LMAX Exchange

LMAX Exchange
Privately held company
Industry Electronic FX Trading
Founded London, United Kingdom
Headquarters London, United Kingdom
Products FX, Bullion, Equity Indices, Commodities, Ven
Slogan A unique vision for global FX trading
Website www.lmax.com

LMAX Exchange is a London-based FCA-regulated multilateral trading facility (MTF) for FX trading. LMAX Exchange provides low latency,[1] order-driven execution venue for electronic trading on the foreign exchange market (FX).

History

Launched in 2010, LMAX Exchange is the first MTF for FX,[2] regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. LMAX Exchange operates an MTF as defined in the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID).

At the core of an MTF concept is an exchange style trading model; just as on an exchange - orders are matched in price/time priority with no 'last look' or ability to reject orders by liquidity providers.[3]

Business model

In accordance with MTF principles, trading on LMAX Exchange is pre & post trade transparent. MTF operating principles and membership rules are defined in the publicly available Rulebook.[4]

LMAX Exchange operates an open order book, driven by market/limit orders against streaming, no 'last look' limit orders supplied by liquidity providers.[5]

LMAX Exchange offers multiple connectivity options: FIX 4.4, Java and .NET APIs, MT4/5 bridges. Trading instruments on LMAX Exchange include over 60 Spot FX pairs, Spot Gold, Spot Silver, Major Indices.

Technology

LMAX Exchange technology is built for low latency execution and high throughput. The technology utilises a distributed event-driven architecture based on asynchronous multicast messaging. LMAX Exchange is notable for its invention, use and popularisation of the LMAX Disruptor,[6] a software pattern and software component for high-performance inter-thread communication that avoids the need for message queues or resource locking.[7] LMAX Exchange has open sourced its Java implementation of the Disruptor component and a number of other libraries.[8] In addition LMAX Exchange was an early adopter and is a leading proponent of the Continuous Delivery software development process.

Industry awards

LMAX Exchange has been recognised for excellence and innovation by some of the industry's most prestigious awards:

2014 #1 Fastest Growing Tech Company in the UK - Sunday Times Tech Track 100[9]

2014 Best FX Trading Platform - ECN/MTF - WSL Institutional Trading Awards[10]

2014 Best Infrastructure/Technology Initiative by Exchange/ATS - WSL Institutional Trading Awards[11]

2013 #15 Fastest Growing Tech Company in the UK - Sunday Times Tech Track 100[12]

2013 Best Overall Testing Project in Finance – The European Software Testing Awards (TESTA)[13]

2013 Best Margin Sector Platform - Profit & Loss Readers’ Choice Awards[14]

2013 Best FX Trading Platform - ECN/MTF - WSL Institutional Trading Awards[15]

2013 Best Execution Venue – Forex Magnates[16]

2011 Best Trading System - Financial Sector Technology Awards[17]

2011 Oracle's "Duke's Choice" Innovative Programming Framework Award[18]

Regulatory environment

LMAX Exchange is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA),[19] to operate a multilateral trading facility (MTF), as defined under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive ("MiFID").

References

  1. ↑ "LMAX Exchange Getting Up To 50% Improvement in Latency From Azul's Zing JVM". Infoq.com. 2013-05-07. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
  2. ↑ "LMAX Exchange". LMAX Exchange. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  3. ↑ "e-Forex Magazine | Special Report | LMAX Exchange. Exchange style trading for spot FX". E-forex.net. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
  4. ↑ "LMAX Rulebook". LMAX Exchange. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  5. ↑ "FX: an exchange-traded future? /Euromoney magazine". Euromoney.com. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
  6. ↑ "LMAX Disruptor | Open Source | LMAX Exchange". Lmax.com. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
  7. ↑ "Beginners Guide to Hardcore Concurrency". Bad Concurrency. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
  8. ↑ "LMAX Disruptor". Github. Retrieved 2013-06-07.
  9. ↑ "Sunday Times Tech Track 100 2014". Sunday Times. Retrieved 2014-10-09.
  10. ↑ "WSL Institutional Trading Awards 2014". Wallstreet Letter. Retrieved 2014-03-19.
  11. ↑ "WSL Institutional Trading Awards 2014". Wallstreet Letter. Retrieved 2014-03-19.
  12. ↑ "Sunday Times Tech Track 100 2013". Sunday Times. Retrieved 2013-10-01.
  13. ↑ "The European Software Testing Awards (TESTA)2013". The European Software Testing Awards. Retrieved 2014-03-19.
  14. ↑ "Profit & Loss Readers’ Choice Awards 2013". Profit & Loss. Retrieved 2013-10-01.
  15. ↑ "WSL Institutional Trading Awards 2013". Wallstreet Letter. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  16. ↑ "Forex Magnates London Summit 2013 Award". Forex Magnates. Retrieved 2014-03-19.
  17. ↑ "FS Tech Award Winners". FS Tech. Retrieved 2013-05-30.
  18. ↑ "Duke's Choice Awards Winners". Java. Retrieved 2013-06-07.
  19. ↑ "The Financial Services Register". Fsa.gov.uk. Retrieved 2013-11-14.

External links