The NEW  US Equity Markets

High frequency trading.  Co-location.  Naked access.  Algo trading.  Dark liquidity.  The Flash Crash.  ECNs and ATSs.  A new regulatory environment.   How will these impact your firm and your career?

These are critical changes to our markets that all professionals need to understand.   This is a seminar to bring you current with the latest in US equity markets and trading.

The image of stock trading in the public consciousness is one of a cacophony of frenzied shouts and gestures on the floor of an exchange.  While the exchange floor has always been an iconic image, it is now archaic as a cassette tape.  Today, trading is low cost, mind-bogglingly fast and almost completely electronic.   Where we once had a few markets, today equity trading can be done at 60+ venues, some with unique trading models, some without public quotes, and all at speeds measured in millionths of a second.  In 1975 the SEC and Congress mandated a national market system and from the mid 1990’s on, technology, communications and regulatory changes in order handling, trading models and market structure have all changed at an accelerating pace.  Today the SEC is undertaking a new review of the US equity market structure.

This seminar will describe the equity trading markets and the issues faced by pension and mutual funds, sell side firms and other institutional asset managers.  We will start with an historical perspective and continue to explain and analyze the current issues facing market participants. 

Topics that will be described and analyzed:

• What are dark liquidity and dark pools?

• How do dark institutional markets such as Liquidnet, Pipeline and Posit work?

• What is internalization? How can it help or hurt the investor?

• What is high frequency trading?

• Automated market making, quant models, latency arbitrage strategies

• Naked access, high speed infrastructure, co-location and low latency data

• Does it add liquidity or cheat investors? 

• Sourcing institutional sized liquidity – Algorithmic Trading

• Transaction Cost Analysis (TCA)

• Best execution benchmarks VWAP, implementation shortfall, etc.

• How and why Algo trading is needed and used to meet investor’s benchmarks?

• How does the NYSE now operate?  What are DMMs and SLPs?

• How does the NASDAQ now work? 

• What are the ECNs, ATSs, internalized markets and the 60+ trading venues?

• How are our fragmented markets impacting trading?

• The use of displayed and un-displayed order books

• How does the maker - taker model drive order flow?

• How are  new order types used -- reserve, sweep, ISO, imbalance

• Potential risk in electronic trading, for the market and the investor

• What is a flash trade?  Is it really disadvantaging clients?

• What caused the flash crash?  Ways to avoid it in the future

• Potential risks in electronic trading, for the investor and the market.

• What are the new regulations currently under consideration – i.e., large trader reporting, consolidated audit trail, etc?

• What might the future bring?