OptionsCity, fresh off receiving Markets Media’s Markets Choice Award for Best Options Technology, has set its sights on 2014 with the rollout of a new version of its Metro trading system, with expanded asset classes, enterprise risk management and improved analytics.
“This version basically takes advantage of most of the development that we have done in 2013, from re-architecting certain components in the system to improve performance, latency access as well as throughput and handling of the various data and messages,” said OptionsCity CEO Hazem Dawani. “It includes a lot of new functionality to enhance our customer experience, from integration with Excel to additional ways to streamline the trading operation.”
Metro v5.0 has a new tool called the Risk Command Center that is designed for global risk managers to be able to bring in and manage a risk across multiple trading operations from one centralized location.
Last year started off with the rollout of an online client resource hub through the OptionsCity’s algo store in January, and in March, the company announced the rollout of Metro 4.1, featuring performance enhance¬ments and advanced visualization capabilities.
In November, Chicago-based OptionsCity introduced Freeway Analytics, a simulation platform designed to allow traders and developers to quickly build and back-test strategies, discover opportunities and simulate real world trading based on sub-millisecond futures market data.
“For us, 2013 was setting the stage for the growth and the new initiative that we are rolling out in 2014,” said Dawani. “Building our international presence with opening the London office back in September was the first step to expand our international and global business as a company, and to take OptionsCity to the next level.”
Closing out the year, the company unveiled OptionsCity Hosting. “We spent a lot of effort in 2013 developing our global hosting infrastructure,” said Dawani. “This is going to allow us to provide a hosted software solution that gives customers everything from software to hosting to connectivity and access to the various markets.”
Of receiving the Markets Choice Award, Dawani said: “At OptionsCity, innovation has been the main reason for our success over the years. Our ability to improve the product and meet the market needs and partner with our customers are what’s really behind our success.”
