Specifically, the diverse range of trading opportunities will be available to desks in US markets.

“By combining BTIG’s extensive trading capabilities with OptimX’s innovative platform, this partnership addresses the growing demand among institutional traders for advanced, centralised technology that enables seamless access to deep liquidity and high-quality execution,” said the firms in a social media announcement. 

Read more: Liquidity, it’s a two-way street

The news follows other recent partnerships with OptimX as the industry seeks to keep up with ever-accelerating technological innovation.

In January, OptimX Markets moved to expand its ability to offer institutional clients bilateral liquidity through an integration with State Street’s order and execution platform, Charles River. 

This partnership allowed OptimX to offer greater bilateral liquidity directly to the institutional buy-side directly via their systems – an alternative to going out into the lit markets. 

Later the same month, Winterflood Securities joined OptimX Markets’ growing sell-side network, able to access institutional buy-side trading desks in the European markets directly via OptimX’s platform.

Earlier this week,3 February, alternative trading system (ATS) PureStream also launched a partnership with OptimX Markets to collaborate to improve institutional trading workflows. 

“Collaborating with OptimX allows us to extend the reach of our streaming protocol, offering institutions incremental liquidity choices,” said Armando Diaz, chief executive of PureStream, at the time.

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The liquidity provider will now be able to access institutional buy-side trading desks in the European markets directly via OptimX’s platform.

“Winterflood is delighted to be working with OptimX,” Scott Lesser, head of trading solutions, Winterflood Securities, told The TRADE.

“Through the seamless technology streams of OptimX and transparent liquidity of Winterflood, this collaboration between the two firms will enable enhanced productivity and trading opportunities for our institutional clients.”

OptimX Markets is an institutional liquidity management platform. The platform is designed as an extension of buy-side trading workflows with the aim of expanding their access to actionable sell-side liquidity in increasingly fragmented European markets.

Read more – OptimX connects with Charles River to offer institutional clients bilateral liquidity

The platform aims to centralise “depth and breadth of liquidity provider flow” to help streamline buy- and sell-side interactions. Confirmed OptimX Markets sell-side partnerships include Liberum, Peel Hunt and BMO Capital Markets.

 “Winterflood Securities provides exceptional liquidity and execution services,” Peter McStay, head of EMEA at OptimX, told The TRADE. “We are excited to collaborate with Winterflood, who bring to the OptimX community a diverse and broad supply of quality block liquidity.”

The news follows an announcement by OptimX earlier this week that it had partnered with order management system Charles River in order to expand its capabilities in offering bilateral trading to buy-side users.

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As part of the integration, OptimX is now a certified sweep partner on Charles River’s investment management system (IMS) meaning Charles River institutional clients can now access OptimX liquidity via their desktops.

The move will allow OptimX to offer greater bilateral liquidity directly to the institutional buy-side directly via their systems, offering an alternative to going out into the lit markets.

Read more – Liquidity, it’s a two-way street

David Barnett, founder and CEO of OptimX Markets, said: “With a common client roster including some of the largest global asset managers, integrating with Charles River is an important step for OptimX in both providing greater productivity and streamlined workflows to the buy-side through our unique and diverse broker liquidity network.” 

Liquidity providers on OptimX will also benefit from greater trading opportunities offered by money managers on Charles River’s network, OptimX confirmed.

“Seamless access to liquidity is top of mind for institutional clients,” said Greg Long, vice president of sell-side relationships at Charles River.

“Our integration with OptimX provides clients with a differentiated source of liquidity across trade size and complexity, improving productivity across their front-office.”

Bilateral liquidity has increasingly found itself as the poster child of industry discussion in recent months as many alternative providers and traditional banks look to access the buy-side directly via order and execution management systems.

OptimX Markets, in which Aquis acquired a minority stake last August, is a liquidity management service provider focused on optimising interactions between institutions and their broker counterparties.

The post OptimX connects with Charles River to offer institutional clients bilateral liquidity appeared first on The TRADE.

Specifically, the offering is for brokers subscribed to the Aquis Matching Pool (AMP) order book which can instruct Aquis (through OptimX) to “deliver liquidity opportunities seamlessly within the institutional trader’s workflow”. 

Aquis Exchange picked up a minority stake in OptimX back in August 2023 as it looked to expand its block crossing remit.

The deal was completed as part of a consortium which also included Deutsche Boerse Group’s DB1 Ventures.

At the time, the deal was highlighted as particularly complimentary of Aquis’ AMP. 

Alasdair Haynes, Aquis’ chief executive officer, said: “The investment in OptimX is a significant opportunity for Aquis, adding additional connectivity to our successful dark pool (the Aquis Matching Pool) and providing clients with the ability to cross large blocks. 

“This alongside Aquis’s growing functionality will further enhance the range of execution options available to our members.” 

Read more: Aquis launches dark pool into Europe 

Earlier this year, Aquis Markets launched conditional order functionality across the UK and EU platforms, wherein members using the functionality send an ‘indication of interest’ (IOI), and are then met with a ‘firm-up invite’ in the event of a potential match – all performed on AMP. 

The offering was said to allow users to avoid the risk of over-trading while posting the same liquidity on multiple venues simultaneously.

The post Aquis and OptimX unveil new dark trading solution appeared first on The TRADE.

BMO will now offer a range of trading opportunities tailored to their institutional client base through OptimX.

“BMO has been at the forefront of delivering cutting-edge trading technology to its global clients,” said Peter McStay, head of OptimX EMEA.  

“We are thrilled to partner with a leading European broker and are eager to expand this collaboration across global markets in the near future.”

The two firms noted that the strategic partnership meets increasing demand from institutional traders for a centralised technology that provides improved access to significant liquidity.

Watch now: BMO Capital Markets on the success of their collaborative approach

“We welcome the opportunity to expand our partnership with OptimX and deliver an opportunity to help facilitate blocks for our institutional clients,” said Mike Green, managing director, chief operating officer, EMEA electronic trading at BMO Capital.

The post BMO Capital and OptimX Markets partner to deliver flow in European markets appeared first on The TRADE.

Michelle Butler joins OptimX to head up its buy-side business after most recently serving at Virtu for 19 years, managing sales for its POSIT Alert business.

Prior to joining Virtu, she spent six years as head of sales and coverage at E-Crossnet – one of Europe’s first peer to peer crossing networks.

“We are incredibly excited to welcome Michelle to the team,” said Peter McStay, head of EMEA for OptimX. “Her extensive experience delivering liquidity to some of the largest global asset managers will be integral as we launch OptimX’s liquidity management technology across the US and EMEA.”

Aquis Exchange moved to expand its block crossing remit by taking a minority stake in OptimX Markets in August last year.

The deal was completed as part of a consortium which also includes the venture capital arm of Deutsche Boerse Group, DB1 Ventures.

The start up found itself in the headlines once more in November, with news that Liberum was set to connect to its block trading capability in early 2024.

The post OptimX Markets names new head of institutional sales appeared first on The TRADE.