Aqumin Bows Retail Heatmap Display

Houston, TX-based data visualization software vendor Aqumin has released a basic version of its heatmap display software aimed at active retail options traders, investment advisers and portfolio managers, in response to demand from interested users outside the vendor’s core client base.

Aqumin is offering 30-day free trials of the software, dubbed AlphaVision Professional, which will cost $99 for a monthly subscription—compared to $500 per month for its premium products—using delayed data, since the vendor’s “landscape” displays don’t require real-time data to provide market context, says Andrew Giovinazzi, executive vice president of business development at Aqumin.

The vendor developed the product based on volatility data from an unnamed client that uses the software with a composite of data from Interactive Data, Hanweck Associates and SpryWare to support its proprietary trading activities. Aqumin deployed its Enterprise Intelligence Server at the client site to read its SQL database tables and imports the data into the AlphaVision displays. Giovinazzi used the same information to write a column for TheStreet.com, which brought the product to the attention of a wider audience among sophisticated retail traders.

“We are starting with less information [than our institutional products] to get people going, but it is still very rich… and it is easy for us to add data, so we can start a dialogue with clients who want more. For example, if a client wants a specific view of fundamental options data, that’s something we can add down the road,” Giovinazzi says.

Jason Javarone, senior analyst for risk and markets at Aqumin, says the new product will not replace the vendor’s standalone software or its version that utilizes Bloomberg data, which is also gaining traction, but is designed to respond to users that are not existing Bloomberg clients or who want a cheaper solution.

“Lots of wealth managers would like to be doing options trading on behalf of their clients, but don’t have the right information. Our product allows them to add more sophisticated strategies for people who may not have an options strategy now,” Javarone says