November 30, 2020 12:00 AM

Tradewatch for Q3 2020

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 Sept. 30, 2020. Source: Elkins/McSherry, a State Street company.

All trading

Rank	Broker	Difference
Global brokers
1	Redburn Partners	-67.21
2	Cowen	-20.05
3	Guzman	-11.01
4	Cantor Fitzgerald	-9.82
5	Goldman Sachs	-4.37
6	Jeffries	1.78
7	Barclays Bank	3.83
8	Pavilion	8.53
9	Banque Degroof	11.72
10	Morgan Stanley	20.34

Rank	Broker	Difference
U.S. brokers
1	Cowen	-105.68
2	Burnham	-67.47
3	Citadel Derivatives Grp.	-59.36
4	ITG	-54.53
5	BTIG	-47.38
6	Gar Wood Securities	-37.93
7	Guzman	-29.88
8	Jones & Associates	-29.61
9	BB&T Investment Svcs.	-25.55
10	G-Research	-21.15

Trades by order size

Rank	Broker	Difference
Large orders: 50,000+ shares
1	BTIG	-70.64
2	Gar Wood Securities	-40.13
3	Goldman Sachs	-20.80
4	William Blair	-20.52
5	RBC Capital Markets	-10.65
6	Guzman	-10.59
7	J.P. Morgan	1.49
8	UBS	2.97
9	Morgan Stanley	13.39
10	Russell Impl. Svcs.	14.71

Rank	Broker	Difference
Medium orders: 10,000 - 50,000 shares
1	Gar Wood Securities	-21.84
2	Guzman	-18.26
3	Bank of America	-10.84
4	Knight Trading	-10.57
5	BTIG	-10.56
6	UBS	-4.99
7	J.P. Morgan	-3.28
8	Morgan Stanley	0.81
9	Russell Impl. Svcs.	3.73
10	Credit Suisse	9.99

Rank	Broker	Difference
Small orders: 10,000 shares or less
1	BTIG	-29.82
2	Credit Suisse	-21.18
3	Guzman	-17.38
4	Cowen	-12.14
5	Gar Wood Securities	-11.80
6	Bank of America	-5.96
7	UBS	-4.96
8	J.P. Morgan	-2.11
9	Morgan Stanley	-1.94
10	Instinet	-0.82

Trades by liquidity

Rank	Broker	Difference
0% - 20% of daily volume
1	BTIG	-46.08
2	Cowen	-42.40
3	ITG	-25.15
4	Knight Trading	-21.50
5	Gar Wood Trading	-17.16
6	Citadel Derivatives Grp.	-15.74
7	Guzman	-14.54
8	Goldman Sachs	-14.41
9	National Financial Svcs.	-14.34
10	J.P. Morgan	-9.26

Rank	Broker	Difference
20% - 50% of daily volume
1	Russell Impl. Svcs.	-36.71
2	Gar Wood Securities	-18.30
3	RBC Capital Markets	-16.17
4	Guzman	-13.56
5	Knight Trading	-11.39
6	J.P. Morgan	-10.60
7	BTIG	-9.77
8	Barclays Bank	-7.50
9	Goldman Sachs	-6.43
10	Bank of America	-4.32

Rank	Broker	Difference
50%+ of daily volume
1	Bank of New York	-17.75
2	Guzman	-16.97
3	Gar Wood Securities	-16.62
4	William Blair	-12.26
5	RBC Capital Markets	-11.38
6	BTIG	-5.38
7	Knight Trading	-3.62
8	Credit Suisse	-0.73
9	J.P. Morgan	1.92
10	Bank of America	1.96

Trades by market cap

Rank	Broker	Difference
Giant cap
1	Bank of America	-15.91
2	Guzman	-11.79
3	Credit Suisse	-10.17
4	Gar Wood Securities	-7.47
5	Cowen	-5.82
6	UBS	-2.79
7	BTIG	-0.12
8	Goldman Sachs	0.22
9	J.P. Morgan	1.45
10	Knight Trading	2.33

Rank	Broker	Difference
Large cap
1	BTIG	-55.65
2	Goldman Sachs	-27.85
3	Guzman	-22.25
4	RBC Capital Markets	-21.58
5	Credit Suisse	-20.58
6	Gar Wood Securities	-15.22
7	Bank of America	-3.89
8	J.P. Morgan	0.15
9	Morgan Stanley	0.95
10	Russell Impl. Svcs.	6.17

Rank	Broker	Difference
Midcap
1	RBC Capital Markets	-29.53
2	Guzman	-29.42
3	Gar Wood Securities	-18.67
4	BB&T Investment Services	-10.39
5	Knight Trading	-9.04
6	BTIG	-7.41
7	Goldman Sachs	-6.20
8	Jefferies	-4.71
9	J.P. Morgan	-2.28
10	Morgan Stanley	-0.58

Rank	Broker	Difference
Small cap
1	ITG	-85.15
2	BTIG	-64.30
3	Gar Wood Securities	-62.55
4	B. Riley Financial	-54.25
5	Guzman	-50.07
6	Jefferies	-43.68
7	Goldman Sachs	-34.84
8	J.P. Morgan	-15.08
9	Needham	-9.01
10	Russell Impl. Svcs.	-8.20

Rank	Broker	Difference
Microcap
1	Gar Wood Securities	-200.30
2	Cowen	-131.38
3	Guzman	-129.18
4	Russell Impl. Svcs.	-91.72
5	UBS	-44.64
6	Jeffries	-30.71
7	Bank of America	-19.32
8	J.P. Morgan	-8.08
9	Banque Degroof	9.12
10	Knight Trading	25.99

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 Sept. 30, 2020. Source: Virtu Financial LLC

U.S. trading costs: Commissions and implementation shortfall