Webinar: BrightSun Group

Reducing Slippage Through Good Visualization

Date: April 04, 2012, 10:30 New York Time, 3:30 London Time

Trading desks are perpetually looking for ways to reduce their slippage bills. Traders and managers often use an iterative approach; evaluating different ways to execute against each other, choosing a winner, and using the insights gained to inform future evaluations. The benefit of this approach is constant innovation: improving performance and understanding of the markets at each step. But evaluating algorithms in dynamic markets is very tricky. It's far from straightforward to pick a definitive winner. This webinar will focus on how to use visual tools to make better evaluation decisions, and ultimately help reduce slippage and drive actionable insights about the nature of the markets.

We will explore a case study where we evaluate several algorithms against each other and leverage the visual aspects of BrightSun to decide which algorithms work better. More specifically, we will use the drill-down capabilities of BrightSun to tease-out the circumstances under which certain algorithms work better. Does a certain algorithm work best for larger orders? In Asian trading hours? On days with sizeable liquidity gaps? Ultimately, we will see how to use insights accrued from such analysis to iterate toward a more perfect understanding of the market.

A portion of the webinar will touch on real-time execution monitoring and show-off the "needle-in-the-haystack" capabilities of BrightSun. We will see how to use visual tools to spot potentially expensive trades as they happen. We will also show how to assess market conditions in which it might be advisable to modify a trading strategy on-the-fly, as well as other features of BrightSun.