The integration pairs AthenaTrader's suite of automated and algorithmic trading tools with such leading ECNs as Hotspot FXi and Currenex ESP, which support automated trading through instant dealing, anonymous, multibank FX ECN structures.

AthenaTrader users will be able to implement automated and algorithmic trading strategies directly into the spot foreign exchange market, as well as add a foreign exchange facet to complex automated trade strategies that are executed across the global equities, futures, and options markets currently available on AthenaTrader. AthenaTrader is linked to the ECNs via an internal FIX gateway, providing users with instantaneous FX trading capability and live, streaming, executable market data, supplied by the ECNs' network of bank market makers and institutional clients. The FX montage is installed at several sites, including one of the largest hedge firms in the world.

AthenaTrader includes innovative facilities for trading FX across fragmented markets. Real-time prices from several liquidity providers can be displayed in a "montage", enabling traders to find the best price available and to sweep the top of book across several ECNs in one operation. Target positions may be staged in a shared blotter, for simultaneous handling by several traders on a desk. Additionally, the system enables clients to define and trade "synthetics", virtual instruments that are derived from other products. Using AthenaTrader, all capabilities can be controlled in a programmatic fashion to support algorithmic trading.

"The rise of electronic foreign exchange trading platforms that provide real-time, executable quotes and instantaneous, anonymous trade executions have created the necessary conditions for the development of robust automated trading strategies in spot FX," said Adam Sussman, Consultant, The Tabb Group. "As the electronic trading platforms gain liquidity, narrow bid/offer spreads and diversify client flows, they will attract even more liquidity from automated trading shops."

This evolution is underway. For example, direct client-to-client matches account for approximately 45 percent of daily trading volume on the Hotspot FXi ECN, totaling several billion dollars. This type of trading activity is driven, in part, by the adaptation of proprietary algorithmic and statistical arbitrage models as used in equities and futures, into spot FX.