Within the buy-side community there’s a tendency right now for traders to focus too much on the algorithms they use and less on trading according to Nick Nielsen, head of trading at Marshall Wace Asset Management. Speaking at a recent FIX Protocol 2012 EMEA Trading Conference held at London’s Old Billingsgate on 13 March 2012, Nielsen said that, generally speaking, there’s been a lot of focus on infrastructure and technology implementation “and less on actual intelligence”.      Within the buy-side community there’s a tendency right now for traders to focus too much on the algorithms they use and less on trading

The IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF (nyse arca:QAI), the first US-listed hedge fund replication exchange-traded fund, has attracted USD200 million in AUM since it’s launch three years ago. “We launched the IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF in March 2009 with the goal of making a whole new asset class available to the average investor,” says Adam Patti (pictured), CEO of IndexIQ. “Before the launch of QAI, hedge fund investing was generally limited to institutions and high net worth individuals. QAI changed all of that. While the concept was novel at the time, QAI has performed as we anticipated over the

BlueCrest BlueTrend Limited has raised gross proceeds of approximately GBP165 million by means of a placing and offer of Shares.   The Company has applied for admission of its shares to listing on the premium listing segment of the Official List and to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange (Admission), which is expected to take place on 23 March 2012. Subject to Admission, the Company has raised gross proceeds of approximately £165 million. The issue is expected to comprise 105,206,017 Sterling Shares and 94,973,308 US$ Shares Following Admission, the Shares will be traded

BTIG Limited has hired Matthew Cyzer, former Partner and Head of European Equity Salestrading at Goldman Sachs in London, to head its equities sales and trading group and spearhead the further expansion of its European business. Cyzer will serve as President and Head of European Equities for BTIG Limited.  Based in London, Mr. Cyzer will be tasked with managing BTIG’s equities sales and trading business throughout Europe, planning and implementing the strategic direction and expansion of BTIG’s European businesses, including BTIG’s outsource trading, prime-brokerage and agency execution business, hiring professionals, and managing client services.  Cyzer has an established track record

FIX Protocol Limited (FPL), the non-profit, global, industry standards organisation that owns and develops the FIX Protocol messaging language, has issued best practices recommendations to support the trading of Credit Default Swaps (CDS) and Interest Rate Swaps (IRS).  As Dodd–Frank reforms seek to achieve greater market transparency by requiring most types of OTC derivatives to be cleared through clearing houses and traded on swaps execution facilities (SEFs), a surge in new market venues is expected within the US.  Similar reforms are also expected to emerge from the upcoming MiFID II regulations in Europe.  Encouraging adoption of FIX by new and

Investors in Europe and the United States are on notice that they will eventually be required to execute OTC derivatives trades through centrally cleared transactions. As of late 2011, however, most investors in these markets had not moved to change trading practices to accomo­date the incoming rules. From 2010 to 2011 OTC derivatives investors executed 81% of transaction volume through bilateral OTC contracts and 19% through centrally cleared OTC contracts. Although central clearing rules are moving toward implementation, 60% of these investors have no plans to change the share of their business conducted through centrally cleared trades. In fact, while

Singapore Exchange (SGX) is consulting the public on its proposed changes to the reporting and registration of Negotiated Large Trades (NLTs) in the derivatives market. To enhance the reporting process for market participants, the proposed changes are:- To introduce a new functionality to enable the registration of NLTs through QUEST Application Programming Interface (API); and To extend registration hours on the eNLT system to 8.00 pm (Singapore time) for all SGX-DT contracts. As an alternative to the existing eNLT system, the proposed Trade Report API functionality will offer greater convenience to market participants whose order management system already connects to

The International Securities Exchange (ISE) has filed for approval with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list options on the ISE Max SPY Index, a new proprietary index that represents ten times the value of the SPDR S&P500 ETF Trust (SPY). Currently, options on SPY are the most actively traded contract in the options industry, with average daily volume of two million contracts on a year-to-date basis. Options on the ISE MAX SPY Index will build upon the success of SPY options by offering a large-sized, European-style option that is cash-settled, characteristics which appeal to the institutional segment of