According to a recent survey, prop traders see most opportunities in different options, interest rate markets, and cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency markets. This is maybe not unexpected considering the instability in the first and the probably increased action in the other. According to the most recent Proprietary Trading Management Insight Report, the marketplaces for interest rates, stock options, and virtual currency will present prop traders firms with the most opportunities in 2022.
The research, which is a component of Acuiti’s Proprietary Trading Management Insight series, was created in collaboration with Avelacom and compiled from responses provided anonymously within the Acuiti network. The Avelacom Exchange Growth Index, which measures exchange activity and identifies the favorite original futures and options contracts, is included in the report, along with estimates of cost rises late in 2021 and the outlook for the coming three months.
This quarterly report includes opinions on the potential growth areas for the prop traders sector in 2022, a breakdown of increased costs in 2021, and a forecast for the following three months.
The study also includes an analysis of the top-performing new contracts for futures and options in addition to the Avelacom Exchange Growth Index, a ranking of the exchanges with the quickest growth rates worldwide.
This quarter the report covers views on where the opportunity is for the proprietary trading industry in 2022, an analysis of cost increases in 2021, and the outlook for the next three months.
In addition, the report contains the Avelacom Exchange Growth Index, an index of the fastest growing exchanges globally, as well as a breakdown of the best performing new futures and options contracts.
The paper notes that cryptocurrency has “enormous prospects” because of the continuous interest from both consumers and investment firms, which is not surprising considering the spreads mentioned and volatility in these markets. Despite recent declines in the value of numerous cryptocurrencies and concerns regarding the legal outlook, this was the case.
In North America and APAC, respondents perceived the most opportunities throughout all asset classes. In contrast, in North America, firms anticipated the highest growth potential in 2022 on the CME and stock options markets. The opportunity in the former was primarily seen in china and on HKEx.
The analysis on FX markets differs in that algo trading businesses observed increased opportunities even though they do not seem to be on manual prop traders’ radars, which may be unexpected considering the historical relationship between FX fluctuation and trends and bank rate deviation. In contrast to other asset classes, where the percentage of respondents who saw enormous potential in an asset was well above 20%, just 12% of respondents in the study saw great potential in the FX market.
Aside from the portfolio, the survey discovers that proprietary trader businesses have large investment plans for 2022, co-location technology with algo trade tools, and market information technologies being the most popular investment goals. This comes after cost hikes in market information and exchange fees were recorded, a reaction that was more than the number of businesses reporting higher costs from investments or hiring new workers.
Only 5% of respondents believed that cutting personnel will provide the greatest potential to boost profitability in 2022, which is maybe not surprising considering what appears to be a time of extremely strong demand for employees. With over 70% of respondents choosing that route, the use of new tactics was by far the most common response.
The paper also notes an “increasing disparity” in the significance of delay to prop trader firms, including second-tier algo firms receiving less importance and hybrid firms, who have historically been less sensitive to latency, receiving more. According to the report, there has been a substantial increase in the significance of latency to point-and-click businesses that have previously not been speed-focused. In addition to the traditional emphasis on execution, firms cite increased relevance in market information and risk management as indicators that latency is also becoming more significant across the transaction cycle.
According to Will Mitting, the developer of Acuiti, “we questioned CEOs whether the delay was becoming more important for their trading tactics.” We discovered that, while speed remains essential to ultra-low latency firms’ strategies as one might anticipate, it is losing significance for second-tier algorithmic trading organizations. Regarding investments and the significance of latency, this is an intriguing development. These companies seem to place more emphasis on intelligence than on speed. Contrarily, we saw that juncture and hybrid companies historically haven’t made significant investments in low-speed trading infrastructure—were beginning to prioritize latency.
“We have invested the last 2 years substantially investing in our cryptocurrency market architecture, which is confirmed by this fact that cryptocurrency is considered as that of the greatest chance for professional, private prop traders in 2022,” says Avelacom founder and chief executive Aleksey Larichev. We can predict these shifts in the worldwide markets because of our relationship with Acuity. Additionally, the significant expenditures in networking and founder infrastructure that prop trading firms aim to make in 2022 are a symptom of the industry’s maturity.
Some key points of that report that was created in collaboration with Avelacom and compiled from responses provided anonymously within the Acuiti network are the following:
Key points
- Despite current declines and uncertainty surrounding the legal environment, the analysis showed that, as both retail and institutional involvement continue to expand, the sheer magnitude of volatility in the cryptocurrency market creates significant opportunities for prop trader organizations.
- In terms of geographic opportunities, businesses saw the greatest potential in North America & APAC across all asset classes. While North American businesses saw the most potential in the latter, mainland China and HKEx saw the most.
- Algo trading technologies, co-location infrastructure, and market data technologies are the most often targeted areas for development by customized trading firms in 2022.
- Companies were more likely to anticipate increases in market information fees or exchange fees than expenditures related to investment or hiring new staff if it came to price increases in 2021.
This is how Prop Traders see most opportunity in Crypto.