LMAX Exchange and academic expert unite to advance transparency in FX markets
London, 15 November 2017 – LMAX Exchange, the FCA regulated multilateral trading facility (MTF) for foreign exchange (FX), announces its partnership with a leading academic at the University of Oxford to develop a methodology for consistent evaluation of trading costs across liquidity pools that can be used by the FX industry. This follows LMAX Exchange’s whitepaper – “TCA and fair execution. The metrics the FX industry must use”, published in May 2017 – and is a significant milestone in the firm’s call for industry-wide collaboration to agree a common approach to transaction cost analysis (TCA) in FX.
Dr. Álvaro Cartea of the University of Oxford’s Mathematical Institute is a leading researcher and published finance expert specialising in high-frequency and algorithmic trading, market quality and financial regulation. Together, LMAX Exchange and Dr. Cartea aim to drive forward the industry’s understanding of FX TCA and produce mathematically robust findings of practical value to benefit all FX market participants.
LMAX Exchange is a long-time advocate for complete transparency on trading costs and execution quality in the FX industry. For the last two years, it has conducted independent data research and led the development of FX TCA methodology to compare trading costs across all types of liquidity prevalent in the FX market, including firm and last look pricing, and which it detailed in its whitepaper.
LMAX Exchange and Dr. Cartea intend their work to be unbiased, a reflective and fair assessment, and to promote further FX industry engagement. To ensure this, Dr. Cartea will conduct independent research, and call on contributions from other market participants and academics.
“There has been very little published research to date in FX and particularly in the fields of Market Structure and Transaction Cost Analysis when compared to more regulated asset classes,” says Dr. Andrew Phillips, Chief Technology Officer at LMAX Exchange. “We were delighted to be approached by Dr. Cartea in response to our TCA whitepaper. The mathematical rigour and analysis that Dr. Cartea and his group will bring to the topic presents a unique opportunity for us to support and accelerate the pace of industry understanding of FX TCA.”
Dr. Álvaro Cartea, Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford commented: “Blending advanced mathematical modelling with industry knowledge and data is the most effective way to deliver research with impact. One of our primary objectives is to develop a mathematical model to address issues at the heart of financial market structure.”
David Mercer, Chief Executive of LMAX Exchange commented: “In the recently published responses to the Global Foreign Exchange Committee’s consultation on ‘last look’, the majority of firms advocated for more transparency and disclosure. While the practice of ‘last look’ exists, additional transparency can only be achieved through a standardised approach. Market participants need a common set of metrics to assess execution factors and costs across liquidity types.
“We are very pleased to work with Dr. Cartea with this objective, and to continue to fuel the debate around better market structures and the creation of genuine transparency. Ultimately, this is about helping the industry move towards a position where traders are in control of their trading costs and can set their liquidity strategy accordingly.”
Download as a PDF – 
Media Contacts
For further information, please contact:
LMAX Exchange:
Barbara Pozdorovkina T: +44 20 3192 2524 E: [email protected]
About LMAX Exchange
LMAX Exchange Group is a dynamic, visionary and award-winning financial technology company. Recognised as one of the UK’s fastest growing technology firms, LMAX Exchange is leading the transformation of the global FX industry to transparent, fair, precise and consistent execution. Operating one global marketplace for trading FX, metals, indices and commodities, LMAX Exchange delivers open access, transparency and a level playing field to all market participants.
LMAX Exchange Group offers all clients the ability to trade on LMAX Exchange central limit order book, driven by streaming no ‘last look’ limit-order liquidity from top tier banks and non-bank financial institutions. Servicing funds, banks, brokerages, asset managers and proprietary trading firms, LMAX Exchange offers an anonymous, regulated, rules-based trading environment, order execution in strict price/time priority, and access to real-time streaming market and trade data, enabling all market participants to control execution quality and total trading costs.
Offering a comprehensive range of instruments and ultra-low latency execution, LMAX Exchange operates a global FX exchange infrastructure with matching engines in London, New York and Tokyo.
LMAX Exchange - a unique vision for global FX.
Financial technology awards:
2017 Best FX Trading Venue - (ECN/MTF) – Fund Technology and WSL Awards more
LMAX Exchange has been awarded The Fund Technology and WSL Awards “Best FX Trading Venue - ECN/MTF”. The award honours excellence among providers to the institutional trading industry. 2016 Best Trading & Execution Technology – HFM US Technology Awards more
The HFM US Technology awards recognise hedge fund technology providers that have demonstrated exceptional customer service and innovative product development in the past 12 months. 2013 Best Overall Testing Project – The European Software Testing Awards more
2011 Best Trading System – Financial Sector Technology Awards more
The FST Awards recognise excellence and innovation in the field of information technology within the UK and EMEA financial services sector.2011 Innovative Programming Framework – Oracle Duke's Choice Awards more
Oracle’s Duke's Choice Awards celebrate extreme innovation in the world of Java technology and are granted to the most innovative projects using the Java platform. FX industry awards:
2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 Best FX Trading Venue - (ECN/MTF) – WSL Awards more
LMAX Exchange has been awarded The WSL Awards “Best FX Trading Venue - ECN/MTF” for four consecutive years. The awards honour excellence among providers to the institutional trading industry. 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 Best Margin Sector Platform – Profit & Loss Readers' Choice Awards more
LMAX Exchange has been awarded The Profit & Loss Readers’ Choice Awards “Best Margin Sector Platform” for five consecutive years. These awards are voted on by the readers and recognise excellence within the foreign exchange industry throughout the previous year. 2017, 2013 Best Execution Venue – Forex Magnates Awards more
LMAX Exchange has been awarded the Forex Magnates Awards “Best Execution Venue”. The awards are granted to the top firms in their categories and announced at the annual London summit. 2014 Best Infrastructure/Technology Initiative – WSL Institutional Trading Awardsmore
LMAX Exchange has been awarded The Wall Street Letter Institutional Trading Awards “Best Infrastructure/Technology Initiative” in 2014. WSL awards honour excellence among providers to the institutional trading industry. Business growth awards:
2016, 2015 Winner – Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 more
Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 is a ranking of the 50 fastest-growing technology companies in the UK, based on percentage growth of fiscal year revenues over the last four years. 2016, 2015 Winner – Deloitte EMEA Technology Fast 500 more
The Deloitte EMEA Technology Fast 500 pre-eminent technology awards program is a ranking of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa's fastest-growing technology companies based on percentage revenue growth over three years. 2015, 2014, 2013 Fastest Growing Tech Company in the UK – The Sunday Times Tech Track 100 more
LMAX Exchange has been recognised amongst the UK’s fastest growing technology firms for three consecutive years. Tech Track 100, compiled by Fast Track annually and published by the Sunday Times each September, lists Britain’s 100 fastest-growing private tech companies based on sales growth over the last three years. 2015 Recognised as a Tech City Future Fifty company – Tech City UK Future Fiftymore
LMAX Exchange is part of the Future Fifty programme, focused on accelerating the success of high-growth tech businesses. LMAX Exchange Group is the holding company of LMAX Limited and LMAX Broker Limited.
LMAX Exchange is a trading name of LMAX Limited, which operates a multilateral trading facility, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (firm reference number 509778) and is a company registered in England and Wales (number 6505809).
LMAX Global is a trading name of LMAX Broker Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (firm reference number 783200) and is a company registered in England and Wales (number 10819525).