Liquid Holdings, a provider of a trade order and execution management, real-time risk, reporting and shadow accounting platform for the financial services community, has released a new version of its system, which feature a toolkit of pre-trade risk and compliance controls, more robust options trading capabilities, and expanded global equities markets coverage.
“We are spending a lot of development effort around risk and compliance,” said Robert O’Boyle, executive vice president at Liquid Holdings. “Version 3.6 is the first release where we have focused on compliance and pre-trade functionality for hedge funds. Our system has an integrated database, which has very few points of failure. The ability to handle the risk and compliance aspects of a hedge fund is critical.”
With pre-trade risk controls becoming a necessity for hedge fund managers, the Liquid platform provides a controlled environment that ensures trading activity does not breach investment mandates prior to placing a trade, the company said.
In version 3.6, Liquid’s sub-millisecond pre-trade risk engine now includes net exposure limits, underlying exposure as a percentage of portfolio exposure limits, and position size as a percentage of the average daily volume limits, as part of its library of configurable controls.
“Version 3.6 delivers on our commitment to provide fund managers with sophisticated and seamless solutions to best run their business,” said Brian Storms, CEO of Liquid. “Investors are placing heightened emphasis on hedge fund infrastructure as part of their due diligence prior to allocation. Our cloud platform continues to deliver the mission critical capabilities and managed services that established, emerging, and new launch funds require to better manage investments.”
Liquid Holdings recently tapped Global Prime Partners to offer the Liquid platform to its portfolio of existing European clients as well as all new prime brokerage clients, becoming the exclusive prime brokerage partner of Liquid in Europe.
Global Prime Partners has also selected the Liquid platform to monitor its firm-wide risk exposure to its prime brokerage clients, including hedge funds and other asset managers.
“Our client base is still 70% U.S., but we growing rapidly in the U.K. as well,” O’Boyle said. “We have as strategic partnership with Global Prime Partners, a boutique prime brokerage in London, and they have seen tremendous interest and we have signed up clients as a result of our relationship with GPP.”
The platform provides data and trade support for index options, which allows portfolio managers and traders to construct option strategies and techniques to invest in an entire index alongside individual stocks. Portfolio managers and traders can trade additional global equities markets as part of their overall strategy including OMX Nordic – Stockholm (.ST) and Helsinki (.FH), Oslo BORS (.OL), Vienna Exchange (.AV), and NYSE Euronext – Brussels (.BB).