The TRADE 67 - Q1 2021 | Page 84

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

Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs Electronic Trading ( GSET ) offers clients access to a suite of global liquidity pools , such as SIGMA X , which is enhanced by its algo execution capabilities . During the peak of market volatility in March and April 2020 , GSET saw volumes 135 % higher than the average trading day , with market data volumes processed by the platform almost tripling overnight . The firm currently has approximately 530 institutional clients on the buy-side that use its algorithms . GSET ’ s “ core ” algorithms include peg , TWAP , VWAP and portfolio algos ( APEX ) and these apply entirely to equities . Goldman Sachs attracts the third highest number of long-only fund responses ( 80 ) in this year ’ s survey . Clients managing over US $ 50 billion in assets represent 39 % of respondents doing business with Goldman Sachs in the long-only 2021 survey . Sixty-eight percent of firms looking to the company for trading expertise indicate they trade at least half of their portfolio value algorithmically .

Goldman Sach ’ s average of 5.72 is just up from its score last year but is nonetheless marginally below the survey average of 5.81 . The firm recorded year-on-year increases in nine categories and outperformed the category average in two areas : execution consistency ( 5.92 ) and flexibility and sophistication of smart order routing ( 5.85 ). For the most part there was little change between its scores this year and last year , its most significant improvements were in service areas such as price improvement (+ 0.24 ) and market impact reduction (+ 0.20 ). Goldman is moving ahead with the build of the new strategic trading platform ‘ Atlas ’, which provides flexible , modular architecture upon which products can drive improvement across clients ’ execution benchmarks . The first algo was launched at the end of 2020 and additional algos will be launched throughout 2021 . In addition , the firm have expanded their offering to include a full algo suite for the complexed regions of MENA .
GOLDMAN SACHS RATINGS FOR ALGORITHMIC PERFORMANCE
Increased trader productivity
Reduced market impact
Execution consistency
Cost Speed Anonymity Price improvement Customisation
5.90 5.61 5.92 5.75 5.78 5.63 5.53 5.50
Ease of use
Order routing logic / analysis
Customer support
Execution consulting
Dark pool access
Flexibility and sophistication of SOR
Algo monitoring
Average score
5.91 5.64 5.75 5.52 5.92 5.85 5.65 5.72
KEY STATS

5.92 Highest score ( execution consistency )

5.50 Lowest score ( customisation )

0.24 Most improved ( price improvement )

-0.20 Least improved ( cost )

84 // TheTRADE // Spring 2021