BST Awards 2025: Best buy-side algo trading tool/suite—Tethys Technology

Overview

Asset managers are obliged to comply with best execution mandates while delivering consistent results to their investors. However, finding reliable algorithmic solutions across global markets is a persistent challenge for them. TethysAlgo addresses this challenge by offering the buy side a broker-neutral suite of customizable execution algorithms, accessible from any execution management system, order management system or the TethysEMS. Covering 29 equity markets and over 280 futures products, it also supports pairs, program and options trading. Advanced machine learning/AI functionality ensures high performance, efficiency and consistency.

The solution  

Asset managers often face fragmented algo offerings across regions and asset classes, forcing them to compromise on consistency and performance. TethysAlgo addresses this by providing a broad and uniform algorithmic suite, matching top dealers in its scope. The firm’s research team enhances execution with algo wheels, A/B testing and alpha-focused transaction-cost analysis (TCA), while its real-time user acceptance testing (UAT) environment with live exchange simulation ensures strategies are validated and optimized before deployment.

Secret sauce  

Robust models underpin all Tethys algorithmic products. The design and scalability of the product architecture allows for component models to be updated regularly and easily. This allows the firm’s research team to incorporate continuous research and technology updates to its algo logic. Its parameterization framework offers rapid customization and control over algo behavior. Ultimately, the selling point for Tethys’ products are its market microstructure expertise that results in superior performance by minimizing slippage and maximizing alpha capture.

Recent milestones

Tethys recently:

• Enhanced the order analytics in its order management portal where clients can see details like closing auction allocation, performance to benchmarks and participation tracking
• Updated its global futures algorithms, resulting in the top 1% performance ranking from its clients
• Introduced rules-based intra-order switching of execution broker if a security is restricted or if a dealer is experiencing technical issues

Future objectives

Tethys plans to:

• Offer its buy-side client access to all major dealer dark pools, multilateral pools and electronic liquidity providers (ELPs)
• Incorporate signals to the algo stack from a new “state of the world” recurrent neural network model to optimize micro actions and hence improve every action taken by the algorithm
• Introduce algorithms for trading digital assets across venues, including options. Tethys currently supports trading of Bitcoin futures and ETFs.

Why they won

New York-based Tethys Technology follows up its win in this category in last year’s BST Awards by winning it again and by so doing underlining its position as one of the go-to providers in what is a highly competitive market featuring numerous players, including investment banks/broker-dealers, broker-neutral technology providers and market-makers/ELPs. Tethys’ win is thanks to its impressive TethysAlgo offering, designed to deliver consistent, high-quality executions for its buy-side users across global markets. The platform’s broker-neutral, cross-asset architecture features a range of algorithm types spanning 29 equity markets and more than 280 futures products, allowing asset managers to deploy their algo strategies without having to worry about regional fragmentation. 

TethysAlgo’s integration of machine learning and AI technology, combined with it rigorous research framework, which includes algo wheels—functionality that automatically routes orders to brokers or execution algorithms based on data-driven rules developed to eliminate trader bias and improve execution quality—A/B testing and TCA, help to deliver high performance and continuous improvement for its buy-side users. Tethys’ real-time UAT environment and model-driven architecture further differentiate the platform, allowing for rapid refinement and customization without compromising stability. Recent enhancements, including advanced order analytics, new futures algorithms and automated broker switching, underscore the firm’s commitment to maintaining its position as one of the leaders in this perennially competitive—and lucrative—market.