High-Yield Bond Traders Benefit from Specialized Model and Functionality at OpenBondX Trading Venue

MIAMI BEACH, Fla., March 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Increasing appetite for better yield in the current low-rate environment is driving a record surge in trading of U.S. high-yield (HY) corporate bonds.  However, the traditional electronic Request for Quote (RFQ) protocol is ill-suited for trade participants seeking new ways of finding the other side to their trades.

Recently-launched electronic bond-trading venue OpenBondX, LLC (www.openbondx.com) caters to HY investors seeking access to liquidity, price improvement and reliable trade execution without risking price or information leakage.  The firm's technology provides several advantages over existing fixed-income platforms by meeting the distinct needs of high-yield traders:

• Unlike the RFQ order type, the firm's exclusive RFFQ® (Request for Firm Quote®) protocol eliminates the possibility of trading parties issuing quotes without any expectation of trade execution ("fishing") in order to "game" the system. 
   
• RFFQ prices are both firm and hidden to protect all sides from price leakage, and OpenBondX does not sell or distribute any subscriber's prices.
   
• The RFFQ protocol ensures full anonymity to protect the identity and privacy of all participants.
   
• As an "all-to-all" platform, OpenBondX (OBX) is open to both buy- and sell-side traders, and provides for trading between dealers, between dealers and customers and between customers themselves.  According to recent Greenwich Associates research, all-to-all trading capability now is the second most important criteria for selecting a bond trading platform.  

"With hidden limit pricing capabilities, anonymous trading, and protection against price and information leakage, OpenBondX is the only platform engineered to improve electronic HY bond trading for both buy- and sell-side participants," explains CEO Alistair Brown.

"Furthermore, we're rolling out a new rebate/fee structure that will far exceed any current offerings for both the buy and sell side," he adds.  "Details will be announced shortly."

About OpenBondX
OpenBondX, LLC (OBX) is a fully electronic, "all-to-all" Alternative Trading System (ATS) that provides all participants with fair and equal access to the bond markets, absolute price transparency, rebates and low pricing, impenetrable anonymity and built-in risk management controls—all with no platform access fees.  Hedge funds, asset managers, institutional investors, quant traders, banks, broker-dealers and other participants can seamlessly and anonymously trade bonds with one another on an equal playing field.  Our hallmark is firm and final pricing, empowered by our innovative RFFQ® (Request for Firm Quote®) matching protocol which enables participants to more efficiently tap into hidden prices and competing quotes.

Based in the U.S., OBX was founded by recognized finance and electronic trading veterans to bring the advantages of electronification and the opportunities for market-based price discovery to the institutional bond markets.  An independently-owned ATS, OBX operates without bias, agendas, asymmetric relationships or hidden costs.  For more information, visit www.openbondx.com.

RFFQ® and Request For Firm Quote® are registered trademarks of OpenBondX, LLC

© 2016 OpenBondX, LLC. 

Media Contacts:
LA Marketing & Communications (www.lafinancialmarketing.com) 
Anne Aldrich:  +1.312.787.1642
[email protected] 
Mike Felix:  +1.917.289.1119
[email protected] 

SOURCE OpenBondX, LLC