FlexTrade, the multi-asset execution and order management system provider, and IHS Markit, the analytics and solutions provider to buy- and sell-side firms, are integrating IHS Markit’s pre-trade transaction cost analysis (TCA) data into FlexTRADER EMS.
The firms cite the ever-increasing demand from buy-side trading teams for more efficient workflows, interoperable data for improved, informed trading decisions, and a seamless user experience across their front office technology ecosystem.
The IHS Markit impact model can been adopted by trading desks to support traders’ insight into their expected market impact and as a benchmark for measuring the difficulty of a trade. In addition, by isolating price risk from liquidity sourcing, IHS Markit pre-trade analytics are designed to help traders or brokers to evaluate how they can source liquidity for an order, which can potentially reduce overall trading costs.
This integration via application programming interface (API), traders using FlexTRADER EMS can now access IHS Markit pre-trade analytics embedded directly within their FlexTRADER EMS order blotter to support trading decisions at the point of trade, reducing the need to work between different applications, and thereby reducing desktop real estate. Additionally, the integration supports efficiency and a simplified low-touch workflow by enabling buy-side clients to use IHS Markit’s pre-trade analytics as criteria for automation. Having this data available in FlexTRADER EMS via automation also means clients can run TCA analysis comparing pre-trade vs post-trade data directly within their application, which delivers an overall improved user experience.
Andy Mahoney, managing director, EMEA at FlexTrade, said, “Providing IHS Markit’s valuable pre-trade data directly into the FlexTRADER EMS and aggregating it into a single view saves time, increases efficiency and improves trading decision making. Our API-first approach creates a competitive edge for our client base and avoids the need for multiple different applications, on multiple desktops, and focusses instead on creating a single, seamless technology interaction.”
Michael Richter, global head of trading analytics at IHS Markit stated, “The IHS Markit pre-trade analysis tool can be used for both single stock and programme trading. It is designed to provide firms with pre-trade cost estimates, measurements of trading risk and cost/risk trade-offs relative to various trading strategies, including pre-trade analysis of portfolio, electronic and single stock orders. Through this integration, traders will be able to leverage the powerful insights of our industry-leading pre-trade solution from within the FlexTrade EMS.”