Knight Capital Group has launched Oasis, a smart order execution algorithm that sources small-and mid-cap liquidity for European equities.
Oasis aims to source liquidity in thin and difficult-to-trade names with increased efficiency and opportunities for price improvement as well as greater fulfilment.
The strategy evaluates liquidity, volatility, price trend, momentum and other characteristics in real time to determine the best sources of liquidity to help minimise market impact.
Oasis also includes anti-gaming procedures such as continuous monitoring for adverse trading behaviour to further help minimise information leakage.
“Knight does not subscribe to a one-size-fits-all approach. That philosophy has led Knight to become an innovator in creating new categories of algorithms, including situation-specific algorithms like Oasis,” says Bradley Duke, managing director at Knight. “Higher volatility, reduced liquidity and wider spreads are just a few of the challenges associated with trading small-and mid-cap stocks. Knight has deep expertise in these often thinly traded names as well as in the complexities of trading across the fragmented European marketplace.”
Oasis is a new addition to Knight’s algorithmic suite for European equities. The algorithms are powered by FAN, a smart order execution algorithm which sources liquidity from multiple exchange and MTF destinations simultaneously while adapting to market conditions in real time and re-circulating orders to where executions are occurring.
Oasis and Knight’s entire algorithmic suite are accessed through Knight Direct, Knight’s multi-asset class execution management system, as well as through a number of third-party execution and order management systems via Knight Direct’s FIX capabilities.
