Technology, Transparency and the Quest for Clients

In the quest to entice more high-frequency trading firms to an exchange, one could take the approach of Singapore Exchange Ltd. (SGX).The platform may permit traders to buy and sell shares in smaller increments.

This would give "electronic trading groups a broader range of potential points on which to compete," according to The Wall Street Journal. Plus it's a way for SGX to target "a key customer group for Western-hemisphere exchange groups."

Physical location is a shrinking piece of the puzzle when looking to woo customers. Traders who use technology to track the news and make trades on one continent could easily use technology to track the news and make trades in time zones half a world away.

"A nuclear meltdown both literally and figuratively overtook global markets," noted Indiana Grain Company CEO Tom Grisafi about round-the-clock activity in Business Insider. "The tone has been set for a full day of trading that will be exponentially more difficult to navigate and monetize for those just showing up for work."

So it's not difficult to see why platforms want to lure electronic trading firms. Their trading intensity creates a lot of revenue for fee-based exchanges, as WSJ points out, and their liquidity can enhance a market's efficiency.

But exchanges aren't the only ones getting new business from electronic traders. Private venues called "dark pools" allow traders to operate in relative secrecy, free from fees and competitor scrutiny.

SGX is considering how to compete with the dark pools, but others across the Pacific Ocean are considering how to better control them. Public companies organized last week to petition legislators and watchdogs for more information about how their stocks get traded. And last month, the committee that investigated the "flash crash" advocated tougher standards for dark pools.

Despite these different approaches, the trick to getting -- and keeping -- HFT clients may be something we all know. Customer service.

"It's natural for people to try and take costs out and make [trading] more efficient," SGX co-president Muthukrishnan Ramaswami told WSJ. "It's only when you don't cater to customers' needs that people want to take the business somewhere else."