Toronto-based BBS Securities Inc. (BBS) has become the first dealer to use a new smart order (SOR) by Aequitas Technology Services Inc., the subsidiary of Toronto-based Aequitas Innovations Inc. announced on Tuesday.
The Aequitas SOR is designed to protect orders from predatory traders that rely on speed and information detection strategies to gain a trading advantage, Aequitas says, by normalizing the speed at which orders are delivered to trading venues.
“The Aequitas SOR is addressing the issue of speed advantage and asymmetrical access to information in trading within the Canadian capital markets,” says Bardya Ziaian, president & CEO, BBS Securities.
“This innovative technology is an important tool for us to achieve best execution for our clients, protecting them from predatory traders,” Ziaian adds.
“This added-value router at a low cost also helps reduce the technology burden faced by many independent dealers and puts us on equal footing to those larger firms who invest in their own technology.”
Aequitas intends to offer performance-reporting tools that will enable dealers and their clients to assess the performance of the router and the quality of execution it provides.
“By offering a multitude of routing strategies and synchronizing the time tradable orders hit all Canadian marketplaces, we are working to level the playing field,” says Joacim Wiklander, chief trading & data officer at Aequitas.
“We believe our SOR solution is focused on meeting the trading needs of long-term investors and their dealers. We are committed to delivering transparent best execution capabilities and tools to analyze our performance.”
Aequitas Technology Services Inc. (Aequitas) is a subsidiary of Aequitas Innovations Inc., the parent company of Canadian stock exchange Aequitas NEO Exchange Inc.
The exchange’s listing service is on track to launch by mid-2015, Aequitas says.