In the current market place where performance, risk management and efficiency are critical the latest release of Cognotec RealStream Margin 3.0 comes into a class of its own.
With increasing market volatility creating real opportunities for active professional traders, volumes in the margin based retail FX markets have been increasing further from the already record breaking levels from earlier this year. Furthermore, as regulatory pressures in many countries drive consolidation in the online FX broking industry, the market is becoming increasingly characterised by a smaller number of larger players which require more robust, scalable platforms with better risk management and which deliver real operational efficiency. These market dynamics are putting pressures on the technology infrastructures of the most successful brokers. Cognotec RealStream Margin 3.0 represents a quantum leap in functionality and technology and has been designed specifically to meet these challenges.
Straight Through Processing
In such challenging markets, Straight Through Processing becomes not an efficiency play - it becomes a business imperative, a tool for market survival. Cognotec RealStream Margin 3.0 introduces a range of integration solutions to facilitate STP. FIX Standardised Interfaces enable messages to easily pass information between different systems, whether this is the:
- Trading API - handling Algorithmic Trading,
- Cash API - allowing the seamless movement of cash in and out of client accounts;
- Client On-boarding APIs - enabling integration with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Know Your Customer (KYC) systems, automating and speeding up client on-boarding,
- or the provision of transaction data to back office settlement and prime brokerage systems.
Liquidity Management
In volatile markets, real time risk management, audit and controls come to the fore. RealStream Margin 3.0 monitors how much liquidity in a given number of milliseconds has been used by a broker or counterparty and ensures that the levels fall within certain risk parameters.ers. This 'Speed Bump' functionality is increasingly important in algorithmic trading environments or in highly volatile markets where liquidity providers want to control how much liquidity is available to certain channels to avoid "machine gunning" or highly aggressive trading strategies. Where liquidity is tight, this control enables venues to continue to operate by allowing liquidity providers to be confident about how much risk they are offering.
Market regulation
With the increasing regulation of the retail markets, Cognotec's experience in the highly regulated banking and institutional markets is being sought out by brokers seeking greater control and transparency for their business. Cognotec RealStream Margin 3.0 introduces new reporting tools to enable brokers to manage their business in real time. The detailed audit reporting tools ensure that every activity is captured and can be reported upon. From a client perspective as well, the on the tick risk and P&L tracking ensures that the end client can manage their collateral and stay ahead of the market.
'Cognotec RealStream Margin 3.0 brings to market the necessary ingredients for trading in today's markets; control and risk management; efficiency and STP; performance and scale' Mike Thrower, Head of Sales and Marketing, Cognotec.
Cognotec RealStream Margin is the leading margin trading solution for financial institutions to offer to their end users via a web-distributed platform. Operating in a real-time environment, Cognotec RealStream Margin offers users' true 'one click' trading via executable streaming rates and sophisticated revaluation tools which enable up-to-the-millisecond portfolio analysis capabilities. Cognotec RealStream Margin also allows financial institutions to source liquidity from third-party providers so that a full trading service with guaranteed ability to execute can be extended to end users - without the need for the financial institution to make a market in all currencies. The recent addition of Advanced Charting and Technical Analysis tools from IT Finance and Real Time Financial News and Analysis from MNI complete the Best of Breed Margin Trading Solution.