“Livevol X is one of the world’s most sophisticated equity option trading platforms, and when we acquired the clients of Livevol Securities we also became the only brokerage with an enterprise license to Livevol X,” said Lightspeed Trading CEO Farid Naib commenting on the recent acquisition of certain Livevol assets by the company.
It turns out Livevol brings a lot to Lightspeed’s table, something Naib recently discussed with Benzinga.
Benzinga: Can you talk a little about what Livevol X does?
Farid Naib: Livevol X is a powerful options analytical platform coupled with a good amount of historical data. It has been designed for and by sophisticated options traders.
It gives you the ability to analyze, evaluate and trade. It looks at volatility. It gives you the ability to simulate trades. It gives you the ability to do multi-leg orders and the ability to manage risk.
FN: Lightspeed offers sophisticated platforms for our active trader clients. We offer Lightspeed Trader free to our clients that trade a certain volume, and [we] work with other third-party platforms that our clients request and pay for.
Livevol X fills a hole in our existing product line for an analytical driven options trading platform that we can offer to our clients free. As such, it offers a perfect complement to our Lightspeed Trading platform.
What the Livevol relationship means for us is, we give our customers a choice. It’s about finding the platform that best fits their trading strategy.
BZ: What did Lightspeed actually acquire from Livevol?
FN: In terms of the transaction, we acquired the customers of Livevol Securities. We also licensed from the CBOE (Chicago Board Options Exchange) the Livevol X platform.
The CBOE acquired Livevol’s technology business, and Lightspeed has entered into an enterprise-wide license of Livevol technology, so that we can offer it to existing Livevol customers and to new customers.
BZ: What changes will current Livevol customers see because of this acquisition?
FN: This should be a seamless transition for those customers.
BZ: So, they don’t have to learn a new trading platform, for example?
FN: No, they will continue to use the platform they know and love. We are also working with the CBOE on continuing development on the platform.
BZ: What sort of reaction are you getting so far, from the client base?
FN: Our client base is happy to see us expand our system offerings, and we have already gained new clients because of it.
Livevol users are of course happy because they don’t have to change anything they were doing. None of us likes change.
The fact that they are able to use the same login, the same password and look at the same platform that they were previously has made them comfortable with the situation.
BZ: Finally, what is the plan moving forward for Lightspeed?
FN: Our broker-dealer wants to offer the best trading platform for each of our clients. The fact that we now have a sophisticated options platform just adds to our offerings.
Livevol X is an important addition to the solutions we offer our clients. We hope to attract new clients seeking a brokerage firm that understand the needs of active traders and has the resources and technology to deliver the best possible trading environment.
At the time of this writing, Jim Probasco had no position in any mentioned securities.
Image Credit: Public Domain© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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