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Saturday, March 15, 2025
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Northern Trust Launches Enhanced Collateral Management Solution

By
Editorial Staff
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Northern Trust has launched an enhanced active collateral solution designed to help institutional investors manage their collateral more efficiently while meeting the demands of continual market change.

The capability, delivered in collaboration with CloudMargin, a global collateral management technology company, will provide enhanced service capabilities, increased transparency on a real-time basis and platform resiliency.

Nadia Ivanova

This includes automated asset selection based on flexible hierarchies, support of complex eligibility rules, access to real-time data through client portals, report write capabilities, and full end-to-end automation.

Nadia Ivanova, Head of Business Services, Northern Trust Asset Servicing, said: “Our clients must be strategic and nimble in managing their investment portfolios, including collateral management, to optimize asset deployment and minimize performance drag.”

“Our advanced, digitized solutions can help clients achieve this objective – minimizing the value of assets that need to be tied up as collateral and managing counterparty exposure effectively. This showcases our technology vision in action, delivering the agility, resilience, automation, and long-term value our clients require.”

CloudMargin is the world’s first cloud-native collateral management workflow solution, combining market-leading process automation with flexible, real-time analytics and controls.

More than 225 buy-side and sell-side institutions across the globe rely on CloudMargin to increase control, transparency and resilience of their operations through automated, end-to-end collateral management processes.

Barney Binder, Head of Collateral Management, Northern Trust Asset Servicing, said: “These advanced capabilities are part of Northern Trust’s comprehensive range of collateral, derivatives and liquidity management solutions. Clients can access these services globally, either on a component basis – to complement their current in-house practices – or as part of a broader suite of collateral management solutions.” 

CloudMargin CEO Stuart Connolly said: “CloudMargin’s purpose-built collateral platform is continuously updated, enhanced and maintained. Northern Trust clients will benefit from full automation in their collateral workflow, and unprecedented levels of transparency. We are incredibly honoured that Northern Trust selected CloudMargin for this mission-critical service after a comprehensive review of the marketplace and rigorous due diligence process. The collaboration is another important milestone in our continued growth trajectory in our 10th anniversary year.” 

TrendSpider Launches AI Strategy Lab

By
Editorial Staff
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TrendSpider, a developer of cloud-based market research and trading software for active investors, today announced the launch of AI Strategy Lab, a new tool that empowers traders to create, customize, train and deploy their own custom AI-powered trading strategies.

The first-of-its-kind tool will provide every investor with the same advanced machine learning capabilities that were previously only accessible to large institutions, in an easy-to-use point-and-click web interface.

Brad Ritter

“AI is all the rage right now, and investors are naturally wondering how they can leverage it in their trading strategies. Unfortunately, the technical barriers to doing so have been reserved for the most sophisticated institutions – until now. TrendSpider’s AI Strategy Lab puts the power of true, purpose-built AI into the hands of every active investor,” said Brad Ritter, VP of Marketing for TrendSpider.

“TrendSpider’s mission is to level the playing field for all investors, and with our new AI Strategy Lab, we are doing so in a big way.”

Unlike large language models, which are general purpose AI models designed to perform research and write code, TrendSpider’s AI Strategy Lab offers a simple point-and-click interface for training individually tailored AIs designed to identify the ideal time to enter trades. Users can train their models on any market, on any timeframe, using any goals and inputs they like. The tool allows users to define a range of trading criteria—such as timeframe, risk tolerance, and target outcomes—and quickly develops a dedicated AI model to suit these specifications.

Once trained, AI models can be used in back testing, charts, scanners, alerts and strategies. Models are trained to generate predictive entry and controlled-risk exit signals. AI Strategy Lab empowers investors to create their own private robo-advisors, each focused on a specific asset, while staying in full control of their portfolios, with no AUM fees.   

“Retail investors have always faced significant disadvantages in the markets,” said Dan Ushman, CEO of TrendSpider. “Without access to the institutional data, tools, and resources that hedge funds and other big-money players enjoy, they take on higher levels of risk with every trade. With AI Strategy Lab, we’re empowering these investors by putting decades of predictive machine learning research at their fingertips, enabling them to create models that reflect their unique strategies.”

Other Key Features of AI Strategy Lab Include:

  • Customizable Model Creation: Users can select any market (including all US stocks, ETFs, Futures contracts, Cryptocurrency pairs or Forex pairs), set trading goals, and adjust risk parameters, choose from multiple model types, and specify the exact data to use for training.
  • Support for Multiple AI Model types: Train Random Forest, Native Bayesian, KNN and Logarithmic Regression models – without any programming or technical skills needed.  
  • Integration Into the Entire TrendSpider Platform: Use AI models generated in the AI Strategy Lab across TrendSpider. Paint them on charts, scan the market, incorporate custom strategies, back test and forward test them, use them in alerts and even deploy fully automated trading bots.
  • Cross-Breeding Strategies: Traders can combine multiple models together and retrain strategies to reduce bias and enhance performance for adaptable and optimized trading.
  • Automated Trading Capabilities: Once trained, models can be deployed as bots, which generate trading signals directly on TrendSpider’s charts.

Looking ahead, TrendSpider plans to expand AI Strategy Lab with a feature that will allow traders to share or sell access to their custom models. This potential marketplace aims to create a collaborative community where retail investors can leverage each other’s strategies and insights, adding a shared dimension to the platform’s robust, individualized tools. 

OTC Markets Group Launches MOON ATS

By
Editorial Staff
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OTC Markets Group, an operator of regulated financial markets for over 12,000 U.S. and global securities, has announced the official launch of MOON ATS, following the completion of the SEC filing process.

Matt Fuchs

Matt Fuchs, Executive Vice President of Market Data at OTC Markets, said: “America’s capital markets are the center of the financial world. We are excited to launch more opportunities for global investors to trade a range of stocks through U.S. broker-dealers.”

“We believe we bring a unique value proposition by utilizing our mission critical infrastructure to serve clients in a new market that is poised for significant growth.”

MOON will offer access to National Market System (NMS) securities listed on major exchanges during the overnight session, making OTC Markets Group one of the first ATS operators offering broker-dealer subscribers the ability to trade both OTC equity and exchange-listed NMS securities overnight.

MOON will provide APAC investors with access to U.S. NMS securities during their local daytime hours. It will also provide U.S. investors with the ability to trade in the late evening and early morning hours.

Eligible NMS securities will be available for trading from 8 PM to 4 AM Eastern Time, Sunday to Thursday. APAC Region market hours will be from 8 AM to 4 PM UTC+8, Monday to Friday.

OTC Overnight and MOON ATS arrive at a time of increasing demand for global securities priced in U.S. dollars and during the overnight session.

These platforms offer capabilities that will significantly expand market accessibility, transparency, and data coverage around the globe.

OTC Overnight and MOON ATS signify an evolution of the Company’s service and a new milestone in overnight trading, launched at a critical moment as broker-dealers seek to enhance the experience for U.S. and global investors.

Firstrade to Launch Overnight Trading

By
Editorial Staff
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Firstrade, a U.S. commission-free online brokerage, has announced the upcoming launch of its overnight trading service, scheduled for Q1 2025.

This feature will allow investors to trade U.S. stocks and ETFs five days a week, 20 hours a day, further enhancing flexibility and accessibility for international investors entering the U.S. market.

John Liu

The launch of overnight trading will reinforce Firstrade’s appeal among active traders and a diverse range of investors, enabling them to leverage Firstrade’s powerful research tools and support to faster adjust their strategies in response to global market fluctuations.

“At Firstrade, we are committed to providing our users with robust investment tools and resources so they can capture market opportunities no matter where they are,” said John Liu, CEO of Firstrade.

“With the introduction of overnight trading, we’re enhancing the client experience to meet the evolving and diverse needs of our investors.”

Firstrade’s overnight trading service will be available five days a week, from 8:00 AM ET until 4:00 AM ET the next day.

This flexible trading schedule empowers investors to capitalize on opportunities across different global market sessions.

“The investing landscape has transformed, with traders increasingly seeking to make faster, more informed decisions around the clock. While many of our clients trade during traditional market hours, overnight trading offers the flexibility to respond quickly to breaking news and market shifts, wherever they may be,” said Stephen Callahan, Trading Behavior Specialist at Firstrade.

“At Firstrade, we are committed to equipping our clients with the tools, insights, and resources they need to navigate the markets and support their investment journey every step of the way.”

The phased rollout of Firstrade’s overnight trading service will begin in Q1 2025 on both its online platform and mobile app.

Imperative Execution Hires Greg Ludvik

By
Editorial Staff
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Imperative Execution, which operates the IntelligentCross AI-powered US equities trading venue, has hired Greg Ludvik to the newly created role of Global Head of Product & Strategy.

Greg Ludvik (LinkedIn photo)

Ludvik had been at Goldman Sachs since 2020, where he headed smart order routing and liquidity strategy. Previously, he held senior roles in liquidity strategy, product management, and business development at RBC Capital Markets, FlexTrade, and Citi.

Ludvik started at Imperative Execution last week and he reports to Roman Ginis, the company’s founder and CEO.

Traders Magazine caught up with Ludvik to learn more.

Briefly discuss your career background?

My career has been focused on the intersection of market microstructure and electronic trading products for a number of years. I try to be as deep in the details on market structure as I can — focused not only on how markets behave now, but also where they are likely to evolve. The role of product is to facilitate designs that allow firms to capitalize on market evolution and improve their results, measured through both implicit and explicit costs of trade. I try to operate wherever possible from a data-driven perspective and am heavily involved in analytics and measurement of flows. I’m also very hands on, working primarily in kdb+ and Python as part of my process.

What is your experience/history working with Imperative Execution the company, and/or its people?

I still remember the first time hearing a new ATS was launching back in 2018 — honestly my first reaction was, they must be crazy to launch another venue into what I saw as a saturated market! But once I had a chance to hear the story from Roman Ginis and team, I knew they were on to something, and the data proved them right from the first day of trading all the way through to today. I had a collaborative relationship with the Imperative Execution team — when you are working with smart counterparties, you learn a lot and can evolve your thought process, and I highly valued their insights. I similarly hope to have an impact with our clients today to evolve products and analytics that help make our client experience even better.

The proof of their model is evident in the data, and the industry has been recognizing that and leaning into it, driving the firm’s dramatic growth over the last six years.

In my prior roles, I utilized the platform extensively and found the team to be great collaborators with me as I sought specific solutions. Our relationship grew out of that strategic alignment and their ability to deliver very quickly.

What intrigued you about the Imperative Execution opportunity?

Imperative Execution is at an extremely interesting stage of growth, and what I appreciate most is the company’s forward-thinking attitude towards developing new products and expanding across geographies. This creates a lot of growth opportunities, which is exciting to me.

I hope my experience and expertise, particularly in certain markets and asset classes, can add value to the firm’s already successful model. My years as a subscriber to IntelligentCross should give me unique insights as I build out this new role of Global Head of Product & Strategy at Imperative Execution.

Buy Side Prioritizes Pricing, Quality of Coverage When Evaluating FX Dealers

By
Anna Lyudvig
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Buy-side FX traders are increasingly focused on achieving best execution, with pricing and quality of coverage emerging as the top attributes when evaluating their FX dealers.

Based on interviews with buy-side FX traders globally, a recent Coalition Greenwich study found that over 40% of respondents cited uncompetitive pricing as the primary reason to reduce their trade flow to a dealer, while more than 20% highlighted the importance of quality of sales and relationship management.

Stephen Bruel, Coalition Greenwich
Stephen Bruel

“The buy side is becoming increasingly sophisticated in their approach to FX trading, and dealers must adapt to meet their evolving needs,” said Stephen Bruel, Senior Analyst on the Market Structure & Technology team at Coalition Greenwich.

“Pricing and quality of coverage are now the key drivers of a dealer’s success, and those who fail to deliver on these fronts risk losing business to their competitors.”

The Coalition Greenwich study also found that multidealer platforms (MDPs) are increasingly popular among buy-side traders, with 34% of respondents expecting to increase their use of MDPs in the coming year.

Ease of use and workflow integration were cited as key benefits of MDPs, with 48% of respondents highlighting the importance of best execution and pricing.

“MDPs offer a range of benefits, including ease of use, workflow integration and best execution,” said Bruel.

“They are an attractive option for buy-side traders who want to optimize their trading and achieve best execution.”

The study also found that single-dealer platforms (SDPs) will continue to play a role in the FX trading ecosystem, particularly for complex trades and structures. However, MDPs are likely to remain the preferred choice for routine trades and spot execution.

Why the Buy Side Chooses their FX Dealers and Trading Venues examines perspectives and perceptions of institutional FX traders with a focus on their dealer and trading venue relationships.

Trading Technologies to Offer Clients Access to Cboe Equity Index Options

By
Press Release
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CHICAGO, Nov. 19, 2024 – Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT), a global capital markets technology platform provider, announced today that it will soon offer clients access to Cboe equity index options, giving TT clients access to the rapidly growing equity options trading space.

Slated for launch early in 2025, Cboe equity index options on the TT platform will enable the firm’s broad client base of institutional market participants and professional traders to easily take positions in Cboe’s popular index products, including its flagship S&P 500 Index (SPX), Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), Russell 2000 Index (RUT) and Mini SPX (XSP) options contracts.

Catherine Clay, Cboe Global Markets
Catherine Clay

“Our collaboration with TT is particularly timely as global demand for U.S. options continues to rise, with investors increasingly seeking exposure to the U.S. equity markets,” said Catherine Clay, Global Head of Derivatives at Cboe Global Markets. “By offering clients access to Cboe’s index options products, TT will further expand their customers’ trading capabilities, enabling access to some of the most liquid markets in the world – including SPX, RUT and VIX options – and the ability to efficiently gain and manage exposure to U.S. large and small cap equity markets and market volatility. As the leading global derivatives exchange, Cboe is excited to support TT’s expansion into U.S. equity options and broaden access to our markets and products for the global trading community.”  

Alun Green, TT’s EVP Managing Director, Futures & Options, said: “TT has been a leader in exchange-traded derivatives throughout our existence. As we continue our expansion into new asset classes, U.S. equity options represent a significant part of the derivatives space. We’re eager to unlock new opportunities for our clients with Cboe’s hugely popular index options as a major first step in this diversification. Our clients want to participate via the powerful TT platform and trusted tools, and we’re seeing particularly strong interest from firms in the Asia-Pacific region, which are excited to access the markets through the after-hours session we’ll support.”

TT has long offered clients access to Cboe Futures Exchange (CFE) and more recently began providing access to Cboe FX, an over-the-counter market offering trading of spot foreign exchange, spot precious metals and FX non-deliverable forwards (NDFs).

About Trading Technologies

Trading Technologies (www.tradingtechnologies.com) is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) technology platform provider to the global capital markets industry. The company’s award-winning TT® platform connects to the world’s major international exchanges and liquidity venues in listed derivatives alongside a growing number of asset classes, including fixed income, foreign exchange (FX) and cryptocurrencies. The TT platform delivers advanced tools for trade execution and order management, market data solutions, analytics, trade surveillance, risk management, clearing, post-trade allocation and infrastructure services to the world’s leading sell-side institutions, buy-side firms and exchanges. The company’s blue-chip client base includes the Tier 1 banks as well as brokers, money managers, hedge funds, proprietary traders, Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs), commercial hedgers and risk managers. These firms rely on the TT ecosystem to manage their end-to-end trading operations. In addition, exchanges utilize TT’s technology to deliver innovative solutions to their market participants. TT also strategically partners with technology companies to make their complementary offerings available to Trading Technologies’ global client base through the TT ecosystem.

Source: Trading Technologies International

CQG to Offer Day-One Connectivity to New MIAX Futures Exchange Matching Engine

By
Press Release
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DENVER / CHICAGO – Nov. 19, 2024 –  CQG, a leading global provider of high-performance technology solutions for market makers, traders, brokers, commercial hedgers and exchanges, today announced that it will offer day-one access to MIAX Futures Exchange (MIAX FuturesTM) – including new Bloomberg equity index futures contracts when listed – in connection with the planned launch of the exchange’s new Onyx matching engine in June 2025. CQG made the announcement during FIA’s Futures & Options Expo, the industry’s most widely attended conference taking place this week in Chicago. The move will ensure that when Onyx goes live on MIAX Futures, CQG clients will be able to access MIAX Futures products on day one through CQG’s front-end offerings and API connections as part of CQG’s network of exchanges.

Ryan Moroney

Last month, Miami International Holdings, Inc. (MIH) announced the renaming of Minneapolis Grain Exchange, LLC (MGEX), a wholly owned subsidiary of MIH, to MIAX Futures Exchange as part of MIH’s strategy to broaden the range of futures and options products listed on the exchange, including agricultural and financial futures. The announcement came the month after MIH announced it had entered into a licensing agreement with Bloomberg Index Services Limited to develop a suite of index futures, options on futures and cash options products based on a portfolio of benchmarks.

CQG CEO Ryan Moroney said: “We’ve been delighted to work closely with MIH on the development of its new trading engine and to be among the first to enable clients to trade on the MIAX Futures Onyx platform. Our clients are already trading the Minneapolis Hard Red Spring Wheat contract on MIAX Futures and are excited to have additional financial futures products to trade in conjunction with other products on our network, utilizing the full range of CQG tools at their fingertips. We look forward to supporting the exchange to ensure that our clients have seamless access to MIAX Futures products as it transitions to the new engine.”

Thomas P. Gallagher, Chairman and CEO of MIH, said: “We are pleased to have CQG providing connectivity to the MIAX Futures Onyx platform as part of its expected launch in Q2 2025. CQG’s sophisticated trading infrastructure will provide its network of professional traders with direct access to our current and planned derivatives products and aligns with our strategy of expanding access to MIAX Futures through industry-leading trading platforms.”

About CQG

CQG provides the industry’s highest performing solutions for traders, brokers, commercial hedgers and exchanges for their market-related activities globally, including trading, market data, advanced technical analysis, risk management, and account administration. The firm partners with the vast majority of futures brokerage and clearing firms and provides Direct Market Access (DMA) to more than 45 exchanges through its global network of co-located Hosted Exchange Gateways. CQG technology serves as the front end for a variety of exchanges and is increasingly employed as the over-the-counter matching engine for important new markets. CQG’s server-side order management tools for spreading, market aggregation, and smart orders are unsurpassed for speed and ease of use. Its market data feed consolidates 85 sources, including exchanges worldwide for futures, options, fixed income, foreign exchange, and equities, as well as data on debt securities, industry reports, and financial indices. One of the longest-serving technology solutions providers in the industry, CQG has won numerous awards for its trading software, technical analysis and multi-asset trading platform. CQG is headquartered in Denver, with sales and support offices and data centers in key markets globally, providing services in more than 60 countries.

For more information, visit www.cqg.com.

Source: CGQ

TECH TUESDAY: How Nasdaq’s Track Record of Innovation Is Helping It Shepherd Markets into the Future

By
Jason Dibble, Curatia
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TECH TUESDAY is a weekly content series covering all aspects of capital markets technology. TECH TUESDAY is produced in collaboration with Nasdaq.

Since Nasdaq’s founding, it has provided investors the tools to unlock a better tomorrow, helping forge markets’ technological and financial foundations. In recent years, with forays into new geographies and asset classes as well as a successful push to make its technology the engine of global financial markets, Nasdaq has reaffirmed that commitment.

As markets enter a promising yet daunting new age of digitization, automation, and global reach, Nasdaq’s pioneering advances into AI, cloud computing, and carbon-trading markets, continue to light the way forward.

Foundations of Firsts

Nasdaq has burnished its credentials as a leader in modernizing markets through its growing presence across the financial ecosystem for over 250 years.

Even in the early days of the US’s first securities exchange, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, later acquired by Nasdaq, links to the technological underpinnings of what would become the world’s most advanced financial markets were legion. The PHLX relied on a light-based signaling system running from New York City to Philadelphia to rapidly transmit market-moving information. The setup presaged the low-latency networks high-speed traders use today.

In 1971, Nasdaq’s move to offer the first electronic stock market transformed the world of floor brokers to complex, electronic trading systems facilitating transactions faster than the speed of light. 

Other technological innovations include the exchange’s establishment of the first integrated derivatives trading and clearing system in Europe in 1991, and the 2000 launch of the first fully electronic options exchange in the US in Nasdaq ISE.

LEARN MORE: See the Catalog of Firsts That’s Established Nasdaq as the Industry’s Leading Light in Modernizing Markets

Enduring Presence

While many financial-technology firms restrict themselves to a particular locale to avoid the complexities of navigating regulatory, linguistic, cultural, and time-zone boundaries, Nasdaq boasts a robust presence globally, owning 18 markets across North America and Europe.

Its success in those markets has yielded invaluable experience in negotiating challenges of scale. Nasdaq’s US equities exchange is the nation’s largest and has bested its rival the New York Stock Exchange in IPO fundraising for five years running. The distinctions helped Nasdaq win Traders Magazine’s 2024 award for Best Global Exchange Group.

And unlike many exchanges that specialize in a single asset class, Nasdaq facilitates trading in a host of asset classes to meet investors’ needs, including equities, fixed income, FX, options, futures, and ETFs. Additionally, Nasdaq Private Markets unlocks investor access to high-growth, pre-public companies.

That breadth of experience gives Nasdaq access to a global community of more than 3,000 institutional clients encompassing banks, brokerages, asset managers, hedge funds, and market makers, as well as market-infrastructure providers, regulators, and retail investors.

Even so, Nasdaq’s broadest reach arguably springs from its unique role as a provider of market-infrastructure technology powering more than 130 exchanges, central clearing counterparties, and central securities depositories globally. Half of the world’s top 25 stock exchanges, 97% of global systemically-important banks, and 35 central banks and regulatory authorities use Nasdaq technology.

As a result, Nasdaq technology drives one in ten securities transactions worldwide — a validation of its market leadership in technology as strong as its ranking as the top provider of trading and matching technology by FOW International in 2022.

A universal presence in financial markets gives Nasdaq a unique vantage point that informs the exchange’s views on how markets are evolving in areas like promoting balance between innovation and caution in AI regulation and encouraging data sharing and collaboration between industry firms and regulators.

Shaping Markets’ Future

A long association with technology and a view of global financial markets uniquely informed by its broad reach place Nasdaq at the forefront of shaping markets’ future.

The exchange has embraced that charge as an early adopter of cutting-edge technologies that could unlock new levels of market efficiency. In the cloud space, Nasdaq forged a 10-year strategic partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2022. The deal has already spurred the successful cloud migration of three exchanges, including the first-ever options exchanges in MRX and GEMX, with BX Options also slated to migrate in 2025.

Nasdaq has also emerged as an industry trailblazer in using AI to streamline market efficiency. In the last nine months alone, the exchange has released into production AI-based solutions for processing risk calculations up to 100 times faster with its Calypso platform and enhancing the quality, speed, and efficiency of market-abuse investigations as well as launched the first on-exchange AI-powered order type — Dynamic M-ELO.

In addition, the one-year anniversary of Nasdaq’s Adenza acquisition – made up of AxiomSL and Calypso – brought mission-critical risk management, regulatory reporting, and capital markets capabilities to Nasdaq and has helped elevate Nasdaq’s dialogue with clients as a strategic partner. 

Collectively, that breadth of initiatives highlights Nasdaq’s commitment to leading financial markets into the future by responsibly exploring emergent trends and technologies, which Nasdaq has brought to markets for centuries. By giving investors the tools to build a better tomorrow, Nasdaq will continue to shepherd markets’ modernization for centuries to come.

LEARN MORE: How Nasdaq is Modernizing Markets to Meet Tomorrow’s Needs

This article was written by Jason Dibble, Co-Founder and Editor in Chief of Curatia, and it first appeared on that platform.

BMLL Expands Coverage with Addition of US Equity Options Data

By
Press Release
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  • Six years of nanosecond unconflated OPRA options data now available to market participants globally
  • The addition of OPRA options data follows BMLL’s successful build-out of its equities coverage to 98% of the MSCI All-Country World Index
  • OPRA options data is immediately available via BMLL Data Lab and BMLL Data Feed, via AWS S3, and at multiple levels of conflation that suit clients’ individual, specific requirements

London, 19 November 2024: BMLL, the leading, independent provider of harmonised, historical Level 3, 2 and 1 data and analytics across global equity, ETFs and futures markets, today announced the addition of OPRA (Options Price Reporting Authority) data to its ever-expanding data coverage. Six years of historical, nanosecond unconflated OPRA options data is now available to market participants globally, in addition to conflated datasets, complementing existing US equity and futures datasets.

Widely recognised as one of the industry’s largest data sets, OPRA data is vital for traders, brokers, institutional investors, and market makers who need accurate and timely information to assess liquidity dynamics and understand market behaviour.  

OPRA consolidates and distributes options data from all U.S. equity options exchanges, providing a unified feed of options prices and trade information; financial market participants rely on OPRA data to make informed trading decisions, manage risk, and optimise investment strategies. 

  • Buy-side firms use OPRA data to backtest strategies, perform TCA and execution analysis, and generate alpha.
  • Sell-side firms rely on OPRA data to backtest execution algorithms, improve smart order routers and demonstrate best execution, track liquidity fragmentation and stay informed of changes to market structure.
  • Using OPRA data, Exchanges can analyse market share across US equity options exchanges and mechanisms.

Paul Humphrey, Chief Executive Officer of BMLL, said: “Adding OPRA options data is another significant milestone in our data coverage expansion strategy. To date, we have built out our equities coverage to 98% of the MSCI All-Country World Index. Including OPRA options in our data and analytics capabilities is a natural evolution for BMLL, driven by customer demand for a best-in-class product and very much in line with our multi-asset strategy.  

At BMLL, we are building products and services that make a real difference to market participants, helping them understand liquidity dynamics and make better-informed trading decisions. We take care of the heavy lifting to make sure that our customers get the market data they need, ready to use, in one harmonised format.“

The BMLL OPRA data product provides a cleansed, normalised tick history dataset, covering all OPRA historical data. BMLL’s six years of nanosecond unconflated OPRA options data is available to market participants globally via BMLL Data Lab and BMLL Data Feed, via AWS S3. 

“Spiralling data costs and OPRA’s expansion of its data dissemination from 48 to 96 lines in February 2024 have placed a significant burden on market participants, both in terms of managing market data budgets and also the necessary data infrastructure [to handle 4TB of data per day]”, said David Robinson, Chief Technology Officer, BMLL. “As a result, firms are looking for cloud-based OPRA data services that are easy to access, within their existing workflows.” 

Making OPRA data available via BMLL Data Lab and BMLL Data Feed, via AWS S3, is another step in our mission to democratise data and analytics at scale and meet our customers where they need us to be. They can now gain immediate access to this significant dataset in a cloud-based environment, at a level of conflation that suits their own specific needs, and at the highest quality available in the market today. 

OPRA aggregates and disseminates pricing information for listed Options contracts in the U.S., including quotes, last sale prices, and volume data. OPRA participants include BOX, Cboe BZX Options, Cboe C2 Options, Cboe EDGX Options, Cboe Options Exchange, Miami International Securities Exchange, MIAX Emerald, MIAX PEARL, Nasdaq BX, Nasdaq GEMX, Nasdaq ISE, Nasdaq MRX, Nasdaq PHLX, The Nasdaq Stock Market, NYSE American and NYSE Arca.

About BMLL

BMLL Technologies is the leading, independent provider of harmonised, Level 3, 2 and 1 historical data and analytics to the world’s most sophisticated capital market participants, covering global equities, ETFs and futures.

BMLL offers banks, brokers, asset managers, hedge funds, global exchange groups, academic institutions and regulators immediate and flexible access to the most granular Level 3, 2 and 1 T+1 order book data and advanced pre and post-trade analytics. BMLL gives users the ability to understand market behaviour, accelerate research, optimise trading strategies and generate alpha more predictably.

Founded in 2014 in the machine learning laboratories of the University of Cambridge, the platform enables researchers and quants across global financial services firms to apply complex statistical techniques to BMLL’s unique big-data sets with applications such as market impact, pre and post trade analytics, order book simulation and compliance. Users no longer need to buy, curate and harmonise data. With BMLL, they gain cost-effective, instant access to a cloud-native Data Science environment via a single web portal, with a long history of the most granular, full order book data across global equities, futures and ETFs for back-testing and simulation, delivered directly into their workflows.

BMLL secured a $21 million strategic investment in October 2024, led by Optiver, with participation from CTC Venture Capital and existing investors. This follows BMLL’s $26 million Series B investment from Nasdaq Ventures, FactSet, IQ Capital’s Growth Fund and Snowflake Ventures in 2022/2023. Prior to that, BMLL raised $36m through Series A and seed funding rounds.

For more information please explore our website and follow us on X (Twitter) and LinkedIn.

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