Cross-Asset Class Trading Technology and Business Practices Alignment

Financial Insights: Global. Examines cross-asset class trading, focusing on equities and foreign exchange. Cross-asset class trading is an idea whose time has finally come. There are now electronic execution venues for multiple asset classes and the financial information exchange, or FIX, protocol is becoming robust enough to support more than equities. In addition, this study looks at what is driving demand and the challenges banks have in meeting it. To date, the bulk of requests for cross-asset class trading services has come from hedge funds, does not expect to dramatically change in the near term. Larger buy-side firms are expected to get more involved, however. The biggest challenge is linking equity trading desks and FX liquidity pools, which are usually separated within firms, allowing users to see and act on best market price. FIX is the best way to achieve this. Since it is already in wide-spread use, it has some track record with FX trading, and many firms and individuals can make any necessary changes and disseminate them into the marketplace. The FIX is in for Cross-Asset Class Trading Publ 20051208 Z? FIX? Wikipedia