Interactive Data Corporation (NYSE: IDC), a leading provider of financial market data, analytics, and related solutions, today announced that six leading financial services firms have recently begun using its new Options Volatility Service.
These customers will provide their clients with data obtained from this service, which includes a relational database of end-of-day implied volatilities, options risk parameters and volatility surfaces across the U.S. options market, to help them assess risks associated with market volatility.
These new clients include SogoTrade, a leading online broker that specializes in stocks and options trading, and FT Providers, a volatility arbitrage proprietary trading firm and developer of risk management and volatility analysis tools for the equity options market.
The Options Volatility Service, which leverages Interactive Data's extensive options data delivery capabilities, delivers daily closing implied volatilities for listed options pricing during the past 12 years on more than 6,600 U.S. companies. It also provides end-of-day pricing, splits and other corporate actions, along with U.S. options analytics information, including risk parameters and sensitivity gauges calculated by Hanweck Associates, LLC.
This service can help a range of clients, including traders, quantitative specialists, hedge fund managers, risk officers, and software application and risk management vendors, more effectively assess risk. It can also help them to create consistent risk reports across varied positions, analyze specific positions more thoroughly, conduct research such as back-testing of trading strategies, and price their variable annuities.
"Interactive Data's Options Volatility Service has helped our firm to obtain key historical information we can use to generate custom metrics used in trade identification, back-test relative value volatility arbitrage strategies and feed into our front end software applications to help them make informed trading decisions," said Michael Izhaky, president of FT Providers. "In addition, we are already underway with plans to expand our utilization of this service for incorporation into risk management tools and snd software that we're developing for options investors."
"Our Options Volatility Service combines sophisticated analytics capabilities and extensive pricing and reference data, including corporate actions, for millions of options contracts," said Robin Simpson, managing director of Reference Data for Interactive Data. "Accordingly, we have continued to broaden our offerings to meet the middle and front office needs of our clients globally who need services that can help them assess risk exposure and make informed decisions."