ioworks's blog

Speed Saves

Submitted by ioworks on Fri, 10/22/2010 - 12:38

Speed Saves

First and foremost traders need to hit their trades. Even the most sophisticated trading model looses its value if the execution functionality is too slow to capture the trade.

The advent of the electronic trading revolution and the pressure from HFT models has raised the bar for delivering execution speed. The ability to meet the requirements of incessant and rapid trading models seeking to repeatedly capture small profit margin is often the measure of success or failure.

Trading with ineffective execution leads to an increase in slippage, negative impact on the accuracy of your model and, ultimately, lower returns. High latency execution systems are at the root of underperforming platforms and the primary cause of recurring rejections. To overcome these inefficiencies, FX-Works has reduced execution time to 1ms.

Executing at 1ms provides traders a distinct competitive advantage to complete trades before the price expires. Traders will hit more than 90% of executed trades. Assuming similar network latency, the FX-Works system reduces rejection rates 25% to 50% versus other platforms.

FX-Works speed overcomes execution inefficiencies delivering reduced rejection rates, minimal slippage, increased efficiency and tighter spreads. FX-Works optimal execution generates substantial savings.

If everyone has access to the same information, when the market moves, traders who are too slow are going to get left behind. Are you? Think about how 1ms execution time could impact your trading results. Better yet, let us show you how “speed saves.”

Welcome

Submitted by ioworks on Sun, 07/18/2010 - 20:32

Welcome

Welcome to the initial edition of the IO-Works blog. Over time, our blog will highlight some of the most important developments affecting today's FX trading environment. We will look at marketplace variations, regulatory and technology developments, new products and, of course, people making news. Importantly, we hope to make this blog a must-read for those interested in how operational performance/profitability lines up with the needs of traders.

We plan to take a hard, objective look at trading systems and their inherent competitive advantages or disadvantages. One of our objectives is to concretize the abstractions of various trading systems and the technology driving their functionality. Claims of "lowest latency", "ultra low latency”, "real time quotes", "real time data streaming", "ultimate transparency", "fastest execution time" or offering "zero latency" resonate throughout the industry. However, these claims may be misleading, inaccurate or more relevant, miss the point of their existence, i.e. providing traders with the means to more effectively trade in the ever changing and increasingly faster marketplace. Like our company, our blog will focus on what really matters most to FX traders and how best to supply the tools they desire.

Traveling through the maze that passes for the SIFMA show, held last week in NYC, I experienced what can only be described as "real time" amazement. Vendor after vendor announced their version of the smartest technology or complicated trading systems with definitions that only led to more questions. Few communicated a detailed quantification or understanding of what all this means to the trading desk.

Ultimately, the only meaningful measure of a system is its impact on trading. A trader’s primary focus is on getting the price they see, or more directly, "getting the trade they want, when they want it.” Ideally, systems provide the operational functionality to do just that. Traders do not benefit from the performance of a singular trading activity but rather are dependent on integration throughout the trading cycle leading up to and inclusive of your execution platform. Any meaningful quantification will measure the combined latency of your total trading system. Its about your end to end connectivity, a time frame which will determine how fast your system gets you to hit the trade.

The FX-Works system is streamlined to encompass every variable that responds to a traders demand for optimal execution. By specifically tailoring systems to fulfill the needs of traders, FX-Works' time to market is 1ms, ensuring traders the best opportunity to hit their trades. As a result, FX-Works lowers your rejection rates to less than 10%.

To a trader, 1ms latency means hitting their trade, dramatically increasing the percentage of getting the trade you want at the price you want. Think about how this would improve the results of your trading.