Misra named CEO at new trading group

Hirander Misra, former chief operating officer at Chi-X Europe, is the chief executive and a founding director of Algo Technologies, a newly launched trading technology company, it was announced on Monday.

It follows his resignation last month from Chi-X Europe, a London-based multilateral trading facility, in order to "pursue other interests".

Algo Technologies aims to deliver "next generation" trading technology solutions. It will focus on algorithmic trading - where computers use mathematical models to exploit minor price movements - execution and "near-zero" latency - a measure of speed, where zero is the fastest possible - market data services.

Once considered an obscure area, algorithmic trading has recently become a mainstream part of the equity market, widely used among investment banks and hedge funds.

Increasing demand for such trading has sparked an arms race to develop the technology required to facilitate it.

Icap, the world's largest inter-dealer broker, launched its own algorithmic trading system in January in an attempt to capitalise on this demand.

Integral, a California-based company that operates FX Grid, an MTF for currency trading, announced last month FX Inside Alpha, "an on-demand solution powerful enough to launch algorithmic trading firms from scratch".

Algo Technologies said it is developing a network to "provide high-speed market data and connectivity across all major international market centres, in multiple data centre locations". It will announce specific products "shortly".

Mr Misra said: "We believe that there is increasing demand for ultra-low latency trading software and services. Most vendor solutions do not adequately meet this need and are far too expensive."

Co-founders of Algo Technologies include Rami Habib, chief executive for Europe at Algo Engineering, a trading and technology firm that specialises in algorithmic trading activity, and Alexei Lebedev.

The company is owned by the co-founders and Algo Engineering.

Howard Morgan, president of Arca Group, a consultancy, was named non-executive chairman.

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