Ex-head of trading at multi-billion dollar quantitative fund manager First Quadrant, Tokuyama, will head up the firm’s newest venture into FX, set to launch in late 2023.
Trading Technologies (TT) announced its new business unit, TT FX, at the FIA International Derivatives Expo (IDX) in London yesterday.
TT FX represents the firm’s latest expansion into new asset classes, following its acquisition in March of AxeTrading, a leading global provider of fixed income trading solutions.
Tokuyama will manage the new business line with an initial focus on expanding his team with new FX technology and product hires, as well as working on connectivity to major electronic communication networks (ECNs) and liquidity providers, and the delivery of advanced FX trading capabilities through TT’s EMS.
He has spent the past decade at Los Angeles-based First Quadrant – a quant fund that at its peak managed over US$25bn in assets. As head of trading, he transformed the firm’s FX trading from 98% voice execution to 95% electronic and positioned First Quadrant at the forefront of FX algorithms and automation. He was responsible for managing the trading team and overseeing all trading activity at the firm including FX, equities, commodities, futures, listed options and total return swaps. Prior to First Quadrant, Tokuyama worked with Goldman Sachs in Tokyo and Hong Kong, where he was a member of the macro asset ales team specializing in electronic FX, responsible for distributing the Goldman Sachs electronic FX offering across Asia. He was also instrumental in launching both electronic NDFs and first-generation FX algorithms.
“I have long believed that technology will continue to advance and shape the future of FX trading through greater focus on automation and data,” said Tokuyama. “FX is in high demand by TT clients, and I’m excited about the opportunity to further shape the FX strategy and deliver a product that TT clients will be proud to use.”
The first phase of implementation for TT FX, slated for late 2023, will enable TT buy-side clients to trade spot FX through a choice of curated ECNs. In early 2024, TT will extend the offering to include liquidity from major banks and expand the product set to include forwards, non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) and swaps.
“We have more than 6,000 buy-side users alone on the TT platform – including hedge funds, CTAs, proprietary traders and commodity trading firms – who already trade a huge amount of FX on other systems and platforms,” said TT CEO Keith Todd.
“Following many months of outreach and research with our clients, we’ve heard significant positive feedback and strong demand to consolidate this activity on TT’s EMS. TT FX will leverage the unparalleled global distribution capabilities of our platform, the award-winning functionality of our EMS and the widest possible choice of liquidity providers to deliver a truly best-in-class solution.”
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