Advanced Trading
        May - June 2006


Cover Story
The Great Order Flow Debate
Buy-side traders are adopting more-sophisticated tools to measure execution quality and rank their brokers. The question remains: Do the top-ranked brokers receive the most order flow, or does the relationship reign supreme?


Electronic Marketplaces
United They Stand?
The idea of the portfolio manager replacing the trader may be far-fetched, but their roles are becoming more integrated than ever before.


Algorithmic Trading

Algorithms and Clearing Wrapped Up in One
Combining algorithm aggregation with central clearing can cut costs, but do these new hubs have staying power?

What Can Batman Teach the Buy-Side Trader?
Buy siders need to utilize new algorithmic trading tools to contend with ongoing pressures, but there are a few roadblocks to clear first.


Data & Infrastructure
Market-Data Revenue: Icing on a Broker's Cake
Despite potential revenue gain, market-data revenue is not reason enough for brokers to buy or launch ECNs.


Research Watch

Who's Looking Out for Your Block Trading Interests?
With money management firms growing rapidly in size over the past 10 years, being able to trade large blocks of stock without any information leakage to the market is becoming a major issue.


 From The Editor
Calling All Buy-Side Elite
As I write this column, I'm going through my source lists, pulling together the best and the brightest names in the industry to invite to speak at our first-ever Buy-Side Trading Summit.


Save the Date!
Advanced Trading's 2006
Buy-Side Trading Summit
Sept. 10-12, Amelia Island, Fla. Gain insights on algorithmic trading, hybrid markets, regulations, exchange consolidations and more.
www.advancedtrading.com/events


Market Intelligence

Interactive Brokers Names Top Student Traders
Interactive Brokers Group (IBG) named University of Texas graduate student Patrick Christmas the winner of its first annual electronic trading Olympiad.

ITG, Merrill Launch Crossing Service
Investment Technology Group (ITG) and Merrill Lynch have joined forces to create Block Alert, a global block order crossing service.

Bley Enters Algo Frey Via EdgeTrade
Bley Investment Group, a Fort Worth, Texas-based broker-dealer, has signed on to use EdgeTrade's Quantitative Service Bureau (QSB).

Quick Releases
Lava Trading, a subsidiary of Citigroup, will introduce an interbank foreign exchange trading platform; BNY Brokerage has formed a new unit to provide the hedge fund community with electronic trading tools, commission management services and independent research.

Placing Smart Bets on FX
Late April saw quite a stir in the foreign exchange waters, with some big-name players making moves into the FX space and rocking the boat.

Sell Side Fails to Meet Fund Managers' Needs
A recent report by APR Smartlogik asserts that U.K. fund managers are increasingly dissatisfied with information supplied by sell-side research analysts.

Flatley Joins Deutsche Bank
At press time, Rob Flatley joined Deutsche Bank as managing director and head of global electronic execution for equities.

Trading Up
Cantor Fitzgerald has hired Bill Adams as senior vice president and municipal bond trader in the firm's debt capital markets group, and more.

ATD Moves Into Options Market Making
Mt. Pleasant, S.C.-based Automated Trading Desk, (ATD) a company specializing in automated trading and customized equity execution, has hired Tim Brennan as executive vice president of equity options to build an automated options market-making system for ATD.

RedSky Hires Former Nasdaq Exec
In a move to take its direct-market-access business to the next level, RedSky Financial, a Chicago-based broker-dealer specializing in multi-asset trading, hired Robert Fitzsimmons as CEO.

OES Hires Options Veteran
Order Execution Services Holdings (OES) has hired Corey Zimmerman as managing director, options and derivatives, to lead the firm into the options agency-execution business.


Street Cred
Day Trading and Russian Roulette
A few weeks ago my phone rang and a guy in his 40s asked me to help him with his trading.


At The Close
Rising Technology Stakes
As rumors fly over potential takeover targets, there's no doubt that the global exchange scene is ripe for consolidation.


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