Fixed income and derivatives trading specialist Tradeweb has established a new platform for US equity options using request for quote (RFQ) functionality.
The institutional customer-to-dealer trading platform, which has been designed to improve access to liquidity in the growing US options market, deploys the same RFQ methods Tradeweb has used in fixed income, derivatives and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) markets.
The launch means institutional investors can use the platform to send simultaneous electronic price requests to various market markers for more aggressive pricing and tighter spreads, Tradeweb said.
The RFQ function also removes the need to call individual dealers or use multiple exchanges for pricing and the execution of large trades. The new platform will offer RFQ trading of multi-leg options on all US listed single stocks, ETFs and equity indices.
“Our institutional ETF trading platforms were an important step in enabling buy side institutions access to better pricing and size for block ETF trades,” said Adam Gould, head of US equities at Tradeweb.
“We’ve now expanded the Tradeweb RFQ model to US options in direct response to clients who want the same value they experience executing ETFs on Tradeweb applied to options. Just as we’ve seen on our ETF platform, we expect our new options offering to drive better pricing for clients, while also streamlining their workflow and demonstrating best execution.”
Tradeweb added that there are currently nine market makers, a mix of banks and proprietary trading firms, live on the platform.
Earlier this year, Tradeweb expanded its capabilities with the launch of a block trading cash equity platform with Plato Partnership. The platform, known as eBlock, will allow traders to source and aggregate broker principle risk, providing the buy-side with more control over execution.