Harborside+, a hybrid trading system for matching large block equity indications of interest (IOI), is reporting a doubling of users and trading volumes during its first four months of live operations.
The company, launched by a group of fund managers in mid-September, claims 300 traders from 100 buy-side firms and 30 brokers are submitting IOIs with an average trade of 70,000 shares. The service is reporting most success in small and mid-cap stocks, where trades have averaged 5-20% of the day's volume and often reach 70-90% of daily trading volume.
T. Rowe Price Associates VP and head of equity trading, Andy Brooks says of the service: "Our orders are sometimes larger than the marketplace; Harborside+ offers us an option for trading size when size is important."
Version 4 of Harborside Indication Manager (HIM), just released, offers a number of enhancements, most notably, the ability to simply install updates via the Web. Version 4 also supports recently added new products including ADR Cross Books and VWAP, a trading strategy building volume on Harborside+.
"This new version of HIM operates seamlessly with clients' workflows, and runs quietly in the background without trader interaction, automatically checking Harborside+ for liquidity," says Harborside+ chief technology officer, Seth Gelberg. "The new version also lowers the burden of our clients' technology resources, since quarterly updates can now be completed via the Web with a simple mouse click."
IOIs may be sent to Harborside+ through a variety of channels including a firm's OMS, a Web-based GUI (developed by Harborside+), direct FIX connections, file uploads, or by phone to the Harborside+ agency desk.