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[ A L G O R I T H M I C T R A D I N G S U R V E Y ]

Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Bank of America Merrill Lynch ( BAML ) drew the second-highest percentage of hedge fund respondents within this year ’ s survey , with only Kepler Cheuvreux receiving more responses . BAML ’ s percentage of the total hedge fund respondents , was consistent with its percentage of responses in last year ’ s survey . Just under half of these responses were from very large clients managing more than $ 50 billion of assets , with around one quarter from the $ 10-50 billion of assets under management bracket .

The majority of respondents said their usage of BAML algos increased year-on-year , with just under one quarter recording consistent usage and one respondent indicating that usage had declined . One-third of respondents said they are considering adopting algos from other providers in the future , with optimised LIS interaction , mid-touch service , SI routing selection and innovative liquidity listed as desired algo features .
While BAML did record decreasing scores in nine of the 14 categories ranked by respondents , these were in-line with the overall survey averages . The bank saw the most significant drop in rankings in the speed , crossing and dark pool access , however the most concerning will be a drop in its customer support rating , which fell from a score of 6 in 2017 to 5.25 in this year ’ s survey . BAML received marginally increased ratings for its customisation and smart order routing capabilities this year , with the largest increase coming for its execution consulting , which was scored 5.83 by hedge fund respondents .
RATINGS FOR ALGORITHM PERFORMANCE 2018 2017
Improve trader productivity
Reduce market impact
Execution consistency
Cost
Speed
Anonymity
Price improvement
Customisation
Ease of use
Crossing
Customer support
Execution consulting
Dark pool access
Smart order routing capabilities
5.43 5.75
5.38
5.69 5.50
5.80
5.31
5.17
5.65
5.74 5.69 5.77
5.07 5.27
5.62 5.45
5.74 5.80
5.05 5.63
5.25
6.00
5.83 5.24 5.19 5.61 5.62 5.58
0.00 1.0 0 2.00 3.00 4.0 0 5.00 6.0 0 7.00
80 // TheTrade // Summer 2018