Liquidnet

Liquidnet is an electronic marketplace for block trading, serving institutional clients in 43 markets globally. The firm enables buy-side firms to access the largest natural pool of institutional liquidity in the industry, and it allows them to execute institutional-sized orders directly and anonymously. Liquidnet's average execution size is 40,000 shares, or 100 times the industry average.
Liquidnet offers a variety of trading strategies, which traders can access through its web-based interface, MultiVerse By Liquidnet, through FIX, or through Liquidnet’s trading desk. From 2012-2014, the company was named the top broker in the world for equities trading by the trade analytics firm Abel/Noser.
Liquidnet launched a dark pool for corporate bonds in the third quarter of 2015, in addition to its existing institutional-only dark pool for equities. The bond platform is also focused on institutional investors.
In September 2020, TP ICAP confirmed it was in advanced discussions to acquire Liquidnet for between $600 million and $700 million. The acquisition was completed in March 2021 in a deal valued at $700 million.
== History ==
Liquidnet was founded by Seth Merrin in 2001.
On June 8, 2009, Liquidnet announced a partnership with NYSE Euronext, a competitor, to launch new services for interactions between institutional investors and corporate issuers serviced by both organizations. Liquidnet said it would launch Liquidnet InfraRed, a proprietary desktop application accessed through NYSE’s ‘NYSEnet’ system to aggregate institutional demand, news sentiment and block trading data. 
On Jan. 27, 2010, Liquidnet announced it had been ranked as the number one overall performance leader for the second consecutive year in U.S. Equities Operations by Z/Yen’s 2009 survey of Operational Performance of Brokers.
On March 8, 2010, Liquidnet announced that it had integrated its electronic trading services directly into Fidessa’s EMS Workstation to boost block trading execution capabilities. The integration provided Fidessa customers with access to Liquidnet's pool of block liquidity for the equity markets. 
In January 2011, Liquidnet announced a partnership with SIX Swiss Exchange, the first time an exchange and a trading venue that operates dark trading had teamed up. The arrangement allowed the Swiss exchange to offer large-size institutional trading, while also catering to high-speed trading firms that trade in much smaller increments on its main platform. 
In March of 2014, Liquidnet acquired the UK bond trading platform Vega-Chi, marking its first move beyond equities and into the fixed income market. Vega-Chi operates electronic platforms for convertible bonds and high-yield debt in Europe and the US. Liquidnet launched trading in corporate bonds in the US in October 2014 and in Europe in early 2015. In a September 2014 CNBC interview, founder Seth Merrin further explained the firm's rationale for expansion into the corporate bond market. Its fixed income business now has more than 500 active asset management members.
In April 2014, the firm began offering trading in Indian equities, bringing its global reach to 43 markets.
Liquidnet was sanctioned by securities regulators in 2014 for not living up to client secrecy standards on its private trading platform. The company settled the allegations by paying a $2 million fine to the SEC.
In December 2015 Liquidnet launched its first electronic trading algorithm into the Asian equity markets, in Hong Kong and Japan. The firm first entered the Saian equity market back in 2007. 
In March of 2016 Liquidnet chose Societe Generale as its clearer in Europe after the closure of its previous clearing provider, JP Morgan. 
In May 2019 Liquidnet acquired RSRCHXchange, a marketplace and aggregator for institutional research, giving it a new level of research and analytics.
In June 2019 Liquidnet’s Europe subsidiary became the second trading participant to join SIX Swiss Exchange so far that year, following Barclays Bank Ireland, which became the first new 2019 trading participant in March.
In April 2024, Liquidnet launched SuperBlock Matching, an enhancement to its equities application allowing traders to signal and participate in exceptionally large or illiquid block trades with a single click.
== Patents ==
In June 2010, the Patent and Trademark Office awarded Liquidnet its second United States patent related to its equity trading system. Liquidnet was issued U.S. Patent No. 7,747,515 for "Electronic Securities Marketplace Having Integration With Order Management Systems." The patent further protects Liquidnet’s proprietary computer-based methods for generating liquidity for institutional block trades. Liquidnet was previously issued U.S. Patent No. 7,136,834 in November 2006. 
== Key People ==
*Seth Merrin, Founder 
*Mark Govoni, CEO 
*Richard Stein, Global Head of Operations
*Jerilyn Medrea, Global Head of Talent Engagement
*Rob Cranston, Global Head of Equity Product
== References ==
Category:Dark Pools
Category:MarketsWiki Page of the Day