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Figure 4: Number of providers used(% of responses)
35 % 34 % 2026
9 % 1O % 12 %
global firms with more than $ 50 billion in AUM continue to use the highest number of algo providers at nearly five( 4.86), an increase by. 16 providers from last year.
The biggest decline came from those firms with $ 0.5 billion to $ 1 billion in AUM, who reported using approximately one less algo provider for this year(-0.76), bringing the average closer to two algos per firm. The largest year-on-year increase in the number of brokers used came from firms not identifying the AUM, with an increase of almost one algo provider from 3.20 to four, followed by a growth of 0.47 with AUM of $ 0. 25 billion to 0.5 billion from 2.23 in 2025 to 2.70.
One notable change observed in the firms with AUM of $ 10 billion to $ 50 billion was a decrease in algos used from 5.14 in 2024 down to 3.81 in 2026. This could suggest that these firms have more sophisticated trading needs than smaller managers, but without the scale. The advancement in algo sophistication is leading to algo
Provider count
consolidation or perhaps just cost and work efficiency load pressure mandates algo consolidation.
While the average number of providers has fluctuated modestly in recent years, the shifts have not been material. Given the rising complexity and volatility of global markets and the steady expansion of trading strategies, it is reasonable to expect that the average number of providers will remain broadly stable for the near future.
Shifts to 24 * 5 / 6 trading, T + 0 rollout and new asset class coverage amplify cross-market complexity, making algorithmic execution essential for delivering consistent, normalised trading performance across fragmented liquidity. Thus, we may expect buy-side firms to adopt more functionality from their existing algo providers, which could impact on the scores or adoption of new algo providers to meet the demand. As larger buy-side firms continue to move into non-equity asset classes, including private market and cryptocurrencies, we
1 2 3 4 5 + can expect to see the total number of providers increase, especially given the prevailing unpredictable market conditions and regulatory uncertainty.
Global banks have recognised the demand, increasing their investment in developing and marketing algos meeting these new demands, to further build on their existing relationships with the buyside and deepen their competitive market positioning.
When we remove the AUM filter, the number of providers used by long-only managers illustrates a clear bifurcation between those that use five or more providers( 35 %) versus firms just leveraging a single provider( 35 %), as shown in Figure 4. This shows an obvious choice between firms with smaller AUM opting for a single algo provider, whereas the larger firms tend to lean towards multiple providers. Overall, the usage of multiple providers is still the market norm, with over 65 % of firms leveraging more than one provider to meet their trading needs.
Use of algorithms by value traded When examining the distribution of algo usage by value traded, similar to previous surveys, this year’ s result showed that two thirds of the respondents indicated they use algos to trade more than half of their value at 57 %( Figure 5). This is an increase from last year, when 52 % in 2025 and 47 % in 2024 of respondents said they traded the majority of their value via algorithms.
The largest increase occurred among respondents trading 80 % of their value, with an impressive year-on-year growth of 8.13 %, similar to the level of growth observed in 2024 over 2023. On the other hand, those
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