Waters Rankings 2024: Best transaction-cost analysis (TCA) system provider (highly commended)—S&P Global Market Intelligence
S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Transaction Cost Analysis tool is highly commended in the best transaction-cost analysis (TCA) system provider category of the 2024 Waters Rankings.
Overview
S&P Global Market Intelligence provides a multi-asset class transaction-cost analysis (TCA) platform that meets the trading and execution analytics demands and business needs of the buy side and sell side. It allows compliance teams to demonstrate that best execution mandates have been satisfied when utilizing the tool. Actionable insights on trading performance can be gleaned, while identified trends allow users to make faster, more judicious trading decisions.
This recognition is testament to the power of our solutions in improving trading processes and helping buy- and sell-side firms meet the best execution requirements across multiple asset classes. S&P’s extensive data coverage gives us a unique advantage in building analytics for assets for which market data is scarce. We look forward to continuing to drive efficient trading decisions and provide users with actionable insights to enhance trading performances and generate additional alpha
S&P Global Market Intelligence
The solution
S&P Global’s Trading Analytics suite addresses two primary challenges for our users. First, it provides transparency and granularity into trading performances and identifies the specific cost drivers for a particular trade to provide wider context on trend analysis, allowing users to improve their trading decision-making/processes. Second, it lends itself to meeting best execution requirements/mandates across multiple asset classes.
Secret sauce
S&P Global’s Trading Analytics products leverage a number of in-house and proprietary benchmark datasets that underpin the firm’s asset class offerings, providing high-quality data that allows users to develop analytics for assets where data is scarce. The firm complements this with proprietary benchmarks and metrics, deep peer universes allowing users to compare similar entities for analytical purposes, and a customizable front-end.
Recent milestones
S&P Global recently launched TCA for listed futures and will shortly launch TCA for listed options, completing the full asset class suite of analytics. It also launched its algorithmic trading insights report, which provides execution analysis for algorithms captured within its peer dataset and makes comparisons in a variety of visual styles providing user insight into algorithm usages and performances across the industry.
Future objectives
In the next 12 months, S&P Global will focus on redesigning its front-end, providing a new look and feel as well as enhanced functionality and reporting capabilities, enhancing a number of its analytics, and providing a full trade lifecycle view in some instances as well as adding new metrics and benchmarks. Additional pre-trade models will also be added, as will TCA for listed options.
Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.
To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@waterstechnology.com or view our subscription options here: https://subscriptions.waterstechnology.com/subscribe
You are currently unable to print this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (point 2.4), printing is limited to a single copy.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (clause 2.4), an Authorised User may only make one copy of the materials for their own personal use. You must also comply with the restrictions in clause 2.5.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
More on Awards & Rankings
Best market data newcomer (vendor or product)—Octaura
Octaura’s Insights Platform is an integrated market intelligence and analytics offering purpose-built for the leveraged loan market.
Best market data provider (broker)—Fenics Market Data & Analytics
FMD’s Broker Data service draws on BGC Group’s global brokerage operations to provide pricing, trade and order-flow information across FX, rates, fixed income, commodities and derivatives.
Best evaluated pricing service provider/vendor—Infront
Infront Quant supplies independent, cross‑asset valuations with a “white‑box approach”, offering level 1 and 2 transparency.
IMD & IRD Awards 2026 winner’s interview—Smartstream
Smartstream wins Best reference data managed service at the IMD & IRD Awards 2026
Best reference data integration vendor—Gresham
Gresham’s AI-native EDM Suite combines data from disparate sources and systems and provides user-firms with a single point of integration across the data life cycle.
Best ESG data initiative—Bloomberg
Bloomberg’s Impact and Allocation dataset provides investors with a consistent means of assessing how proceeds are being deployed and what outcomes issuers report.
Best AI/machine learning data initiative—FactSet
FactSet unveiled its MCP server in December 2025, allowing secure, authorized access to the firm’s data from third‑party AI tools.
Best corporate actions data initiative—S&P Global Market Intelligence
MCA Plus consolidates specialist datasets, validation and operational oversight across five domains, reducing fragmented workflows and manual processes.