Icap is what it is now called. They are the main competitor to Espeed. They bought Brokertec and are European based.
I believe it is now called Icap/brokertec. I have only used espeed but know many that use Brokertech and are geering up for the following:
Here is a news release a while back from TT:
ICAP's BrokerTec and Trading Technologies to Launch
an Alternative Execution Marketplace
Jersey City, N.J. and Chicago, Il., February 11, 2004 â ICAP's BrokerTec, the world's largest electronic interdealer platform in the fixed income markets, and Trading Technologies International, Inc., one of the world's leading providers of trading software for professional derivatives traders, today announced that they will launch an alternative marketplace to execute trades in U.S. Treasury benchmark issues. M arket professionals worldwide will be able to trade U.S. Treasury issues with futures-style execution on ICAP's BrokerTec platform using the Trading Technologies front-end to access this new marketplace. This alternative marketplace is scheduled to launch by the end of 1 st quarter 2004.
Traditionally, the U.S. Treasury cash and futures marketplaces trade side by side and are, in fact, traded against each other; however, these instruments trade with different trading protocols and rules. Through Trading Technologies' sophisticated front-end, X_TRADER ® , and by exploiting its automated trading capabilities, including X_TRADER's Autospreader and Autotrader, mutual clients will be able to access the BrokerTec marketplace to transact outright cash instruments as well as cash instruments against futures utilizing futures-style execution.
âThis new alternative execution marketplace will thus allow professional traders globally to trade U.S. Treasury futures and cash instruments with identical trading protocols,â stated Hal Hinkle, CEO of ICAP Electronic Broking, a division of ICAP plc. âBy introducing the same trading rules for cash as already exist in futures, traders who choose to use the alternative execution method will enjoy greater reliability and efficiency when hedging between cash and futures. We believe that the introduction of this alternative execution protocol for U.S. Treasuries with Trading Technologies will complement the existing futures and wholesale cash markets for U.S. Treasuries. Given Trading Technologies' significant futures market presence, this is a strong alliance between the most widely used futures ISV and a leading electronic treasury trading platform,â commented Mr. Hinkle.
âTogether with BrokerTec, we are bringing futures-style execution to the U.S. Treasuries cash market, which we believe will result in more opportunities for cash traders. We anticipate this will attract greater participation among non-traditional US Treasuries market players and create additional liquidity, leading to stronger, more efficient markets worldwide,â said Harris Brumfield, CEO of TT. âIn addition, this decision signals an extension of our business revenue, as it is the first time Trading Technologies has directly connected to the cash market. While vastly increasing our user base, this will create incredible efficiencies and trading opportunities by making the cash and futures markets tradable through one ISV,â concluded Mr. Brumfield.
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