Buy-side adoption of execution algorithms on Refinitiv’s FX trading platform has increased 41% year-on-year in Q2 this year, illustrating an increasing trend towards algorithmic trading in foreign exchange.
Refinitiv said the surge in adoption on FXall shows that algo execution has cemented itself as part of the buy-side’s options for execution, alongside more traditional methods including multi-dealer request for quote (RFQ) and bilateral streams of prices, as investment firms recognise potential benefits from execution algos.
“As a leading multi-dealer platform for FX trading, FXall is committed to providing our clients with unparalleled choice in execution tools, including advanced algo trading workflow as they seek smarter ways to access liquidity with minimal market impact,” said Jill Sigelbaum, head of FXall at Refinitiv.
Refinitiv made several changes to its FXall algo trading capabilities this year, such as allowing users to slice algo tickets into several child orders for more flexibility to work larger tickets over time for minimal market impact, and the ability to pause execution of an algo for greater control.
FX algo adoption has been a major theme at this year’s TradeTech FX Europe conference in Barcelona, with the desire for greater control of algos highlighted as one of the most desired features of algos, according to speakers and delegates. However, Allan Guild, global head of alternative execution services at HSBC, said at the event that there are two themes in algo execution which tend to contradict each other.
“There are almost two separate threads that sound like they are contradictory; are algos getting smarter and more complex, or are they getting simpler and more accessible? Our view is that it is both and those two things are not incompatible,” he said.