The TRADE 2018 APAC Algorithmic Trading Survey | Page 3

[ A PA C
A L G O R I T H M I C
T R A D I N G
S U R V E Y ]
Figure 2: Reason for using algorithms (% of responses)
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
Price improvement 8.59 8.50 8.53 9.23 8.76
Consistency of execution performance 9.55 14.29 11.37 8.86 10.05
Customisation capabilities 6.75 5.44 6.16 5.78 6.17
Ease of use 10.35 13.61 11.78 11.93 11.20
Greater anonymity 8.34 10.20 8.76 11.44 10.88
Higher speed, lower latency 6.83 6.32 5.82 7.50 4.49
Increase trader productivity 8.67 10.78 10.55 10.82 10.63
Internal crossing 8.87 6.58 7.01 5.54 8.15
Lower commission rates 9.38 6.12 8.48 8.61 8.55
Reduce market impact 8.00 10.97 11.78 8.73 11.45
Execution consulting 6.80 4.08 3.59 5.78 3.49
Client support 7.87 6.12 6.16 5.78 6.47
Figure 3: Average number of providers by AuM
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
Not answered 3.60 3.03 1.93 2.83 2.03
Up to $0.25 billion 1.33 1.83 2.73 3.02 1.87
$0.25 - $0.5 billion 3.78 2.61 2.33 1.45 3.33
$0.5 - $1 billion 2.19 2.82 2.01 1.67 2.71
$1 - $10 billion 3.08 3.31 3.93 3.42 3.83
$10 - $50 billion 1.58 3.38 3.40 4.72 4.16
More than $50 billion 2.41 3.10 3.67 5.01 5.34
ally pleased with both the product
and service they are receiving from
their algo providers.
What is most revealing about this
year’s survey results is how far al-
gorithm provision has come in just
a few short years, at least according
to APAC respondents. In the 2015
edition of the survey, the average
score was just 5.22, with only one
category scoring higher than 5.40.
Easier and cheaper
In terms of the reasons why APAC
buy-side firms choose to adopt
and use certain algos, as shown in
Figure 2, the results are largely in-
line with historic responses, with
some minor fluctuations appearing
this year.
The primary reasons given by
respondents for adopting algos
were ease of use (10.35% of respon-
dents), consistency of execution
performance (9.55%) and lower
commission rates (9.38%), all of
which suggests that APAC-based
buy-side firms are looking for
algos that are both easy to use and
cost-effective, with a dependable
level of efficacy.
While there were year-on-year
decreases for the consistency of ex-
ecution performance (4.74%) and
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