Luminex CEO Sees Number of Trading Venues Decreasing

Jonathan Clark, CEO of Luminex Trading & Analytics, was recently interviewed by MarketsMedia news regarding trends in 2019. He believes that the number of ATS venues will continue to shrink. “The barriers to entry, regulatory hurdles, and reputational risk (if you’re not fully committed to doing it right) are far too high for the number of players to remain the same” he said. “Those broker-dealers that are tertiary presences in the space likely will leave, and those who might otherwise be interested in starting an ATS probably will not do so”. Regarding personal skill sets, Clark says that trading desks and portfolio management teams will continue to require individuals that can collect, parse, and analyze data, and will prioritize the hiring of people with those skills. As the range of available data continues to grow and diversify, it is only becoming a more integral part of the investment process, from stock selection to trading. The c-suite and hiring managers know that quality output from quants, data scientists, and the like will undoubtedly drive better decisions, which should, in turn, generate – or at least protect – alpha.