DRW | Best Overall ETF Liquidity Provider/Market Maker | Best Market Maker/Authorised Participant – Fixed Income ETFs | Best Market Maker/Authorised Participant – Cryptocurrencies – It’s the competitive pricing capabilities across multiple asset classes that lie behind the win of all three of these awards for DRW, says Bernardus Roelofs, Head of ETF Institutional Sales & Trading for the firm.
DRW | Best Overall ETF Liquidity Provider/Market Maker | Best Market Maker/Authorised Participant – Fixed Income ETFs | Best Market Maker/Authorised Participant – Cryptocurrencies – It’s the competitive pricing capabilities across multiple asset classes that lie behind the win of all three of these awards for DRW, says Bernardus Roelofs, Head of ETF Institutional Sales & Trading for the firm.
“It has led to institutional investors to trade directly with us,” Roelofs says. “This is evident in our latest numbers: a ticket win-ratio with the buy-side of 14.2 per cent overall, 32.9 per cent fixed income, 10.5 per cent in equity, and 48.3 per cent in crypto.
“The feedback we get from our counterparties is that DRW adds value to the trading desks in this competitive market. Utilising DRW allows investors to reduce their counterparty risk, and enables them to have one more option, which is particularly important in volatile markets.”
Beyond that, it is the firm’s 30 years plus experience as one of the world’s leading liquidity providers that has prompted the voters, Roelofs says. “DRW has a global footprint in identifying and capturing strategic market opportunities by leveraging our technology, market analysis, and proven risk management. This combined with the in-depth ETF knowledge we have on our desk has led to the successful start of the ETF business in Europe.”
Roelofs believes that ETF issuers need an additional and dedicated ETF market maker and partner with in-depth knowledge and broad, independent ETF trading capabilities in order to give them abilities to diversify their liquidity providers.
DRW enjoyed a great year in 2021, trading USD784 billion across all ETF asset classes: Equity, Fixed Income, Crypto and Commodity ETFs listed globally. “Over the past few years we have signed AP agreements with all the main issuers and are now covering +2000 different ETFs and we have built the required operational set-up, including connections to the RFQ platforms and state-of-the-art Settlement,” Roelofs says.
“Another key development was the growth of our ETF sales team and providing OTC prices to institutional investors directly in EMEA, LATAM and APAC. We increased our ranking on RFQe by executed trades in Equity ETFs from 14th place in January 2021 to now 7th place. For Fixed Income we increased our ranking in the same period from 6th to 3rd and we are ranked second for Alternatives (Crypto) from scratch, and our OTC business is set to grow even further in the years to come.”
Roelofs reports that one of the newest developments shaping the ETF sector has been the arrival of crypto assets in the ETP wrapper.
“Investors now can get portfolio exposure to bitcoin, Ethereum or Solana through ETPs, which can be bought and sold just like ETFs,” he says.
“Additionally, the rise of ESG and thematic ETFs are driving tremendous interest. We believe the evolving public sentiment for ESG topics and the increasing number of new products with an ESG focus, both within the equity and fixed income space, will lead to more assets being allocated in these products.
On receiving the awards, Roelofs says: “It’s an honour for the team to receive the industry recognition and obtain the awards Best Overall Market Maker, Best Fixed Income Market Maker and Best Cryptocurrencies Market Maker. As a leading global ETF market maker, we provide two-way prices to institutional counterparties and help to grow the industry with partnering with amongst others issuers, consultants, and exchanges.”
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