Not only do traders need one pipe for market data, they may also demand direct feeds from specific local markets they cover with speed and high performance as absolute requirements.
With the shift in direct market order flow to an increasing number of dark pools, an order’s time to market is more critical than ever. The trading community is monitoring and measuring latency every day, and they’ll put their trust only in the highest-performing, highest-speed service providers to get their orders done.
According to Ralph Edwards, we now see options traders moving from a tactical to a more strategic use of these tools, further blurring the lines between equity and options trading.
On the regulatory front, a handful of new policies are set to affect the options market and will likely enhance transparency, execution, and market data. Meanwhile, the cash equities business has hit a level of maturity and we are now trending toward better tools for block crossing and less resource intensive methods of trading.
The challenges of creating algorithms for FX trading are many, with no central limit order book, depth of book or volume information to draw upon. Firms are using new market microstructure knowledge and market data to move away from the historically manual FX processes to more automated, anonymous electronic trading.
