About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

Bloomberg Tradebook Launches Customizable Algorithm

Subscribe to our newsletter

Bloomberg Tradebook, the global agency brokerage business, has launched a Relative Benchmark Trading Algorithm on its PAIR cross-asset trading platform. The added algorithm gives Tradebook users the ability to customize how they trade securities relative to benchmarks they choose, according to Michael Baradas, cross-asset product manager at Bloomberg Tradebook.

“Active investors are trying to find assets that aren’t correlated to the market. In individual constituents of an index, correlation may be high at times, or there may be opportune times when it’s not correlated,” said Baradas. “That’s when active managers believe they can outperform. … The Relative Benchmark Trading Algorithm lets them do that. Given a benchmark like the S&P 500, it lets the trader or portfolio manager set certain parameters, so when a security is underperforming the index, they are buying, or when it’s outperforming, they’re selling.”

The PAIR platform, launched in 2009, allows simultaneous trading of multiple asset classes, and is integrated with the Bloomberg Professional service, thus leveraging Bloomberg’s data resources.

“Exchanges have different rules for price ticks, order sizes and messaging, and how many orders you can send,” said Baradas. Such rules may prevent algorithms from working. “Having the knowledge and access to all that data in real-time — and having the Bloomberg network to connect to all these exchanges and take in that data feed makes the algorithm more powerful,” he added.

PAIR’s Relative Benchmark Trading Algorithm can adjust itself depending on the rules in whichever market is the venue for a trade, explained Baradas. “The customer sees the same ticket,” he said. “They’re just buying one security and selling another one. They define that relationship and the algorithm on the back end understands those differences.”

The next capability Bloomberg may add to the algorithm is the ability to work with customized benchmarks and indices, added Baradas. “Fund managers and investors are trying to outperform their peers, so if they can find an edge with their own quants and their analysis is a better benchmark to track against, they can create custom indices on the Bloomberg terminal,” he said. “Tradebook would have a way to get that custom index to use to trade against.”

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Recorded Webinar: High-Performance Networks & Low-Latency Connectivity for Trading

With financial markets becoming more complex and interconnected in today’s electronic trading environment, trading firms, exchanges, and infrastructure providers need to continually push the boundaries of network performance to stay ahead. Ultra-low latency, seamless connectivity, and resilient infrastructure are no longer just advantages – to stay competitive, they’re necessities. This webinar, part of the A-Team...

BLOG

Pico and BMLL Partner to Deliver Integrated Real-Time and Historical Market Data Solution

Pico, the global provider of financial markets technology services, has partnered with BMLL, the independent provider of historical data and analytics, to offer an integrated solution that combines real-time and historical market data to support research, liquidity analysis, and trading optimisation. The collaboration leverages Pico’s real-time data feeds and global infrastructure alongside BMLL’s Level 3,...

EVENT

AI in Capital Markets Summit New York

The AI in Capital Markets Summit will explore current and emerging trends in AI, the potential of Generative AI and LLMs and how AI can be applied for efficiencies and business value across a number of use cases, in the front and back office of financial institutions. The agenda will explore the risks and challenges of adopting AI and the foundational technologies and data management capabilities that underpin successful deployment.

GUIDE

AI in Capital Markets: Practical Insight for a Transforming Industry – Free Handbook

AI is no longer on the horizon – it’s embedded in the infrastructure of modern capital markets. But separating real impact from inflated promises requires a grounded, practical understanding. The AI in Capital Markets Handbook 2025 provides exactly that. Designed for data-driven professionals across the trade life-cycle, compliance, infrastructure, and strategy, this handbook goes beyond...