A similar business story holds for Equities. Here it’s not as much an issue of pricing but quickly recognizing order-processing problems and increasing order-share volume.
With newer trading venues, Buy-side banks can get their orders filled quicker than ever before; large orders are now sliced, diced and submitted as smaller orders for execution. This execution method has established better average-pricing returns for Buy-side customers (depending on the Algorithm used and its performance against the market).
At the same time, Sell-side banks have provided their top customers with lightweight trading platforms to place and monitor their orders and executions. This gives the Buy-side customer the ability to choose their own execution strategy without broker assistance, yielding additional commission savings to the Buy-side client. Buy-side banks now have clear visibility into the Sell-side’s execution operations along with the performance and availability of their underlying IT systems. As a consequence the Buy-side often knows about a problem before the Sell-side does.
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To help you overcome these challenges, InetSoft provides views into some important Equity metrics:
● Measurements of latency across the different hops of the order process flow
● Buy/Sell/Sell Short ratio
● Throughput performance in any given hop
● Top client activity volume
● Top traded symbols
● Open orders waiting to be processed
● Customer visibility into which algorithms are most heavily used
InetSoft allows you to combine these key performance indicators and have the ability to monitor all of these conditions proactively. With InetSoft, you can ultimately increase share-processing volumes and decrease the number of cancelled trades.
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Even with a fractional improvement in a typical trading day’s performance, InetSoft can provide a significant return:
● 150MM shares of daily order opportunity
● 40% of orders not filled
● 90MM daily executed order volume
● 0.025 cents revenue for each share filled
● InetSoft Solution provides a conservative 1% improvement
● 5% increase in performance month to month
Using a conservative approach for this example, InetSoft returns nearly $4,800,000 ((150MM * 0.40 * $0.025) * 0.01) in one year’s time.
Sell-side banks have been increasingly incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into their trading operations to enhance performance, improve efficiency, and manage risk more effectively. AI is transforming how these institutions operate by making trading faster, more data-driven, and more automated. Below are some key ways in which AI is used in sell-side bank trading operations:
AI has had a profound impact on algorithmic trading, where computer systems use pre-programmed strategies to trade assets at speeds and frequencies beyond human capability. AI models, particularly machine learning (ML) algorithms, help in:
AI is also used for sentiment analysis to gauge market sentiment by analyzing vast amounts of unstructured data from news articles, social media, earnings calls, and even regulatory filings. Natural language processing (NLP) techniques extract insights on how the market views certain stocks or sectors, which can then be factored into trading decisions.
For instance, if there's a sudden surge in positive sentiment towards a specific stock on social media, AI systems can pick up on this and trigger a buy signal before human traders can process the information. Conversely, early detection of negative sentiment can help in hedging or reducing positions before a downward price movement.
Sell-side banks use AI for predictive analytics to forecast market movements by processing vast quantities of historical and real-time data. Predictive models help banks make informed trading decisions by identifying potential price trends or volatility. Some AI models specialize in:
Sell-side banks have also adopted robo-advisors—AI-driven platforms that provide automated trading advice and portfolio management services. While more common on the buy-side, robo-advisors can offer sell-side banks insights into how client preferences are shifting, allowing them to tailor products and recommendations.
In market making, AI automates the process of providing liquidity by constantly offering buy and sell quotes for stocks, bonds, or derivatives. These AI systems can adjust spreads based on market conditions in real time, improving liquidity and reducing bid-ask spreads.
AI helps sell-side banks in risk management by monitoring trading positions and portfolios to detect potential risks or anomalies. Advanced machine learning models can identify patterns that signal abnormal trading behavior or market conditions, allowing banks to take preemptive actions. For example:
AI-based models can dynamically adjust portfolios by incorporating real-time market data and optimizing asset allocation strategies. This is particularly important in the context of sell-side banks managing their proprietary trading desks or servicing client accounts. AI can balance factors like risk, return, liquidity, and market trends to maintain an optimized portfolio for the bank or its clients.
In the heavily regulated financial industry, AI assists in ensuring that trading operations comply with regulatory requirements. Sell-side banks are leveraging RegTech (regulatory technology) solutions powered by AI to:
AI has made it possible to enhance quantitative trading strategies. Quantitative analysts, or "quants," use AI tools to develop sophisticated models that can factor in a wider range of variables than traditional models. AI allows quants to:
AI helps sell-side banks reduce operational costs by automating a variety of trading functions. Through automation:
AI chatbots and virtual assistants support the operational side of trading, helping traders manage orders, execute trades, and interact with clients. These AI tools handle routine inquiries, process client orders, and provide updates on market conditions or trading strategies, freeing up human traders to focus on more complex tasks.
While AI offers numerous benefits, there are also challenges to its adoption in trading operations:
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