April 2013
AlphaFlash® Trader brings automated event driven trading to popular execution platforms
Q: Let’s start with the basics: What is AlphaFlash Trader?
A: AlphaFlash Trader is a trading application that allows users of popular trading platforms to automate their trading based on macroeconomic news. A clear benefit is that it doesn’t require additional technology infrastructure or programming skills. The user interface is easy to use and intuitive. Orders can be entered into the market instantly at the release of an economic event. The application is currently live on Trading Technologies’ X_Trader Pro and will be available on other platforms shortly.
Q: Can you give an example of how AFT works?
A: Sure. Let’s look at the US nonfarm payroll report. The number is published the first Friday of the month at 8:30 am EST. If the number is higher or lower than expected, it can have a huge market impact. As an example, let’s say the market expects the number to be 100,000 [new jobs created]. If you are using AlphaFlash Trader, you can preconfigure trades that are executed if the number is below 80,000 or above 120,000. You can further tailor your participation in a trade according to how far out of line a figure comes out – trade small and tight on a marginally out of line number and significantly larger on market surprising results, all from a single setup. We use a simple drag and drop methodology. So you choose the indicator, input your indicator range and then select the instrument you want to trade and specify the trade. Then as soon as the number is released, the trade is entered into the market automatically within milliseconds. Now compare this to a traditional trader, who has to read the release first and then send the order. Even if he’s fast, it will take him seconds to place the order. AlphaFlash Trader can massively streamline trader workflow. Trading parameters can be configured for multiple economic indicators and instruments in advance, delivering multiple automated order entries. At a stroke, event driven trading has become democratized.
Q: That sounds very interesting. How many indicators can traders chose from?
A: AlphaFlash Trader offers over 300 global economic indicators. You’ll find headline indicators such as employment figures, central bank interest rate decisions, housing statistics, CPI, GDP, industrial output etc. etc. We cover the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, Japan and China. We have just recently added the USDA releases. Once the CME expanded their trading hours, we knew that our clients would be interested in trading on the USDA releases. So we added the USDA WASDE and quarterly grain stocks figures to our range of indicators.
Q: Why is AlphaFlash Trader so fast?
A: AlphaFlash Trader makes use of the high speed AlphaFlash technology developed by Deutsche Börse, Need to Know News and MNI. It was designed to deliver machine-readable macroeconomic indicators for direct consumption by trading algorithms. Our journalists have direct access to sources such as the U.S. Departments of Treasury and Commerce, The Conference Board, National Association of Realtors, Bank of Canada, European Central Bank, Bank of England, Z.E.W., Institute for Economic Research Ifo, German Ministry of Economics, Eurostat, People’s Bank of China, Chinese Ministry of Commerce, Bank of Japan, Bank of Australia and more.
Q: What does it cost to use AlphaFlash Trader?
A: Subscriptions to AlphaFlash Trader start at Euro 250 per month. We offer a free 30-day trial so traders can test the application and see how easy it is to automate their event driven trading.
www.alphaflashtrader.com
E-mail: sales@alphaflashtrader.com
