Liquidnet, a global institutional investment network, reached a new record for volume traded in the Australian market in 2018. Local and international asset managers exchanged via Liquidnet a total of AUD11.8 billion in Australian Equities, up 20 per cent from the volume traded the previous year.
The strong block-trading activity on Liquidnet was pushed by an uptick in the use of algo trading solutions by Australian members, with an increased focus on improving execution quality following the introduction of MiFID II in January 2018.
Liquidnet Head of Australia, Kate Weidenhofer (pictured), says: “We’ve had great success in helping asset managers to find liquidity in the Australian market, in what’s clearly become a more competitive environment given the global regulatory pressures on the buy-side. Thanks to our diversification beyond the dark pool and into algo trading, our members have been able to enjoy an even greater diversity in seeking institutional liquidity.”
Liquidnet first launched its Next Gen Algos in the Australian market in mid-2016.
In addition to the uptick in the use of algos, Liquidnet benefited in 2018 from appearing on the trade report screens of institutional traders in Australia, following approval from the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in late 2017 as a full market participant.
Buy-side traders closely monitor brokerage firms and what they trade each day on specific securities, as this information suggests there may be more liquidity from where these trades came from.
In 2018, Liquidnet ranked first among all investors in the ‘Quality of Crossing Networks’ category from the annual ‘Australian Shares’ survey to wholesale investors by Peter Lee Associates. The position in the ranking was achieved in the ‘All Investors’ category.
