Opinion
Speed Wars: A New Hope
In the original Star Wars , the actors bicker as Han Solo programs a computer to "make the jump to light speed" and outrun an enemy spaceship. Though writer-director George Lucas' dialogue was as wooden as many of the pre-CGI models and special effects,…
Assessing the Interdependencies
The banking crisis provided the industry with a wake-up call, especially in relation to the need for an understanding of the risks associated with OTC derivatives. But this is no easy task, explains London Market Systems' Martin Sexton
Bonds: Shaken, Not Stirred
After the credit crunch and ensuing financial crisis, bond trading is still attracting interest. According to FINRA, which last week added agency debt trade data to its TRACE feed, there is $6 billion in outstanding US corporate debt, and $3 billion in…
Canada Heats Up
Although Vancouver may have been too warm for this year's Winter Olympics, Toronto and its financial markets are definitely heating up as more and more high-frequency traders are seeking arbitrage opportunities between issues dual-listed in the Canadian…
The Fire Next Time
Open Platform
Snowball, Then an Avalanche
EDITOR'S LETTER
IT: The Lagging Indicator
Open Platform
FX Hits Warp Speed
Opinion
It's Back
After the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) repealed the "uptick" rule in 2007, I remember asking a CTO of one of the major market-makers at the time if we would ever see its return. I didn't realize the floodgates I was opening. He went on…
You Get What You Pay For... Or Do You?
For many years, the only "free" market data was delayed data, released usually after 15 minutes, to provide an indication of the market for non-professionals, while traders would still need to subscribe to expensive real-time prices. More recently, new…
Editor's Letter - This one's a goner
Naked sponsored access is as good as gone. I cannot see how there can be any other conceivable conclusion to the SEC's January 13 proposals than an immediate ban on the practice whereby non-member trading firms are granted unsupervised access to…
Getting the balance right
Outsourcing is an established model for managing technology. For many buy-side firms, particularly smaller ones with increasingly complex technology demands, being able to access the services and skills-base of a large supplier can be an effective way to…
Pension power plays
In early 2009, House Call noted that $200 billion pension fund manager California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest in the US, announced intentions to get tough with hedge fund managers seeking its capital, requiring more…
Risk tech reviewed
Following the market collapse of 2008, 2009 was a year when asset managers regrouped in terms of portfolio performance and operational margins, which now stand at about 15%, on average, across Europe. But what will happen in the sector this year? Where…
Downhill From Here? Or Are Projects Still On Ice?
The 2010 Winter Olympics are in full swing, with some sports that display speed, some that require technical skills, others focused on grace, and some that combine all three. And no doubt fans of speed skating or figure skating can draw parallels with…
Keeping an Eye on the Prize
I must apologize in advance to all theoretical physicists out there, but I recently heard a wonderful joke. A dairy owner is trying to figure out how to maximize his milk production so he writes to the smartest man he knows-his brother, the theoretical…
Tying Down the Cloud
Maybe it's me, but in all the discussion around the adoption of cloud computing, one topic has seemed to escape comment: How does cloud computing reconcile itself with the physical requirements of the trading world?
Making That Special Connection
Valentine's Day: a time for hopeless romantics, confessions of love, overpriced meals, and for separate parties to come together as part of a greater unity. No wonder, then, that CME Group and Dow Jones Indexes should choose last week to marry their…
CEP Gets Owned
They say that one man's misfortune is another's opportunity. And industry participants and observers gave Sybase's acquisition of complex event processing software vendor Aleri's assets last week a warm response, saying that whatever misfortune prompted…
Saying Goodbye to Co-Location?
Ever since the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it would be investigating whether or not server co-location gives a small set of traders an unfair advantage, I have been mulling over ideas on how the regulator could enforce a…
Waiting for the Switchover
If there is one market that is ready to explode, it is the U.S. equity options market. Once the Options Clearing Corp.'s (OCC's) Options Symbology Initiative (OSI) hopefully concludes on Feb. 12, the industry should see some major innovations take place…