Trading technology for brokers
Brokers come to us for two kinds of systems: the ones their clients trade through, and the ones the brokerage runs itself. We have built both, for brokers in the UK and India, to each broker’s own specification. You hold the licence and the client relationship; we build, document and support the software.
What we have built for brokers
- Trend-following trading systems for a UK-based broker and for two Indian brokers, each built to the broker’s own rules.
- Multi-leg options strategies for an Indian broker: conversions, reversals, butterfly spreads and calendar spreads, as the broker specified them, coded on the Omnesys trading API, since acquired by Thomson Reuters.
- Systems on Indian brokers’ APIs for traders and desks, including a platform running one system across 20 accounts at five brokers and a copy-trading system, both in our case studies.
Systems your clients trade through
A client API is now a regulated surface. In India, SEBI’s retail algo framework makes the broker the principal for every algo order through its API, so the controls sit with you: access only by a unique key and a static IP you have whitelisted, OAuth sign-in with two factor authentication, every order tagged with the exchange’s identifier, order rate limits per client, a kill switch and an audit trail. We build those controls and document them for your compliance team; the full list, with sources, is on our page on technology for SEBI’s algo framework.
Beyond the controls, clients ask brokers for more than an API key. The products we build for a broker’s own clients are:
- Strategy marketplaces, where approved providers list and your clients subscribe, with execution through to each client’s account: see strategy marketplace platforms.
- Copy trading and allocation, mirroring a master account into followers with per account sizing and risk: see copy trading.
- Multi-account tools for clients and desks that run one system across many accounts: see multi-broker platforms.
Systems the brokerage runs itself
Some brokers want their own trading systems: a trend-following system, an options desk’s multi-leg strategies, or tools for the dealing team. These are built to your rules, the same way we build for any client, with the edge cases a live desk meets every day: a leg that fills while the other does not, a dropped connection mid-order, a position the system believes in that the exchange does not show. Our custom trading software page covers how we work.
For algo platforms working with brokers
A firm that offers algos to investors through a broker in India has to be empanelled with the exchanges, passes the broker’s due diligence, and runs its algos on the broker’s servers. We build platforms to those conditions, so the broker’s review finds clear documentation, version control and complete logs. Our guide for brokers and algo providers sets out who does what, with the SEBI and NSE sources.
Working with what you already run
Broker technology is rarely a blank page. There is a vendor platform or an in-house OMS, an exchange gateway, a risk system and a back office, and the new work has to fit all of them. We start by reading how your systems work, agree the scope and a fixed quote in writing, sign an NDA before you share anything, and hand over documentation your own team can maintain.
What stays with you
The licence, the client relationship, every exchange permission and every compliance decision stay with the broker. We do not operate platforms on your behalf, we do not take custody of client funds, and we do not choose what anyone trades. We build, document and support the software.
Common questions
- Can you work with our existing trading platform or OMS?
- Yes. Most broker work starts from a platform that already exists, whether that is a vendor API such as Omnesys, an in-house OMS or an exchange gateway. We read how it works first, then build around it rather than replacing what already runs.
- Can you build multi-leg options execution?
- Yes. We have coded conversions, reversals, butterfly spreads and calendar spreads for an Indian broker. The hard parts are placing the legs together, handling a leg that fills while another does not, and monitoring the spread as one position, and we build for all three.
- Do you help with SEBI’s retail algo framework?
- We build the systems it asks for: API access by key and whitelisted static IP, OAuth sign-in, order tagging, rate limits, the kill switch and the audit trail. The permissions and every compliance decision stay with you and your compliance team.
- Do you sign an NDA?
- Yes, on every engagement, before you share your systems, your specifications or anything about your clients.