Luminex Trading & Analytics, a buy side-owned trading venue delivering low-cost block executions, has hired Ilisa Gruber as sales and relationship manager. Based in Chicago, Gruber will oversee Luminex’s relationships with top clients among its more than 200 buy-side, institutional investors. She will be responsible for increasing engagement with existing clients as well as managing the firm’s continued growth in the US Midwest and other regions. Previously, Gruber spent 18 years at Liquidnet, where she was initially hired as the firm’s first sales trader and helped grow the business into a global institutional investment network. Earlier in her career, she worked at firms including Thomas Weisel Partners, Schroders & Company and CS First Boston.
Block trading continues to be a key element of the volatility and volume of the COVID era. In June 2020, the latest month for which FINRA data is available, Luminex saw an average natural block trade size of 46,000 shares, placing it among the leaders in FINRA’s 10k block trading category.
