FX Markets Asia Awards 2020: Best FX aggregator – smartTrade

Clients of all sizes are constantly searching for better ways to ensure best liquidity, and found a perfect solution in LiquidityFX from smartTrade, which also facilitates smart-order routing and distribution

In this year’s FX Markets Asia Awards, best FX aggregator goes to smartTrade in recognition of its LiquidityFX solution. With offices in major trading centres (London, New York, Tokyo, Singapore, Milan and Geneva), and headquarters in the south of France, smartTrade offers easy-to-implement end-to-end solutions suited to all FX market participants, however large or small. The LiquidityFX platform is a multi-asset class solution, supporting a wide array of instruments such as FX spot, forwards, swaps, precious metals, non-deliverable forwards, cryptocurrencies and money markets instruments alongside fixed income.

LiquidityFX is dedicated to the FX needs of banks, the buy side, brokers, payment providers and corporations. The platform combines aggregation with the ability to intelligently manage both local and external resting orders. It supports a combination of different types of currencies, order and strategy types, and price tiering. 

Allowing clients access to more than 130 liquidity providers, LiquidityFX contains all the necessary tools required to smart-order route orders, execute trading strategies, manage risk and margins, and distribute the liquidity to all liquidity consumers. As David Vincent, chief executive of smartTrade explains: “smartTrade doesn’t stop at aggregating liquidity – we help clients manage their distribution and make money out of it.”

What makes the solution particularly attractive to clients is that it is flexible and tailored to their specific needs, but comes with a flat-fee pricing model, which sets them apart from their competitors. The benefits of this model means clients’ costs don’t spiral as trading volumes grow. LiquidityFX continues to gain new clients because people are now looking to move away from inflexible legacy platforms into modern flexible ones and non-volume-based price solutions.

smartTrade’s offering goes beyond aggregation: the platform includes a suite of tools to manage risk and price and distribute liquidity to clients. David explains: “Banks are fighting to retain their corporate franchise and remain relevant to their customers through offering an ever-growing range of products. We support them in those goals. Meanwhile, we relieve the banks from the burden of operating the system.”

The company has invested heavily in Asian markets and is committed to continuous growth in the region, becoming a strategic technology partner for buy-side and sell-side institutions. Clients in Asia want access to more sophisticated features, such as margin credit and pre-trade risk, which are fully integrated into the LiquidityFX aggregation system. 

smartTrade is able to offer local as well as remote support, using a ‘follow the sun’ model. Its local presence reflects the company’s commitment to existing clients, ensuring the best service possible. The system also enables clients to trade larger amounts, leveraging on their cash margin while their brokers are able to monitor the transactions and manage their risk in real time. The platform can automatically raise warnings, cease trades or close out client positions, depending on their level of risk exposure.

Clients are always looking for better ways to ensure best liquidity and best execution, and liquidity provider (LP) relationships are at the heart of this. Vincent describes how “smartTrade’s end-to-end solution makes for harmonious relationships between LPs and downstream banks. As we facilitate not only aggregation but smart-order routing and distribution, we allow banks to curate the type, quality and volume of flows that are matched with their LPs.” 

Robust and scalable technology that is capable of managing large amounts of data is at smartTrade’s core. Regular stress tests ensure that the platform is resilient even under the most volatile of conditions. When Covid-19 struck in early 2020, smartTrade was able to continue offering the same level of service to its clients, leveraging its large connectivity stack and powerful aggregation network.

As 2020 draws to a close, smartTrade is looking forward to another busy 12 months as it continues to automate. Plans include facilitating increased internalisation rates using smart skew, spreads and hedging algos, and more market-making and margining algo capabilities – all of which will be supported by analytics that turns client data into actionable insights. 

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