FME founder Barker-Ward launches algorithmic firm QubeX

Julian Barker-Ward, the founder and former head of trading firm FME, has launched a fintech that offers state-of-the-art execution algorithms to funds and traders.

Barker-Ward, who left FME after more than 20 years in late 2020, is now chief executive of QubeX Ltd, a London-based technology firm that designs execution algorithms.

He told Global Investor: “Having founded and run Financial Market Engineering and FME Asset Management over the past 20 years, it became increasingly obvious to me that, as a systematic quant manager trying to put together a compelling solution for capacity, the execution algorithms available in the market were simply not fit-for-purpose.”

Working with Richard Griffiths, a former asset manager at GLG Partners who runs research at QubeX, and Rodrigo Trida, QuebeX’s chief technology officer, Barker-Ward is now launching QubeX’s first product.

“Over time, we started to work on our own execution algorithms and are now bringing to market our Evolved Volumetric Algorithm (EVA) which, based on our analysis, is at least 100 times more accurate at achieving the VWAP benchmark than existing algos on the market.”

QubeX’s first algo has been developed for systematic quant fund managers but is equally applicable to any trader or broker working large, market-sensitive orders, the firm said.

“EVA has been developed over a number of years to offer superior execution performance when trading any liquid financial futures. EVA is different from the large order schedule-based execution algorithms available because it allows users to track the participation rate unparalleled accuracy, improving fill rates and driving down costs, backed up by real-time TCA (Transaction Cost Analysis) reports.”

Barker-Ward said QubeX is already working with ambitious trading firm Sigma Broking to make the EVA algorithm available to Sigma’s many clients and he is also talking to tech firms about embedding the algo in their trading screens.

And Barker-Ward is also looking at the next stage of deliveries: “Currently, EVA can be used when trading futures but the plan is to roll-it out over time to cover other asset classes such as equities, which will make it relevant for long-short equity hedging for example.”

Deutsche Boerse acquired in late 2020 a majority stake in algo specialist Quantitative Brokers in a move to enhance the German group's offering to buy-side clients including funds.