BST Awards 2020: Best buy-side algorithmic/DMA product or service—Tethys Technology

In yet another upset in this year’s BST Awards, New York-based Tethys Technology has broken Dash Financial Technology’s two-year winning streak in the category of best buy-side algorithmic/DMA product or service.

Tethys’s suite of algorithmic trading strategies covers a range of asset classes that includes US and international equities, options and futures. The algorithms are built with input from clients, which are split between sell-side broker-dealers and sophisticated buy-side clients, which comprise hedge funds, asset managers, and pension funds. 

Nitin Gambhir, founder and CEO, says Tethys makes continual enhancements to the underlying models of its algorithms, and the extended periods of volatility 2020 has wrought have merited a number of adjustments.

Gambhir sees sustained market volatility and complex market microstructure—along with the proliferation of lit and dark venues—as the main themes in 2020, and he expects these trends to continue into 2021. 

Looking ahead, the firm plans to expand its actionable transaction cost analysis (TCA) offering to the buy side. Actionable TCA refers to TCA data that allows users to get a better understanding of their intraday alpha, if they have any, and highlight changes they can make to algorithms or settings to enhance trade execution performance. 

“Our clients are increasingly looking for guidance on optimal TCA, and how to interpret it and take action based on those results,” Gambhir says. 

Gambhir says the firm will be rolling out a smart order routing (SOR) tool in the first quarter of 2021, allowing clients to manage preferences for dark routing and customize algo settings. 

“Uniquely, clients will be able to control routing preference in inter-listed securities, and access dark liquidity and closing auctions in dual markets,” he says.