Sigma Capital Trading

Transcription

1 CLIENT CASE STUDY Sigma Capital Trading Proprietary trading firm uses Xenomorph TimeScape to speed development of spreads strategies and streamline back-testing process. Overview Country/Region: Canada Industry: Proprietary Trading Customer Profile: Sigma Capital Trading is a proprietary trading firm focused on the development of futures and options spread strategies. Business Situation: Sigma needed to minimise the manual effort spent on developing and back-testing futures and options spread strategies. To achieve this, they recognised the need for a fast and efficient database capable of storing time series data and an alternative means of managing analytics, which previously had been done manually using Excel. The implementation went smoothly and the service level was exceptional with Xenomorph undertaking the necessary modifications to deliver the system we were looking for. We can now do in 5 minutes what used to take weeks. Every possible strategy is displayed graphically which helps us set better entry and exit points based on real historic market behaviour rather than mathematical models. Remy Belanger, Partner, Sigma Capital Trading Solution: Sigma commissioned Xenomorph on an R&D basis. The two firms worked together in an iterative and interactive way to gather requirements, resulting in the development of the TimeScape Spreads Application which was tested and implemented successfully to resolve the issues identified above. Benefits: Fast, flexible database Simple Graphical User Interface Reduces time required to calculate Term Structures Eliminates potential errors arising from the manual manipulation of data Quick, easy access to centralised analytics Streamlines back-testing process Situation Sigma Capital Trading needed to minimise the manual effort spent on developing and back-testing futures and options spread strategies. Previously, if Sigma wanted to see how a particular strategy performed over a given period they would have to manually re-create the strategy for each month in question. Data needed to be loaded for each leg in the strategy (typically between 2 and 4), specifying: which legs were being bought or sold; the ratio of the legs to each other; the scale factor; and the number of transactions. This process was repeated for each expiry month and the resulting spreads were viewed on a chart.

2 Managed manually in Excel, the analytics became time consuming, difficult and cumbersome. To calculate the term structure at any given point in time, Sigma had to get the Ask and the Bid at that point for each of the eight or so expiries available, and calculate the Mid for each before being able to plot the results. To minimise the manual effort and the resulting possible risk of error, Sigma recognised the need for a fast and efficient database capable of storing time series data, and a centralised automated means of managing analytics. Cumbersome Analytics (In Excel) (Expiry x) (Expiry x + 1 Month) Calculate Term Structure (Expiry x + n Month) Manual Back-Testing Process Implementation (Time y) (Time y - 1 Month) Analyze Strategy Implement Strategy (Time y - n Month) Sigma s manual solution prior to implementing the TimeScape Spreads Application The TimeScape Spreads Application was developed with an intuitive Graphical User Interface to define and analyse options and futures spreads historically. The GUI effortlessly calls into the TimeScape database (that stores the data and spread definitions, in addition to the calculation methods) providing the user with a fast and efficient means of developing and back-testing new strategies. It is always pleasing to learn from a client that they know of no other system that could deliver such functionality. Robert Hackman, Consultant, Xenomorph

3 Solution Sigma commissioned Xenomorph on an R&D basis. The two firms worked together in an iterative and interactive way to gather requirements, resulting in the development of the TimeScape Spreads Application which was tested and implemented successfully to resolve the issues identified above. Sigma are capturing options and futures tick data (both historically and end-of-day going forward), combining various legs and hedges to test a different type of trading strategy. Using Xenomorph s TimeScape Spreads Application they assess historical PnL for the various legs. By changing the combinations they are able to maximize the PnL and again use this strategy with trading going forward. When creating legs, spreads and hedges, the TimeScape Spreads Application gives Sigma the ability to sample tick data at any frequency they want, fill-in missing points, smooth the tick series using a moving average function and apply alignment rules when performing arithmetic between two or more tick series. As a result of the implementation, Sigma s back-testing process has been reduced from several hours to a few minutes. Spreads Application TimeScape Database View Term Structure Centralized Analytics & Historical Data Define Strategies Implement Strategy Analyze Strategies Xenomorph s TimeScape Spreads Application has streamlined the back-testing process

4 Benefits Fast, flexible database - Sigma are now able to import and store futures and options data locally in TimeScape and retrieve data at any point in time quickly and effortlessly. Centralised, dynamic analytics - All components of the Term Structure calculation, including the one month and two month spread, are stored in the database. In order to view the results graphically, Sigma just has to select a date and time and all the calculations are performed and graphed immediately. This significantly reduces the time needed to calculate Term Structure and eliminates potential errors from the manual copying of input values. Simplified back-testing process - Sigma only has to define a strategy once and has the option to save just the current instance of the strategy or save the definition for all expiry months in the past and future. Sigma can view a strategy for multiple months on the same graph, either by their dates or by aligning them by Days to Expiry. Integration with previous system - Sigma can export data from TimeScape in a form compatible with existing systems. The implementation at Sigma is another great example of how TimeScape s flexible data model and its underlying architecture can be put to innovative use to address real-world problems efficiently and on schedule. Under guidance from Sigma, the manner in which the requirements were gathered, and then the resulting development implemented at the client site, are testament to a healthy partnership between Sigma and Xenomorph. With its strong implementation ethos, it is through building such relationships that Xenomorph continues to deliver value to its clients. Naj Alavi, Managing Director, Xenomorph

5 More Information Xenomorph delivers analytics and data management solutions to the financial markets. Our TimeScape technology leverages our clients proprietary expertise, enabling them to analyse and manage more data with greater control and transparency. Our focus is to make our clients more successful by closing the productivity gaps between high performance database technology, data management and end-user data analysis. Through unified and transparent access to data and data analysis, our clients achieve even higher levels of financial innovation, business process efficiency and regulatory compliance. Trading, research, risk, product control, IT and back-office staff use Xenomorph s TimeScape data management platform at investment banks, hedge funds and asset management institutions across the world s main financial centres. Established in 1995, Xenomorph has offices in London, New York and Singapore. For more information about Xenomorph: Web: info@xenomorph.com London: +44 (0) New York: Version 1.1 November 2011