TT^® Connect Blog

Volatility has been the defining feature of global capital markets in recent years. After a decade of relative calm, sharp market movements are now the norm. At the recent TT Connect: The Evolution of Execution event in London, speakers explored how growing global risks and persistent volatility have impacted how they approach markets. 

Capital markets are transforming, driven by breakthroughs in technology, shifting regulation and new economic realities. Against this backdrop, our third annual TT Connect event in London recently brought together over 150 senior executives from across trading, technology, business and compliance to discuss the future of execution. The event covered the UK’s regulatory direction, potential risks in the global economy, the evolution of proprietary trading, and the growing role of data and automation in trading.

Japan’s power market is undergoing a profound transformation. With the liberalization of the electricity market beginning in 2000 and a national push toward decarbonization, the demand for sophisticated risk management tools is greater than ever. The Japanese power futures market is at the forefront of this evolution, providing a critical platform for hedging against price volatility.

The European Energy Exchange (EEX) has emerged as a key player in this space, with its Japan Power Futures contracts seeing notable growth since their launch in May 2020. Trading volumes have surged, and EEX has captured a significant market share. Ahead of this week’s Japan Power Summit, we spoke with Bob Takai, CEO of EEX Japan, to discuss the factors driving this growth and what lies ahead for the market.

Post-trade has historically run behind in processes and technology compared with the pre-trade and execution segments of the trade life cycle, but the gap is narrowing amid increased clearing volumes, expanded regulatory mandates and a higher bar for best practices. Clearing houses and providers of clearing, settlement, custody, and other post-trade services are refining their product offerings and moving into new asset classes to better meet the risk management needs of trading clients, whose back offices are aligning more closely with front and middle offices.

At Trading Technologies, we’ve become deeply involved in this evolution. 

Transaction cost analysis (TCA) is well established in equity and fixed income markets. Following TT’s acquisition of Abel Noser Solutions in 2023, a big part of our data and analytics strategy has been to bring TCA to other asset classes, including futures. In April of this year, Bowmoor Capital was among the first clients to deploy TT Futures TCA to inform their trade execution and algorithmic trading strategies and ensure they are achieving best execution. I recently spoke with Brendan Mulvany, Head of Trading at Bowmoor Capital, about his career in futures trading and the value of TCA.