Mar 01, 2012
Wedbush offers HFT infrastructure for institutional investors
US full-service investment bank Wedbush Securities has
launched its execution solutions group (WESG) and ultra-low latency trading
platform, powered by technology from high-speed trading technology provider
Lime Brokerage, which the firm acquired in June last year.
The new platform uses the Lime Brokerage technology to give
institutions access to the same micro-second trading system used by
high-frequency traders. Wedbush has stated its intention is to help
institutions discover superior liquidity by trading significantly faster and
with greater scalability.
“Institutions have long wanted market access on par with the
automated traders and we’ve fixed that problem by opening up our platform to
both the buy-side and sell-side,” said Jeff Bell, COE of Lime Brokerage.
Lime algorithms will be available via WESG, including
liquidity seeking and benchmarking algos such as VWAP, TWAP, percentage of
value and implementation shortfall, as well as custom-made algos developed by
the Lime Brokerage team together with clients.
WESG has also set out new cost-plus and fixed pricing models
that it hopes will help institutional clients that are struggling with lower
commission revenues and higher operating expenses. Users will be able to pay
for research services directly through Wedbush Securities or via commission
sharing agreements.
“Fixed pricing leverages the efficiencies in our technology,
execution and clearing businesses,” said Kevin Beadles, head of execution
solutions group for Wedbush Securities. “The transparency provided by our
models allows clients to better manage their expenses and order routing decisions,
which provides best execution while also potentially allowing them to realise
significant cost savings.”
Founded in 2001, Lime Brokerage also provides the Citrius
low-latency data distribution platform, as well as services for high-frequency
options trading. In September 2010, Lime launched high-speed options execution
capabilities, with "through-box" latency in the low double-digit
microseconds (1/1,000,000th of a second). In May 2010, Lime also rolled out
LimeInside, an exchange co-located sponsored access service for high-frequency
traders. LimeInside lets high-frequency trading firms co-locate at major US trading
venues without the potential for exceeding trading limits or violating other
regulatory requirements imposed on the sponsoring broker.
Lime also provides equity options data for high-frequency
options traders, offering non-members of the Chicago Board Options Exchange
direct access to the exchange's data via its low-latency Citrius options data
platform since August 2010.
The firm's strategy of deploying low-latency infrastructure
beyond HFT firms has been part of Lime's game-plan since before Wedbush's
involvement. In Q3 2010, then CEO Jeff Wecker said Lime was increasingly
engaged in sales calls with traditional brokers that wanted to offer faster
connectivity to their clients.
"Why does every broker-dealer have to invent its own
high-speed, high-volume connectivity to the market?" Wecker said at the
time.