May 31, 2021 12:00 AM

Tradewatch for Q1 2021

Broker rankings

Ranked by difference in cost/savings against the Elkins/McSherry Arrival Price universe, based on the top 50 brokers in each category by U.S. dollar volume. Rolling four-quarter data are as of March 30, 2021. Source: Elkins/McSherry, a State Street company.

All trading

Rank	Broker	Difference
Global brokers
1	Banco Santander	-335.0
2	Cowen	-94.10
3	Goldman Sachs	-78.78
4	Redburn Partners	-53.72
5	Cantor Fitzgerald	-42.96
6	Barclays Bank	-27.16
7	UBS	-14.84
8	Kotak Securities	-9.94
9	HSBC Securities	-0.52
10	Pictet	3.55

Rank	Broker	Difference
U.S. brokers
1	Cowen	-90.69
2	Gar Wood Securities	-42.82
3	BTIG	-39.77
4	BB&T Investment Svcs.	-34.49
5	Burnham	-32.68
6	Charles Schwab	-28.65
7	Guzman	-27.00
8	William Blair	-24.91
9	RBC Capital Markets	-22.46
10	Citadel Derivatives Grp.	-18.44

Trades by order size

Rank	Broker	Difference
Large orders: 50,000+ shares
1	BTIG	-85.48
2	Needham	-54.82
3	Goldman Sachs	-28.45
4	William Blair	-27.89
5	J.P. Morgan	-13.02
6	Guzman	-11.16
7	BB&T Investment Svcs.	-8.84
8	Russell	-8.22
9	RBC Capital Markets	-5.94
10	Morgan Stanley	22.26

Rank	Broker	Difference
Medium orders: 10,000 - 50,000 shares
1	Gar Wood Securities	-19.50
2	Guzman	-15.36
3	Knight Trading	-14.94
4	BTIG	-10.35
5	Bank of America	-5.59
6	Needham	-2.37
7	UBS	-0.27
8	Russell	0.17
9	Goldman Sachs	0.83
10	BB&T Investment Svcs.	3.63

Rank	Broker	Difference
Small orders: 10,000 shares or less
1	Bank of America	-48.35
2	BTIG	-33.94
3	Credit Suisse	-19.70
4	Guzman	-15.46
5	Gar Wood Securities	-11.31
6	Knight Trading	-5.15
7	J.P. Morgan	-4.91
8	Cowen	-3.21
9	Goldman Sachs	-2.89
10	UBS	-2.83

Trades by liquidity

Rank	Broker	Difference
0% - 20% of daily volume
1	BIDS	-32.63
2	BTIG	-29.10
3	Gar Wood Securities	-21.8
4	Guzman	-17.69
5	BB&T Investment Svcs.	-17.30
6	Credit Suisse	-14.18
7	Cowen	-10.02
8	Russell	-9.88
9	Citadel Derivatives Grp.	-9.72
10	J.P. Morgan	-8.79

Rank	Broker	Difference
20% - 50% of daily volume
1	Russell	-48.66
2	Guzman	-18.92
3	Gar Wood Securities	-16.19
4	Knight Trading	-14.33
5	BTIG	-13.85
6	J.P. Morgan	-13.09
7	Goldman Sachs	-10.43
8	Bank of New York	-6.27
9	Barclays Bank	-5.42
10	Bank of America	-5.41

Rank	Broker	Difference
50%+ of daily volume
1	Bank of America	-40.06
2	UBS	-21.78
3	BB&T Investment Svcs.	-15.80
4	BTIG	-15.43
5	Guzman	-14.52
6	William Blair	-14.06
7	Gar Wood Securities	-11.99
8	Knight Trading	-9.26
9	J.P. Morgan	-3.21
10	Needham & Co.	-1.94

Trades by market cap

Rank	Broker	Difference
Giant cap
1	Bank of America	-35.38
2	BB&T Investment Svcs.	-19.46
3	BTIG	-11.06
4	Guzman	-8.76
5	Gar Wood Securities	-6.04
6	UBS	-3.15
7	IEX	-2.89
8	Knight Securities	-2.79
9	Credit Suisse	-1.92
10	Instinet	-1.29

Rank	Broker	Difference
Large cap
1	BTIG	-70.22
2	Goldman Sachs	-26.55
3	Guzman	-21.81
4	Credit Suisse	-20.22
5	Gar Wood Securities	-13.66
6	Knight Trading	-10.32
7	J.P. Morgan	-7.54
8	Russell	1.11
9	Morgan Stanley	3.28
10	UBS	3.69

Rank	Broker	Difference
Midcap
1	Bank of America	-46.90
2	BB&T Investment Svcs.	-35.96
3	Guzman	-27.60
4	Goldman Sachs	-22.98
5	Gar Wood Securities	-20.48
6	J.P. Morgan	-8.90
7	Russell	-1.08
8	Knight Trading	0.36
9	Needham	6.25
10	Morgan Stanley	6.40

Rank	Broker	Difference
Small cap
1	BTIG	-89.15
2	Gar Wood Securities	-83.05
3	Guzman	-55.47
4	UBS	-44.95
5	Knight Trading	-31.01
6	Russell	-22.62
7	J.P. Morgan	-8.65
8	Goldman Sachs	-4.03
9	Jeffries	-1.58
10	IEX	1.77

Rank	Broker	Difference
Microcap
1	BB&T Investment Svcs.	-272.43
2	Gar Wood Securities	-251.27
3	BTIG	-116.79
4	UBS	-102.64
5	Russell	-97.82
6	Knight Trading	-97.45
7	Guzman	-92.05
8	J.P. Morgan	-35.49
9	Bank of America	-33.32
10	IEX	-10.44

Trading analytics

Commissions and implementation shortfall based on Virtu's Global Peer database. *Volatility annualized is the 60-day historical volatility for the S&P 500 index. Data are as of March 30, 2021. Source: Virtu Financial LLC

U.S. trading costs: Commissions and implementation shortfall