Takeaways From Terrapinn's 2015 Trading Show

The 2015 Terrapinn Trading Show recently came to a close, and this year’s event in Chicago focused on important trends and news in the world of trading. Here’s a breakdown of the major themes from this year’s conference.

The cloud
While some panelists continued to argue the merits of the cloud at this year’s event, the fact of the matter is that most of the financial services industry has already implemented cloud-based systems, and the trend toward the cloud continues to spread. According to the discussion at the show, cloud security is no longer a concern for most firms, and there is no longer any real justification for shunning the cloud.

In addition to the cloud, many firms are increasing their reliance on data analytics, which could end up being the next major trend in the industry.

Exchange fees
This year’s event included a lot of complaints about the major exchanges, particularly when it comes to market data fees. Aside from BATS and Eurex, none of the major exchanges were in attendance to defend themselves, so they were easy targets for finger-pointing.

Trading issues
Panels at this year’s event focused on trading issues such as “Evaluating Trading Methods,” “Stress Trading,” and “Sentiment Analysis.”

However, perhaps the biggest overall theme from the event was technology. The most popular vendors at the exhibit hall were peddling technology related to IT infrastructure and connectivity.

Keynotes
The two keynote speakers at the event were Jos Schmitt of Aequitas Innovations and Rob Creamer of Geneva Trading. Schmitt discussed the issues that stem from major exchanges and Creamer argued for the importance of principal traders.