Algorithmic Software - Apama
Progress Software Corporation (Nasdaq: PRGS), a global supplier of application infrastructure software used to develop, deploy, integrate and manage business applications has been generating rather a lot of news headlines in the Algorithmic software space over the last few months. Recently there has been key relationship announcements with Microsoft Corporation in the area of MiFID regulation suite software and only last week a press release announcing that the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the independent non- governmental body that regulates the financial services industry in the UK, will utilize the Progress(R) Apama(R) Event Processing Platform to power SABRE(1) II, its transaction monitoring and market abuse detection system.
High praise indeed and a huge kudos to the Apama marketing team. I have been helping an automated systems developer client evaluate the Apama system for potential implementation, a complete move from the outdated Tradestation environment and quite literally a move from reactive trading to proactive real time event trading. In simple terms Apama platform has the ability to listen to the market during the day and act upon the information flow coming through, either via “news events” ( Dow Jones and Progress Apama First to Integrate Elementized News into Algorithmic Trading Platform) or “price”events by linking into the many liquidity pools, a particularly useful situation in the forex market that my client works in, given the fragmented market place . It means via a prime brokerage the client can plug into a series of liquidity pools and monitor both best buy and sell pricing and have deployed an Algorithm to take advantage of any discrepancies (arbitrage) that come available or at worst create the best possible price entry or exit available.
All this is driven by the Apama algorithmic event processors with Algorithmic strategies then developed by each user to take advantage of their own market defined opportunities. Apama described their software in their original roll-out as follows, “While there are a number of ‘black box’ algorithmic trading systems on the market, the Apama technology enables traders to instantly and continuously monitor, analyze, and respond to market events across asset classes, including equities, futures, bonds and foreign exchange, using their own algorithmic strategies. Literally thousands of strategies can be applied to multiple real-time data streams, with sub-second responses resulting in buy or sell orders. The Apama technology also enables financial institutions to conduct real-time risk analysis, reducing the burden of end-of-day risk analysis, and freeing capital within buy- and sell-side institutions to maximize trading capabilities while conforming to the SEC’s Capital Adequacy Directive“.
That was back in June 2005 when the software was first being introduced to the market, since then and and to my clients advantage Apama just recently made the following announcement.. (18th June 2007) Progress Software Launches Apama FX Market Aggregation Accelerator in which its states inter alia as follows “Combining a set of FX (foreign exchange) integration adapters with pre-built Apama trading dashboards and foundation FX algorithms, the Apama FX Market Aggregation Accelerator helps both sell- and buy-side traders develop and deploy high-frequency foreign exchange trading strategies that capitalize on proprietary trading techniques. The product will enable traders to accelerate the deployment of trading strategies that can access multiple FX liquidity sources to identify best price and market depth“.Bingo, ready to rock out of the box scalping.. oops I mean arbitrage. As you can see the world of Algorithmic trading is hotting up and in the FX market where I live, Apama seems to be a must have Alpha generator. Bear in mind the cost is not cheap, hefty licence & training fees make deployment a long-term commitment. If you don’t have your own quants to build the strategies then add some 200k PA to the budget for this.
Apama cannot only be used in the fast lane, it is highly suitable for deployment on a sub licence basis to corporate treasury offices for carry trade and hedging strategies. My client ITFX Trading systems of Italy will be deploying these systems for this purpose when it introduces the Apama system in the near future. The system allows the ITFX engineers to build the algo to suit the clients needs and then deploy them to the corporate, broker or HNW trader via a secure user terminal allowing user execution preference.
For system developers, emerging fund managers or brokers who wish to step up to this fantastic software application platform please send an email to “sales” at this website and I will happily pass them on or contact ITFX Trading Systems directly.
Related Links
Progress Apama news & Press Releases
Algorithmic Trading Resource Center
MorganMitchell Partners provides Marketing and FX Market advisory services such as broker execution/software services to SME size Automated Trading System developers working in the forex market place. For further information visit our website at www.morganmitchellpartners.com
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