Goldman Sachs SIGMA X Executes Record Volume in March

New York, NY, April 12, 2007--Goldman Sachs Execution and Clearing, L.P. (GSEC) announced today that its SIGMA X crossing system achieved record volume, primarily driven by new functionality enabling clients to leave resting orders within SIGMA X. This record volume represents a 14% increase over February and provides more opportunity for Goldman Sachs' electronic trading clients to achieve price improvement, while minimizing the impact their trades have on the market.

 

Goldman Sachs clients can now anonymously leave or "rest" orders within SIGMA X, the firm's electronic trading crossing network. The new functionality allows clients to interact with GSEC streaming liquidity, external liquidity providers and block-level client orders. Clients can place resting orders through REDIPlus, the firms' execution management system (EMS), through their own Order Management System, or from another firm's EMS.

"The significant volume crossing in SIGMA X demonstrates that clients are embracing all aspects of our liquidity strategy," said Greg Tusar, Head of Electronic Trading. "The size and depth of our liquidity pool, as well as our ability to aggregate liquidity from displayed and non-displayed sources, helps clients achieve better execution."

With the introduction of resting orders, Goldman Sachs completes the third pillar of its liquidity strategy called Seek, Route, Cross.

  • Seek: GSAT liquidity-seeking algorithms, such as Sonar, which search within SIGMA X and other non-displayed pools.
  • Route: The SIGMA smart order router is used for direct market access and interaction with SIGMA X prior to accessing every public market.
  • Cross: The SIGMA X crossing network is comprised of a customer book and a host of external liquidity providers to create a pool of non-displayed liquidity. SIGMA X allows customers to take liquidity from non-displayed sources and benefit from the largest aggregated source of liquidity that flows through the firm's infrastructure.

"Our strategy ensures clients have the greatest access to liquidity by interacting with Goldman, Sachs & Co. program and block trading desks, as well as liquidity from our clients," said Tusar.

The new SIGMA X functionality will continue to be enhanced over the next few weeks in the US and globally in the coming year. In Europe, an even greater proportion of trading occurs off order-book, so accessing liquidity in an anonymous and systematic way is essential to reducing impact costs. The 'seek and route' liquidity strategy in Europe is similar to that of the U.S, where SIGMA the router accesses multiple liquidity providers, in addition to Goldman Sachs and exchange liquidity.

Goldman Sachs is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of services worldwide to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high net worth individuals. Founded in 1869, it is one of the oldest and largest investment banking firms. The firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other major financial centers around the world.

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