By Saima Farooqi
NEW YORK – Technology vendor MarketFactory has announced it will begin rolling out a market data adapter for foreign exchange platforms and exchanges targeted at traders using application programming interfaces (APIs), in the third quarter.
The adapter, called Sherpa Connect, converts the specific messaging protocols of different electronic communication networks (ECNs) and exchanges into a single interface format. The adapter makes code-level decisions about the use of the custom data sent from individual ECNs to a final trading API.
James Sinclair, chief executive at MarketFactory based in New York, said platforms using existing standards such as the FIX protocol give the “false perception that successfully connecting to such an exchange is a simple technology issue”.
“In reality, the protocol used by an exchange to communicate market data is only a portion of the connectivity equation. More important is the logic written to interpret each message into a trading API that individual trading strategies can interact with,” he said.
Sinclair did not disclose the number of clients due to use the adapter, because “piloting/deployment status” varied. He added that it will service all platforms for which there is demand from the customer, but did not mention any platforms.
MarketFactory is charging a monthly subscription fee for Sherpa Connect, which it says will vary depending on use.
Source: FX Week
