Christophe Rilinger of RTS interviews Alan Shontz of the CME

Quantitative Service Group’s (QSG) June research note on NYFIX Millennium trade execution has caused quite a stir in the industry. The research, which examined three months of detailed NYFIX execution data, will leave buyside traders who have long sought empirical evidence on the performance of dark pools praying that it is just the tip of the analytical iceberg. Andy Webb talks to Tim Sargent, President and Co-founder of QSG, about the report and its findings.

Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM) has some £300bn in assets under management invested globally. Almost half of this is invested in equities. Mary McCave, LGIM’s senior equity dealer, discusses how LGIM’s trading desk stays on top of the trade.

Automated Trader has been on the move recently. As visitors to automatedtrader.net will know, we were in Dubai for the first Trade Tech Middle East, and before that, we were in New York for SIFMA and London for IDX. Here, we take the opportunity to celebrate three of the main events in what has been a busy Summer for the industry.

We continue our coverage of commodities with one man’s analysis of the long-term case for investment. David Nahmanovici delivered his analysis at IDX in London, back in June. We were in the audience.

First person in the Q3 issue is South Africa-based subscriber Schalk Myburgh, Business Analyst, Nedbank Equity Capital Markets, who shares his experience of automated and algorithmic trading on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange with editor William Essex.

Editor’s note: Peek Ahead is our venue for blue-sky thinking, challenging conventional wisdom and out-and-out disagreeing over key industry issues. If you would like to comment, or disagree, or send in some of your own blue-sky thinking, write to editor@automatedtrader.net. Where appropriate, contributions will be published on this page and/or on the website.

Some bright spark is suggesting that your organisation needs to build its own execution algorithms. They loudly point out all the advantages your competitors have gained by doing this. But what is actually involved in embarking on such a project? Dr Paul Lynch, managing partner of PE Lynch LLP, spells it all out.

As the momentum of change increases in European equity markets, some obvious similarities with US markets are emerging – but so also are some striking differences. Joe Wald, Managing Director and Co-Founder of EdgeTrade, a Knight Capital Group subsidiary, ponders these similarities and differences, while outlining some of what he anticipates for buyside traders in Europe.

While the recent proliferation of electronic execution services has presented the buyside with an impressive degree of choice, it has simultaneously landed the sellside with several challenges. How do you make your services stand out from the crowd? What are the main competitive differentiators from the buyside’s perspective? How best can they be delivered? Five leading sellside providers share their views.

Open source software has made huge strides in terms of credibility in recent years. So is now the time to consider it for auto/algo trading? Graham Miller, CEO of Marketcetera, definitely thinks so.