Mahogany Partners Announces Live Trading with BlockCrossATS

A consortium of mid-tier broker dealers known as Mahogany Partners will announce today that it’s live with the its first block trading destination, BlockCross ATS.

Mahogany Partners, formed in 2008 by a team of veteran market structure experts and technologists, backed by a consortium of unnamed sell-side firms, said it’s dedicated to facilitating access to natural block liquidity venues and innovative block trading technology and strategic alliances. The firm has assembled a consortium of select independent brokerage firms and has successfully coordinated access to its initial destination, according to the release.

“Mahogany Partners was instrumental in facilitating the order flow of top-shelf independent broker-dealer firms to the BlockCross ATS,” according to Wally Sullivan, managing partner and co-founder of the BlockCross ATS, an independently owned and operated ATS that seeks significant liquidity opportunities via multiple crossing methods. BlockCross leverages access to buy-side order management systems and integrates buy-side, sell-side and dark algo liquidity to provide the broadest spectrum of block liquidity in the industry.

In the four-month period ending July 2009, eight of Mahogany Partners’ participant firms successfully connected to the BlockCross ATS and several more connections are pending, according to the release. All transactions are completed with a minimum of 5,000 shares and are crossed at the mid-point of the national best bid or offer (NBBO), resulting in price improvement savings.

“The independent floor broker firms have limited resources to develop and manage technology to interact with the buy-sell alternative trading systems. Mahogony Partners not only brought us together as a consortium to pool our resources, but also provided the expertise to define the requirements for our specific block trading and negotiation requirements,” stated Barry Larkin, head of trading at Kabrik Trading, LLC in the requirements.

Requirements for future system enhancements and software releases are planned and prioritized via feedback and recommendations from an industry advisory board of veteran floor brokers and traders.

Mahogany Partners is in the process of recruiting additional participant firms and anticipates substantial growth in its membership later this year, according to the company.

Ivy is Editor-at-Large for Advanced Trading and Wall Street & Technology. Ivy is responsible for writing in-depth feature articles, daily blogs and news articles with a focus on automated trading in the capital markets. As an industry expert, Ivy has reported on a myriad ... View Full Bio