Haynes has nearly 50 years of experience across the industry, working in several high profile roles across the equity space, including as chief executive of Chi-X Europe and ITG International, and of course Aquis. The TRADE awarded Haynes with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, recognising his significant and enduring impact on the industry. 

Anthony Santostefano joined Stern Brothers as senior vice president, institutional equity trading and sales, following seven and a half years with Cabrera Capital Markets. In his new role, Santostefano will be based in New York and focused on live markets during the European equity sessions. 

Whilst at Cabrera Capital Markets, Santostefano most recently served as director of EMEA equities sales trading. Elsewhere during his career, he has worked extensively in APAC-related sales, including as an equity sales trader at Topeka Capital Markets and head of institutional sales, US emerging growth at Sidoti & Company. Santostefano’s other roles include stints as APAC equity sales trading at Maybank Kim Eng Securities USA, desk manager, equity sales trading at Auerback Grayson, and as a trader at both Natixis and Scudder Investments. 

Liquidnet made two new appointments within its multi-asset services team, adding Patric Okumi and Samuel Lowres to lead multi-asset sales. Okumi joined Liquidnet’s multi-asset services team from TP ICAP Group, where he spent the last 11 years in broking and trading-related roles. He was also part of TP ICAP’s equity trading desk before building out the single stock equity and ETF RFQ offering on Fusion, the firm’s electronic platform. 

Meanwhile, Lowres was promoted to the role, having joined Liquidnet three years ago as part of the Liquidity Partnerships team. Lowres has a background in low-touch electronic trading and execution consulting, including the provision of data and transaction cost analysis. Liquidnet added that he brings considerable technical expertise to this role. 

The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) appointed Hiroki Tomiyasu as head of post-trade, Japan, and head of post-trade solutions, APAC. Tomiyasu joined LSEG from Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities, where he most recently served as managing director, head of final investment decision (FID) risk for Asia. Elsewhere during his tenure at Morgan Stanley, Tomiyasu served as COO/front risk, Japan FID, and counterparty risk management, APAC FID. Before joining Morgan Stanley, he held positions spanning risk, technology and sales at the Development Bank of Japan.  

The post People Moves Monday: Aquis Exchange, Stern Brothers, Liquidnet and more… appeared first on The TRADE.

Samuel Lowres, Patric Okumi

Okumi joins Liquidnet multi-asset services team from TP ICAP Group, where he spent the last 11 years in broking and trading-related roles.  

He was also part of TP ICAP’s equity trading desk before building out the single stock equity and ETF RFQ offering on Fusion, the firm’s electronic platform.

Meanwhile, Lowres has been promoted to the role, having joined Liquidnet three years ago as part of the Liquidity Partnerships team.

Lowres has a background in low-touch electronic trading and execution consulting, including the provision of data and transaction cost analysis. Liquidnet added that he brings considerable technical expertise to this role. 

Read more: The TRADE unveils ‘Liquidnet Leads’ initiative

“Drawing on their expertise from within TP ICAP Group and Liquidnet, [Okumi and Lowres] will focus on enhancing buy-side access to trading opportunities, leveraging where appropriate TP ICAP Group’s deep liquidity pools across select brands and a range of asset classes,” said Liquidnet. 

The offering allows members to anonymously interact with the specified liquidity, alongside providing access to custom trading tools and analytics.

The post Liquidnet bolsters multi-asset sales team with two new additions appeared first on The TRADE.

The specially designed microsite – available via www.thetradenews.com/liquidnet – has been built by the TRADE’s digital development team and will publish one in-depth article a month through 2025.

The innovative platform and content is set to provide the industry with a fresh perspective on key industry themes, delivering a unique platform for key thought leaders across a range of topics.

Speaking about the brand new offering and the decision to partner with The TRADE, Liquidnet enthuses: “We look forward to collaborating with The TRADE’s editorial team, sharing valuable perspectives along the way.

“With over 20 years of industry reporting expertise, we’re excited to partner with this publication to deliver insightful articles directly to buy-side trading desks and drive meaningful conversations.” 

Topics on the agenda include: the role of algo trading in listed derivatives, the electronification in new markets, lessons to be learnt from retail trading, an overview of futures and options in APAC, the rise of dark trading, and much more.

You can read the first instalment now, wherein Liquidnet chief executive, Mark Govoni, delves into how AI raises critical questions about the evolving role of brokers as its integration continues to transform and revolutionise trading desks. 

Stay tuned!

The post The TRADE unveils ‘Liquidnet Leads’ initiative appeared first on The TRADE.

Lit primary continuous venues recorded the lowest market share value to date, at around 29% in September, according to Liquidnet.

In addition, total lit volumes for Q3 reached record lows, amounting to 45.5% of overall volumes in September, compared to 57% in 2020. Direct year-on-year comparisons for Q3 represented 47.5% in 2024 versus around 50% in 2023.

Liquidnet attributed the continued decline to record high investments in passive ETFs and trading in the closing auction.

The closing auction was noted for its major role in lit markets, with over 38% of total lit volumes occurring through the mechanism.

Market share at the close has continued to grow, according to Liquidnet’s report, averaging 25% of total liquidity in Q3. This was down slightly from Q2 where volumes reached around 26%, but still up year-on-year for the same window.

The average over the year-to-date period has also increased from 22.5% last year to 25% this year.

“It is a common maxim that liquidity begets liquidity, and it seems likely that other investors are also choosing to move more flow to the end of the day,” said Liquidnet in its report.

“Popular algorithms that base their volume curves on historical data compound this volume shift by allocating an increasing portion of their volume to the close. This helps reduce their slippage against the VWAP benchmark.”

Dark volumes also showed increased activity this year – following a plateau for a few years – reaching almost 11% of total trading volumes in Q3. Within this bracket, volumes peaked at 11% in July.

Q3 2024 trading volumes of just under 11% were up from just under 10% in Q2 2024 and around 9% in Q3 last year.

“Dark market activity, after years of maintaining its 8 to 10% market share, has started to increase,” added Liquidnet. “This is in line with the renewed interest in block liquidity, where above-LIS fills have witnessed annual growth.”

In recent weeks, the push towards dark trading has seen increased interest from market participants.

Read more: Deutsche Börse’s Maximilian Trossbach on their new dark pool

SIX’s BME launched a new dark pool this week in a bid to provide an additional source of liquidity for Spanish securities. Elsewhere, Deutsche Börse’s new dark trading offering also launched on Monday.

The post Continued decline in lit volumes sees closing auctions and dark pools become more prevalent appeared first on The TRADE.

Jesper Bremholm joined Katamaran Capital as an execution trader following a year and a half as equity trader at Kuvari Partners. Bremholm began his new role on 2 December, with the move following Kuvari’s decision to give back external capital in September and become a family office, The TRADE understands. Bremholm has previously served at firms including: BLS Capital Fondsmæglerselskab, Nykredit, and Nordea.

Paul Atkins was appointed chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), following Gary Gensler’s departure – set for 20 January 2025. Atkins was initially appointed by President George W. Bush as a commissioner of the SEC in July 29 2002, where he served until August 2008. set for 20 January 2025.

Liquidnet made three new hires into its European Execution & Quantitative Services (EQS) team as it seeks to grow its execution offering across the region. Among the new hires is Prashanth Manoharan who has been named head of execution consulting, EMEA. He was most recently director of cash equities analytics at BNP Paribas.

Oliver Ekers also joined the team, as an execution trader, having most recently served in the same role – focused on Europe – at Instinet. At Liquidnet he will cover sales trading across both high-touch and algo trading. The third new hire is Henry Baugniet, who joins as an execution analyst, leveraging his wealth of experience as a data scientist. Previously, Baugniet built a real-time trading strategy for the Betfair exchange.

Societe Generale made three new appointments to its Global Markets Activities team in a bid to enhance its fixed income and equities offerings. Francisco Oliveira was appointed co-head of global markets activities and head of fixed income and currencies. He joined from BNP Paribas and his move is effective as of 6 January 2025.

Meanwhile, New York-based Sylvain Cartier was appointed head of global markets for the Americas, effective from 1 January 2025. Elsewhere, Mohamed Braham was appointed deputy head of fixed income and currencies. He will begin his role on 6 January 2025 and be based in Paris.

The post People Moves Monday: Alana Capital, Katamaran Capital, SEC and more… appeared first on The TRADE.

EQS advises Liquidnet’s buy-side members on topics including trade analytics, algorithmic strategies, and quantitative products and services. 

Among the new hires is Prashanth Manoharan who has been named head of execution consulting, EMEA, set to focus on enhancing the firm’s core algorithmic trading offering, as well as assessing market microstructure and enhancing execution quality alongside Liquidnet’s members. 

In addition, Manoharan will contribute to Liquidnet’s multi-asset analytic and execution consulting capabilities expansion.

He was most recently director of cash equities analytics at BNP Paribas and his appointment at Liquidnet forms part of a longer-term strategy for the firm to strengthen its algo trading offering, The TRADE understands.

Speaking to his new role, Manoharan said: “The opportunity to further enhance our algorithmic trading capabilities and collaborate with our members to optimise executive outcomes is a key focus.” 

“As markets become more complex, it’s crucial that we continue pushing the boundaries to deliver innovative solutions that meet our clients’ needs. Liquidnet holds a unique position in championing the buy-side.” 

Read more: Liquidnet to launch multi-asset trading desk

Oliver Ekers has also joined the team, as an execution trader, having most recently served in the same role – focused on Europe – at Instinet. At Liquidnet he will cover sales trading across both high-touch and algo trading.

The third new hire is Henry Baugniet. He joins as an execution analyst, leveraging his wealth of experience as a data scientist. Previously, Baugniet built a real-time trading strategy for the Betfair exchange. 

Gareth Exton, head of execution and quantitative services, EMEA at Liquidnet, said: “As our members navigate a fragmented and complex liquidity landscape, they need a comprehensive service model from their agency partner to guide them […] Prashanth, Oliver, and Henry bring valuable expertise that will help us further enhance our service model, and I’m thrilled to welcome the to our growing team.”

The post Ex-BNP Paribas and Instinet to join Liquidnet’s buy-side facing EMEA team appeared first on The TRADE.

big xyt named Philip Lemmon head of TCA sales EMEA as it seeks to enhance its growth initiatives across the region. His move follows two and a half years as head of EMEA sales at ISS LiquidMetrix. Lemmon has experience working with exchanges, the sell- and buy-side, and has previously served at SteelEye, Abel Noser, Pipeline Financial Group and E*TRADE.  

Liquidnet appointed Ayesha Rasheed Boulware as senior trade coverage consultant, based in San Francisco. Boulware will provide primary account coverage for Liquidnet members, with a focus on strengthening relationships and meeting the trading needs of clients across the West Coast. She brings 25 years of industry experience to the role, having held positions at Portware, Tradebook, and Flextrade. Boulware also previously managed the West Coast region for ITG’s electronic products prior to its acquisition by Virtu.

The post People Moves Monday: SEC, big xyt, and Liquidnet appeared first on The TRADE.

Named SmartDark, the equities algorithm is designed to enhance institutional execution by prioritising order routing to venues with larger executions and better price stability.

“Today’s markets remain volatile and complex for buy-side traders to navigate,” said Alan Polo, head of sales and trading, Americas, at Liquidnet.  

“Although many algorithms in the market boast exceptional performance, the reality is that an algorithm’s effectiveness depends entirely on the quality of the liquidity it can reach. SmartDark is a great illustration of our ability to develop innovative solutions for the buy-side that help traders access liquidity.”

SmartDark is available in the US and incorporates a variety of yield and quality metrics to maximise liquidity exposure for traders.

The algorithm sits within Liquidnet’s Dark sphere which has an average block execution size of 28,000 shares for all trades crossed and an overall block participation rate of 44%, according to Liquidnet.

“As one of the few unconflicted, agency-only brokers with expertise in lit, dark, and block markets, we are in a unique position to craft execution strategies that effectively navigate complex markets and secure the liquidity buy-side traders need,” said Liquidnet’s head of global algo products, Scott Kartinen.

“We’re excited to see SmartDark aid our members in executing their orders more efficiently.”

The post Liquidnet launches new equities liquidity seeking algorithm appeared first on The TRADE.

Oliveira originally joined BNP Baribas as part of its corporate and institutional banking division in 2017 as deputy head of Hispanic, LATAM CIB. Since joining he has served in a number of roles across FX, commodities, local markets and global credit, rising through the ranks to his most recent role as global co-head of global macro and global credit in 2022. Prior to joining BNP Paribas, he served for almost a decade at Credit Suisse as its co-head of Brazil FID.

Luke Holmes, head of equity sales trading, US clients at Kepler Cheuvreux left the firm after five years, as revealed by The TRADE. Holmes joined Kepler in 2019 having previously served in equity sales trading roles at Sanford C. Bernstein and Goldman Sachs. His next role is unconfirmed.

Cameron Beale, head of sales trading, UK clients at Kepler Cheuvreux has also left the firm for pastures new. Prior to joining Kepler in 2019, Beale spent more than 25 years at JP Morgan, serving as equities sales trader and executive director.  

Janus Henderson Investors appointed Francesca Alesi as a junior equity trader, based in London. Alesi joined the asset manager from GSA Capital, where she spent the last two years. Most recently, Alesi served as an execution trader – a position she held for just over a year. Prior to that, she served as an analyst at the firm.

Liquidnet appointed Amanda Lee Volk as trade coverage/execution consultant for its New York desk. As part of the role, Volk will focus on providing primary account coverage for Liquidnet ATS members, which includes institutional, hedge, quant, multi-strategy and index funds. Volk brings 18 years’ experience to the role from Nomura, with particular expertise in the ATS block and algo trading space.

The post People Moves Monday: BNP Paribas, Kepler Cheuvreux, Janus Henderson and more… appeared first on The TRADE.

As part of the role, Volk will focus on providing primary account coverage for Liquidnet ATS members, which includes institutional, hedge, quant, multi-strategy and index funds.

Volk brings 18 years’ experience to the role from Nomura, with particular expertise in the ATS block and algo trading space.

“Her extensive knowledge and proven track record will enhance Liquidnet’s service offerings, supporting the firm’s commitment to delivering best-in-class service, products, and technology,” said Liquidnet in a statement.

In addition, Volk will provide daily coverage of Liquidnet’s algo offerings and block trading capabilities, supporting institutional asset managers with their trading and liquidity needs.

Her appointment follows that of Jeffrey Crane, who was named head of international for the Americas, as part of the firm’s continued investment in its cross-border business.

Crane joined from SageTrader where he most recently served as managing director and head of sales, overseeing new business growth for domestic and international trading.

The post Liquidnet names new trade coverage and execution consultant for New York desk appeared first on The TRADE.