Swiss investment bank UBS is launching a direct market access (DMA) platform for options trading that can be accessed from 14 third party vendor systems.
UBS, which already provides DMA to the equities cash market, says the new offering follows increasing up-take of electronic trading in the options market.
"Client demand for electronic trading capabilities has never been higher and it is estimated that by 2009, 95% of small orders will be traded electronically," says John DiBacco, head of US equity derivatives trading, UBS. "As volumes overall increase and clients want to directly control their orders electronically, UBS Options DMA broadens the capabilities of our electronic trading platforms for a segment of our sophisticated client base."
The bank says 14 major OMS and EMS providers are participating in the launch of the Options DMA. Access to the platform will be available via systems supplied by Advent Software, Charles River Development, Eze Castle, Fidessa, FlexTrade, Inforeach, ITG Macgregor, Linedata, Neovest, Portware, Reuters Trading for Exchanges, Tethys Technologies, Townsend Analytics and TradingScreen.
Clients will send electronic orders to an options exchange directly from their desktops, either through UBS Pinpoint EMS, or via thrid party applications. The Options DMA enables clients to send listed options orders to the UBS Smart Router or directly to a specific exchange.