New Greenwich Report Shows Demand for Integrated Systems Not Keeping Pace with Spread of Cross-Asset Class Trading

Sixty-eight percent of equity, fixed-income and foreign-exchange traders operate in multiple asset classes. The most diverse are equity traders, with 72% trading more than one asset class.

Despite this—and after two decades of investment in integrated trading platforms by systems providers—institutional trading desks are more interested in cross-product coverage than cross-asset technology platforms.

These are among the key results of a new Greenwich Associates study of 358 buy-side traders released today in a new Greenwich Report, Cross-Product Capabilities Hold Key for Trading-Systems Providers.  The report shows clearly that cross-asset class trading is on the rise and suggests there is a lack of demand for integrated, cross-asset class trading platforms as a widespread solution for institutional trading desks.

The report concludes that the inherent complexities of adequately servicing multiple, unique asset classes and products make developing a single system across asset classes a logistical hazard. 

“It’s simply a case of following the money,” says Greenwich Associates analyst Kevin Kozlowski. “Rather than continuing to focus resource spend on the best multi-asset platforms, trading-system providers should focus on building solutions to trade a suite of products within an asset class.”