ESpeed

ESpeed is an electronic bond trading platform that in July 2013 became part of Nasdaq OMX's Transaction Services business. The deal, which included $750 million in cash and approximately $484 million in stock to be dispersed over 15 years, expanded Nasdaq OMX's business to include the fixed income markets. 
eSpeed completed the migration to the NASDAQ OMX Data Center, along with performance engineering enhancements, in May 2014. 
== History ==
ESpeed was developed in 1996 by Cantor Fitzgerald, formerly the leading voice broker in the U.S. Treasuries market. In April 2008, eSpeed merged with BGC to create BGC Partners, Inc.
The firm lost 180 of its employees and its global headquarters in downtown New York City in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Two days later, eSpeed handled the majority of the volume when bond trading resumed in the U.S. Its European and Asian services were uninterrupted.
In April 2002, eSpeed settled an agreement with ICE to license its technology for $2 million per year and $0.2 per trade. 
In August 2002, eSpeed, The Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade settled a court case in which the Merc and CBOT agreed to pay $15 million each to eSpeed to settle a long-running dispute over the Wagner Patent (United States Patent No. 4,903,201), a patent on automated futures trading systems that is one of the earliest patents in the futures trading technology area. eSpeed acquired the patent from Electronic Trading Systems in 2001, and later alleged that CME's Globex and the CBOT's a/c/e electronic platforms violated the patent. Prior to the technology sale to eSpeed, Electronic Trading Systems had filed a law suit against CME and CBOT for infringement; eSpeed assumed the role of plaintiff after purchasing the patent. 
On December 22, 2003, eSpeed announced a settlement with New York Mercantile Exchange regarding eSpeed’s Wagner Patent. According the settlement, NYMEX agreed to pay $8 million over three years for the right to use its technology. 
In June 2004, eSpeed sued ICAP’s BrokerTec for infringement of its patent on a fixed income trading system. Brokertec denied the infringement and in August accused eSpeed of engaging in “industrial espionage” by unlawfully acquiring a BrokerTec trading manual. 
In October 2007, eSpeed was fined $3.5 million for infringement of Trading Technologies’s software patents. 
In March 2014, Trading Technologies and Nasdaq OMX announced TT’s connection to NASDAQ OMX eSpeed. The connection was an unusual development, given that TT and eSpeed had had a long-running and nasty dispute over the technology patents.
===Trading Platforms===
eSpeed, Inc.'s history of electronic trading platforms began with the development of the "Super System" in the late 1980s, which was later renamed the Cantor Fitzgerald Trading System (CFTS). Initially designed to support both automated trading and traditional voice brokering, the Super System (CFTS 2.0) was primarily used as a trade capture system due to its slow processing speed and difficult user interface. In 1995, an updated version called CFTS 3.1 was introduced, marking a shift towards fully automated electronic trading by replacing voice brokering methods. This system allowed brokers to input trade information directly, with the computer system executing the trades automatically. The evolution of these platforms reflected the transition from open outcry trading to electronic systems in the interdealer brokerage market for U.S. government securities. eSpeed continued to develop and refine its electronic trading platforms, eventually becoming a major competitor in the automated trading space for fixed income securities.{{cite web|url=https://casetext.com/case/espeed-inc-v-brokertec-usa-2|name=eSpeed, Inc. v. Brokertec USA, L.L.C.|org=Casetext.com|date=July 10, 2024}
== Products and Services ==
On March 4, 2014, Trading Technologies International and The NASDAQ OMX Group announced the release of TT’s connection to NASDAQ OMX eSpeed. 
ESpeed’s relationship with Trading Technologies is part of a broader efforts to expand distribution to U.S. Treasuries market dealers with services for full lifecycle of global fixed income trading. Espeed reduced round-trip latency by 35% and plans to migrate all connectivity to NASDAQ OMX Data Center in order to provide customers a streamlined co-location strategy, access to other asset classes and technology innovations. 
 
The introduction of this connectivity was first announced in November 2013. 
== Key People ==
*Joseph Noviello, Senior Managing Director
== References ==
Category:Nasdaq