ITG INTRODUCES ASIA-PACIFIC ALGORITHM FOR MULTIPLE ORDERS

Posted October 9, 2008

HONG KONG – Equity trading and transaction research provider ITG Inc. has launched a “Flexible Participation Algorithm for Asia Pacific,” that manages multiple orders simultaneously across Asian markets by pre-setting trading instructions and alerts. For example, an order can be set to complete as soon as a favorable price level is reached to take advantage of available liquidity.

“Executing across Asian markets presents many challenges for the buy-side trader and costs can be high,” says Gabriel Butler, Head of Sales & Trading for ITG in Hong Kong. “This is even more apparent given current market volatility. Flexible Participation has proven to be a highly successful strategy in other regions, and we have spent significant time and effort customizing it for the unique market structures of Asia.”

The algorithm can also be used to trade more or less aggressively, depending on whether the stock is moving towards or away from the desired price. This is particularly useful in volatile markets, where rapid price movements can result in significantly higher costs and traders must complete orders at the best price possible. The algorithm can be set to trade against a wide variety of market and trading benchmarks, and is particularly suited to an implementation shortfall benchmark, widely regarded as a key indicator of best execution.