[ S U R V E Y | E X E C U T I O N M A N A G E M E N T S Y S T E M S ]
Figure 2: Respondent profile
22 % Other( Technology, Operations, Support)
Portfolio manager
20 % Head of Trading
6 % 10 %
42 % Trader
CEO, CRO, CTO, COO
Figure 3: Most important features Feature |
2025 |
2024 |
2023 |
Ease of Use |
63.71 |
68.01 |
67.97 |
Connectivity And Integration |
43.95 |
37.29 |
45.51 |
Client Service |
42.74 |
44.42 |
43.75 |
Integration with OMS |
38.51 |
34.73 |
30.66 |
Number of Connections |
37.70 |
38.94 |
39.65 |
Breadth of Coverage |
28.63 |
19.74 |
25.98 |
Breadth of Options |
26.41 |
29.62 |
26.95 |
Low Latency |
24.40 |
23.03 |
19.73 |
Timeliness of Implementation |
23.99 |
27.79 |
29.49 |
Global Coverage |
21.98 |
21.57 |
22.27 |
Breadth of Direct Connections |
21.57 |
29.43 |
22.85 |
FIX Capabilities |
16.33 |
12.43 |
13.67 |
side respondents were generally satisfied at least with the basic features offered by their EMS providers.
The TRADE focuses its survey’ s profile on buy-side respondents with hands on experience with trading technology. The mix of traders, portfolio managers and technology personnel provide
a rich perspective on the use of EMS solutions and the impact on the overall front-office business. As in previous years, traders( 42 %) and heads of trading( 20 %) represent the core decision makers for selecting EMS platforms and form the bulk of the respondent pool in this year’ s survey( Figure 2). The next largest group comprised of those in other roles( 22 %) including technology, operations and support, who can also offer unique insight into how these systems are implemented and utilised within their respective firms.
Respondents were asked to select up to four of what they find to be the most important features of their EMS( Figure 3) and similar to previous years, almost 64 % of respondents named ease-of-use as one of their top four. This was followed by connectivity and integration and client service at around 44 %, and integration with OMS and number of connections at around 38 %. On the other hand, respondents selected FIX capabilities as the least important feature at 16.33 %, though the feature did see a healthy increase from the previous year(+ 3.90 %). Rounding out the bottom three were breadth of direct connections at 21.57 % and global coverage at around 22 %, which combined with FIX capabilities, clearly represent basic requirements for today’ s EMS solutions.
The evolving priorities of buy-side firms related to their EMS needs align well with the respondents’ ranking of key features. The most significant year-on-year increases in feature importance in the 2025 survey was breadth of coverage which increased 8.88 %, followed by connectivity and integration(+ 6.66 %), FIX capabilities(+ 3.90 %), and integration of OMS(+ 3.77 %). EMS features that showed the highest percentage drop in importance this year included breadth of direct connections(-7.86 %), ease of use(-4.30 %) and timeliness of implementation(-3.80 %).
As buy-side firms continue to
64 // TheTRADE // Q3 2025