“0DTE”),” he said.
According to Naylor, they have witnessed a growing buy-side need for tools and workflows addressing optimized counterparty/exchange interactions, efficient complex workflows, and comprehensive audit trails.
There is an uptick in buy-side demand for solutions facilitating price discovery, price improvement, and liquidity enhancement, he said.
Flex Options are another hot topic, Naylor said, adding that a year ago, a handful of there buy-side clients were interested in Matrix’s Flex services. “Today, that number has grown exponentially,” he said.
Naylor said that the firm has grown at an “impressive clip” – a testament to the quality of their offering and many satisfied clients.
“This year, we plan to keep investing in our technology, expanding our offering, providing exceptional service, and ultimately serving more industry professionals,” he said.
