TradeTech West 2011

Asia & International Trading

Trading Asia: Determining How To Access Liquidity Without Giving Away Too Much Information Identifying which brokers are generating and taking blocks in Asia? Debating when to use direct market access (DMA) to maintain anonymity vs. using a broker for a large order Uncovering the different DMA options for Asia and determining their effectiveness in accessing liquidity

Assessing How The Changing Market Structure And HFT Is Impacting Trading In Asia Determining how the Asian market has matured over the last year; when will there be enough volume to be more active in algos and dark pools? As high frequency trading grows in Asia, how is it impacting market structure? How is market structure supporting HFT? Focusing on trading opportunities in Japan Analyzing the shifting relationship between the sales trader and the buy side; how can this relationship be maximized for most profitable trading in Asia?

Managing MiFID II And The Proliferation Of Execution Venues Across Europe As Europe becomes more fragmented, how are the markets comparing and contrasting to the US? Understanding how MiFID II will impact European fragmentation and execution quality Is Europe heading towards the 40+ ATSs that exist in the US, or will MiFID II ban or undermine the economics of dark pools? If the three exchange mergers ards go through, what are the major changes that will result to the way European equities are traded? Determining how the industry can effectively articulate to European regulators why certain regulatory changes would be detrimental to the market

Optimizing The Structure Of Your Global Trading Desk Exploring the different needs of different sized desks with different trading strategies; examining why buy side desks structure their global trading operations as they do? How is the buy side able to currently execute from the desk itself using algorithms instead of using a high touch broker? Identifying which questions to ask your brokers and tech providers when building out your global desk Creating a plan to manage your ever increasing global regulatory concerns to ensure your desk is most efficient Staying on top of changing global issues by appropriately disseminating info to your PMs

Overcoming Potential IT And Connectivity Challenges Related To International Trading Staying on top of the quickly changing global landscape of exchanges, algos, and other evolving trading tools to maintain a competitive global desk Monitoring how every order , from each different country, is handled to ensure your international desk is functioning at top performance Managing the varying capabilities and rules by broker and regions Determining if you will need more connections on your EMS in addition to a new OMS for effective global trading

Overcoming Market Entry And Connectivity Issues In Relation To Emerging And Frontier Markets Trading With volume and volatility down in developed markets, where is the greatest opportunity to create alpha in emerging or frontier markets? Determining the best approach to gaining exposure to emerging markets: bonds, ETFs, shares, derivatives, and more Uncovering which markets have less barriers to entry; determining how to lower the risk of entrance into emerging markets and considering counterparty risk Infrastructure: Debating the benefits vs. detriments of local vs. global executing brokers; also deciding who will be your custodian Identifying leading global DMA products that support access to emerging markets

Market Structure & Regulation

Evolving Trading Tactics To Compete Against High Frequency Trading (HFT) Understanding the current complexities of HFT and how it impacts your trading strategy Reviewing the new technologies offered by brokers and vendors offering customizable applications for executing in a world of HFT Are the buy and sell side actually seeing improvements in execution after using these technologies built to compete with HFT? Determining how your execution strategies and trading technologies need to adapt as HFT proliferates across the globe

The Trade-At Rule And Other Regulatory Concepts: Identifying What Will Impact Our Markets And How Institutions Should Get Involved Assessing how the SEC has readdressed the issues brought up in their open comment letter after the Flash Crash analysis Sharing implementation timing expectations to determine when proposed rules will go into effect How is the industry responding to the trade-at rule proposal and other regulatory concepts? Is the buy side getting involved enough to share their stance on market structure? Discussing how buy side firms can make their voice heard Debating if broker order routing transparency should be regulated by the SEC or not (These topics will change to match the most pressing regulatory issues at the time of the conference)

Identifying The Top Practical Compliance Tips For Today’s Buy Side Trader Bringing the most recent compliance issues into the perspective of the buy side trader Examining the most recent sweep exams being done by the SEC for soft dollars, insider trading, and more Dodd Frank: Is it having any impact on buy side trader’s desks at this time? Does the buy side need to do anything to respond? Insider trading: Understanding what you need to know to remain compliant

Understanding Exchange Order Routing Practices, Pricing Structure, And Order Types: Do You Know How Your Exchange Orders Are Being Executed? How has shifting customer demand and high frequency trading impacted pricing and order handling? Examining current exchange pricing models for providing and taking liquidity; how is this impacting market structure? Getting clarity on current exchange practices for order routing Obtaining information to determine how your order is executed after routing to an exchange

Broker Selection & Commission Management

Increasing Due Diligence In The Broker Selection Process To Take Into Account Order Routing Practices Explaining why it is necessary to increase due diligence in your broker selection process Developing in depth questionnaires on the following to determine which brokers you are going to partner with: How your brokers handle order flow What tools are being used Who their liquidity partners are Examining other buy side trends in the changing broker selection process to ensure your procedure is most effective

Overcoming Operational And Technology Hurdles To Create A CSA Program That Allows You To Best Access Liquidity Finding the true numbers: How many buy side firms are using CSAs and for what percentage of their business? Identifying what is still holding some buy side firms back from becoming unbundled Suggestions for dealing with common challenges like PM constraints, bulge bracket research limitations, and just breaking out of the old way of doing things Understanding how CSA programs have impacted the buy side’s relationship with the sell side

Identifying Best Practices And Tools For Effective Commission Management Uncovering how buy side firms are currently handling CSAs/CCAs and administering internal research votes Organizing and simplifying: finding a commission management tool that combines compliance, reconciliation, routing, CSA payments and more Balancing your commission structure to ensure you get best service from your brokers while the proper people get paid Establishing how the buy side is viewing the value of the services that they pay their brokers for

Managing Broker Relationships And Communication To Achieve Best Execution Identifying the communication and relationship issues buy side traders are facing today with their current brokers Establishing proper ways to direct your broker to use algos and manage your trades To micromanage or not? If not, do you find your broker is more helpful in suggesting liquidity options? Analyzing different broker evaluation processes to determine what you can use to achieve better execution

TCA

Leveraging FIX Tag Order Routing Data To Enhance Your Trade Cost Analysis Getting an update on new tags available via FIX Protocol that provide you with order routing information; outlining what specific info you can get back Now that the FIX order routing data is available, what do you do with it? Is the data really relevant in real time? How should you best use it to determine execution quality? Integrating the order routing FIX tag data into your current TCA practices to achieve the more comprehensive TCA

Implementing More Comprehensive, Next-Generation TCA To Properly Evaluate Trade Costs Examining how TCA is continuing to grow and get more sophisticated Describing how the regulatory environment and competitive landscape has changed TCA’s role in the trading process Uncovering which vendors are offering truly innovative next-generation TCA offerings? How are buy and sell side firms adopting these new tools? Looking ahead to forecast how TCA will continue to evolve and impact buy and sell side trading

Systems/IT

Determining Which OMSs And EMSs Can Best Meet The Changing Demands Of Buy And Sell Side Desks Establishing which systems can best populate order routing data for comprehensive trade cost analysis Examining buy side trends in upgrading order and execution management systems; what are the drivers behind the upgrades? How have OMS and EMS evolved in the last year? Is there anything new the buy or sell side trader needs to know? Adjusting your trading systems to manage connectivity as algos and trading venues proliferate

Achieving Execution Venue Transparency: Identifying What’s Required From An IT Perspective Working with your brokers to collect venue execution information within your systems Discovering the best way to assimilate execution venue information and present it to the traders; should it be real time? Going another level of transparency deeper: getting information back about how many hops your order took before ultimately executing Staying current on order routing practices and fragmentation to ensure you are contributing to a more efficient trading desk

Other Topics

Controlled Blotter Scraping: Is Block Flow Coming Back To The Buy Side? Can block flow that has all but disappeared end up back in the buy side’s lap? Is controlled blotter scraping the trend that will do this? Identifying how blotter scraping allows the buy side trader to stop sending orders into every algo or dark pool aggregator Debating the benefits vs. detriments of allowing sell side systems to scrape your blotter; which firms are offering this solution for block flow? Establishing how many screens on your desk should be reserved for incoming block flow that scrapes your blotter

Establishing The Most Competitive Multi-Asset Trading Platform Establishing which brokers provide the best multi-asset service and if they are receiving more order flow Explaining how a cross-asset platform is simpler, cheaper, and more agile Managing the volume of data associated with multi-asset trading; capturing it and using it in real time Debating which trading backgrounds make the best multi-asset trader

Identifying The Best Trading Technologies And Strategies Long-Only Managers Are Adopting For Options Trading Establishing how often the traditional long-only buy side trader is trading options and how this trend has changed over the past year Looking at how options exchanges are evolving; what are the advantages of trading at different options exchanges or venues vs. others? Analyzing the different algorithmic offerings available for the US options market Determining which options trading tools are need-to-have vs. nice-to-have

The Future Of High-Touch Trading: How Are Cash And Block Trading Desks Maintaining Their Competitive Edge? Is regulation and constrained margins causing some banks to scale back on investments made into their traditional cash operations? Uncovering what traditional sell side block trading firms doing to maintain a competitive edge over others How are new interpretations of traditional services differentiating brokers in a field where many products and services have become commoditized? Explaining how sell side firms are electrifying the high-touch market or introducing risk to the fully electronic markets

Portfolio Managers Disclose It All: From Communication Expectations To The Need To Pay X Number Of Brokers Identifying the kind of communication PMs want from their traders Explaining why the structure and number of broker relationships need to be the way they are Examples of best ways that traders and portfolio managers can work together; biggest challenges between the PM/trader relationship How much do PMs understand the trading environment and how traders are evaluated

Customizing Your Algos And Aggregators To Meet Evolving Market Demands Why is customization and sophistication so important to buy side traders today? How are brokers and independent algo providers responding? Understanding the customization: What makes a strategy more aggressive or passive? How does it change the way you interact with the marketplace? Determining the necessary level of testing to decide if the customized algo is “safe;” testing for outlier events, like the flash crash Debating if customization is good or bad for buy side desks; how can standardized models provide better TCA reports?

Examining Trends In Quant Trading Strategy And Technology Adoption Identifying which methodologies quants using for TCA; is there a best practice? Taking the headache out of reconstituting tick databases and data handling; which vendors can help in this ongoing challenge? Establishing more reliable methodologies for developing back testing CEP and processing speed: What solutions are leading quant firms adopting?

Outlining The Skill Set Necessary For Tomorrow’s Best Trading Career Opportunities Explaining which technology skills are in demand; determining how common is the trend of hiring IT to work directly on the desk Are more traders becoming “specialists” in terms of derivatives, emerging markets, different trading strategies, etc? Identifying where more experienced traders need to change their skill set to remain competitive; is there still a place for relationship based trading? Uncovering where the best career opportunities exist on the buy side, sell side, and at prop trading firms

State Of The Hedge Fund Industry: Identifying Opportunities And Challenges In 2011 And Beyond Understanding how recent regulation has impacted hedge fund operations and technology usage; what will Dodd-Frank’s likely impact be on hedge funds? Examining shifting trends in the hedge fund industry in regard to trading strategies and technology adoption Dealing with risk aversion among investors that has led to light volumes Uncovering how hedge funds are using technology to their competitive advantage

Attaining Quality Vs. Quantity Of Research: Sorting Through The “Noise” To Find Value Debating why the buy side is finding it so difficult to get quality research while cookie cutter reports are aplenty Investigating tools and strategies to help traders sort through research and the information overload Building out proper filters for information and research that crosses your desk so you can be most efficient with your time Identifying the best ways to stay informed as a trader without wasting your time

Exploring How The Role Of Technical Analysis Has Changed For Asset Managers Over The Past Decade Buy Side Summit Roundtable Topics Market Structure Determining The Proper Algos To Trade Latest Developments In TCA Obtaining Order Routing Transparency