Liquidnet has expanded its equities workflows and services offering with SuperBlock, a suite it states will provide simpler participation in exceptionally large or illiquid block trades.
Minimum trade sizes will differ by each stock’s market capitalisation, Liquidnet explained, with a focus on the most difficult executions and orders.
SuperBlock Matching is the first release from the initiative, a platform providing users with a different way to match with each other and granting further control over the execution of difficult blocks, the company said.
Speaking to Global Trading, Rob Cranston, global head of equities product at Liquidnet, elaborated on the future of SuperBlock. “We want to look at how we can talk to our members and find opportunities for members to move difficult positions,” he explained. “What’s next is getting this live, having a lot of conversations, getting feedback from members and finding out how they want to move forward, and then planning the next steps.”
Mark Govoni, Liquidnet CEO, said: “The creation of a protected space to trade the most challenging blocks is a direct response to a request from our membership and is an extension of our existing block trading offering, to facilitate more complex and nuanced trades.”
Cranston expanded on the initiative’s origins: “We run a series of innovation sessions every year with our members, called Liquidnet Labs,” he explained. “Last year, one of the topics we focused on was super block trading. Members wanted some help and innovation on how they trade very large or difficult positions into the marketplace.”
“It’s a commitment from us that we’re going to continue to focus on this segment of the market where there hasn’t been a lot of innovation in the last few years,” he concluded.
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