IM Trading Solutions Goes After Middle Market

Wall Street Letter (March 11, 2005) - IMTRADER, the Boston-based technology firm that builds instant messaging solutions for traders, expects to sign 26 new clients this year on the heels of linking its popular IMTRADER system with AmericaOnline's instant messenger service. The new service allows traders to execute orders delivered from clients via instant messaging on AOL. It is being marketed to middle-market brokerages. "Many large brokerages have their own proprietary systems built for IM trading, so we are marketing the system to smaller clients who could benefit from lower costs," said Furqan Nazeeri, ceo. It is much cheaper to buy a pre-made trading solution than to build a custom one, which results in significant savings for brokerages, a trading exec at a mid-market firm explained.

The new version of IMTRADER automatically connects the instant messenger to the brokerage's order management and compliance systems, thereby shortening time for the trader to log the order, and retaining the instant messages for compliance. Prior to integration with the AOL IM server, traders received orders via AOL, but had to then log the order into order management and compliance systems, which made the process inconvenient, said Gary Meshell, v.p. of sales. The new system is not susceptible to security concerns associated with AOL instant messaging because the interface is rewritten to keep out hackers and viruses, Nazeeri added. Pivot has ten clients--including brokerages and specialists--covering 500 accounts already using an older version of its IMTRADER system. Pivot hopes to convert these clients to the new system as well.