Liquidnet expands Australian business

Institutional global trading network, Liquidnet, has launched a new suite of benchmark equity algorithms (algos) designed to improve the trading performance of institutional investors.

The New York-based firm's ‘next gen algos' suite was designed to give buy-side traders more control, so they would be able to set price limits and minimum execution sizes, the firm said.

Liquidnet Australia head, Tristan Baldwin, said the new tools offered institutional traders the ability to focus on alpha generation.

"Asset managers are continuously challenged with a supply and demand imbalance when trading blocks. The next gen suite was designed to free large Australian institutional investors from the ongoing challenge of constantly seeking liquidity," Baldwin said.

The company said the new suite included Liquidnet Dark, which searched for liquidity across multiple dark venues around the world.

"Liquidnet's block crossing network was live in Australia in 2008, and directly matched block-sized orders executed by institutional investors, which minimised information leakage and price distortion on each trade. That gave institutional investors a safe environment in which to trade in size," the firm said.

The new suite of algos also marked the continued expansion of the company in Australia and around the world, as it operated across five continents, traded 13 billion shares a day and was spread across 800 institutional investment firms.