Market data
Clients switch on to Portware FX
NEW YORK - Portware has seen a 70% increase in clients using Portware FX, its real-time foreign exchange aggregation system, since the start of 2008, according to Harrell Smith, head of product strategy for the firm in New York.
Thomson adds Icap tick data
JERSEY CITY & LONDON - Interdealer broker Icap is making historical tick data for foreign exchange, fixed-income and interest rate products available through Thomson Reuters, in a bid to broaden its client base among algorithmic trading, valuation and…
WestLB drops RealStream
DÜSSELDORF - WestLB is no longer using Cognotec's RealStream Manager and has signed up to Eurobase's Siena Gateway, in a move to streamline its electronic foreign exchange infrastructure.
StatPro chooses GFI for options data
LONDON - StatPro, a London-based vendor of analytics and data systems for the asset management industry, has signed a contract to use GFI's foreign exchange options data in its pricing and risk management services.
StanChart revamps e-pricing
SINGAPORE - Standard Chartered has gone live with a liquidity aggregator developed for its foreign exchange electronic pricing and trading division in Singapore.
AthenaTrader 4.2 features more FX tools
NEW YORK - Custom trading and testing software vendor Aegisoft will add new tools to the next release of AthenaTrader, aimed at giving the end user greater control of foreign exchange trades.
A return to vanilla
GLOBAL - Banks are preparing for a vanilla year next year in the derivatives market, as investors seek transparent structures in an environment of heightened volatility and inconsistent liquidity.
Ex-Lehman staff form action group
LONDON - A group of around 30 former Lehman Brothers employees in London have formed an action group seeking to win compensation from the collapsed US investment bank.
Icap gains foothold in China
BEIJING - Icap has cast a wider net into the Chinese foreign exchange market by forming a strategic partnership with the country's largest data and information vendor, Xinhua News Agency.
City Index drops three in London
LONDON - Retail trading company City Index laid off three foreign exchange staff from its margin FX provider, IFX Markets, in London last Thursday (October 16), as it integrates the FX business with recently acquired FX Solutions.
Japan traders dump short yen positions
TOKYO - Japanese retail foreign exchange margin traders abandoned $16 billion worth of short yen positions within days last week, in a scramble to limit losses from unwinding carry trades.
Strike while the iron is hot
Pete Luxton, economic adviser, and Shant Movsesian, manager, foreign exchange options, at Informa Global Markets in London suggest a basket strategy to play euro weakness
JDFX gets smart with Kontrol
ZURICH - Foreign exchange trading company JDFX has capitalised on an increasing focus on risk management within financial markets by launching Kontrol, a system built to eliminate inefficiencies and dangers caused by calculating risk several times a day…
Króna in chaos during Iceland's meltdown
REYKJAVIK - Confusion reigned in Icelandic króna trading last week, as the country's central bank, Sedlabanki, abandoned its peg to a basket of nine currencies a day after it was effected.
Baxter enters algo execution
NEW YORK - Baxter Financial Services will add algorithmic execution features over its electronic communications network (ECN) Baxter FX by the end of the year.
RealStream Margin revamped
LONDON - Cognotec is set to roll out the latest version of its web-based margin trading system, RealStream Margin 3.0, in response to market demand for efficiency and enhanced risk management products.
CME outsources E-quotes data app to CVS
CHICAGO - CME Group has rolled out a new version of its web-based E-quotes data display application and wireless add-on - built and hosted by technology partner Computer Voice Systems (CVS) -which incorporates data from acquisitions the Chicago Board of…
Dealers report liquidity still 'patchy'
LONDON & HONG KONG - Global foreign exchange markets continued to suffer from lapses in liquidity in another week plagued by turmoil in the financial markets.