March 08, 2021 12:00 AM

Tradewatch for Q4 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 Dec. 31, 2020. Source: Elkins/McSherry, a State Street company.

All trading

Rank	Broker	Difference
Global brokers
1	Banco Santander	-324.07
2	Cowen	-98.72
3	Redburn Partners	-34.72
4	Kotak Securities	-31.72
5	Goldman Sachs	-28.77
6	Tocqueville Asset Mgmt.	-23.72
7	Cantor Fitzgerald	-0.83
8	HSBC Securities	-0.67
9	Barclays Bank	-0.54
10	Guzman	0.64

Rank	Broker	Difference
U.S. brokers
1	Cowen	-97.80
2	ITG	-60.88
3	BTIG	-40.77
4	Gar Wood Securities	-37.05
5	BB&T Investment Svcs.	-31.04
6	Burnham	-30.99
7	Guzman	-26.09
8	Charles Schwab	-25.43
9	Citadel Derivatives Grp.	-21.89
10	G-Research	-21.15

Trades by order size

Rank	Broker	Difference
Large orders: 50,000+ shares
1	BTIG	-65.24
2	Goldman Sachs	-52.55
3	William Blair	-27.14
4	J.P. Morgan	-3.67
5	Guzman	-1.03
6	BB&T Investment Svcs.	0.02
7	RBC Capital Markets	0.67
8	Stifel Nicolaus	6.87
9	Russell Impl. Svcs.	15.1
10	Morgan Stanley	25.65

Rank	Broker	Difference
Medium orders: 10,000 - 50,000 shares
1	Gar Wood Securities	-21.3
2	Guzman	-16.69
3	Bank of America	-10.88
4	Knight Trading	-10.38
5	BTIG	-2.38
6	J.P. Morgan	-1.42
7	Goldman Sachs	1.38
8	Russell Impl. Svcs.	4.76
9	UBS	7.89
10	BB&T Investment Svcs.	10.13

Rank	Broker	Difference
Small orders: 10,000 shares or less
1	BTIG	-26.22
2	Credit Suisse	-18.78
3	Guzman	-15.95
4	Gar Wood Securities	-11.49
5	Goldman Sachs	-9.95
6	Cowen	-6.80
7	UBS	-5.12
8	J.P. Morgan	-3.54
9	Knight Trading	-3.12
10	Morgan Stanley	-2.04

Trades by liquidity

Rank	Broker	Difference
0% - 20% of daily volume
1	Bank of New York	-17.55
2	William Blair	-16.94
3	Gar Wood Securities	-14.47
4	Guzman	-14.01
5	RBC Capital Markets	-6.53
6	Knight Trading	-4.76
7	BB&T Investment Svcs.	-4.48
8	Goldman Sachs	-3.26
9	BTIG	-2.93
10	J.P. Morgan	-1.64

Rank	Broker	Difference
20% - 50% of daily volume
1	Russell Impl. Svcs.	-40.19
2	RBC Capital Markets	-24.60
3	Gar Wood Securities	-15.90
4	J.P. Morgan	-14.72
5	Guzman	-12.00
6	Cowen	-10.92
7	Goldman Sachs	-9.58
8	BTIG	-2.99
9	Instinet	-2.39
10	Bank of America	-2.35

Rank	Broker	Difference
50%+ of daily volume
1	BTIG	-41.42
2	Gar Wood Securities	-17.97
3	Citadel Derivatives Grp.	-15.07
4	Guzman	-14.77
5	Cowen	-14.42
6	Credit Suisse	-12.31
7	J.P. Morgan	-9.78
8	Goldman Sachs	-7.13
9	Charles Schwab	-5.23
10	Morgan Stanley	-3.83

Trades by market cap

Rank	Broker	Difference
Giant cap
1	Bank of America	-17.73
2	Credit Suisse	-8.16
3	Guzman	-8.11
4	BB&T Investment Svcs.	-6.26
5	Gar Wood Securities	-6.01
6	Cowen	-4.02
7	BTIG	-3.85
8	J.P. Morgan	-2.60
9	UBS	-0.65
10	IEX	1.36

Rank	Broker	Difference
Large cap
1	BTIG	-51.93
2	Guzman	-22.03
3	Goldman Sachs	-21.37
4	Credit Suisse	-19.98
5	Gar Wood Securities	-16.44
6	J.P. Morgan	-0.62
7	Bank Of America	0.45
8	Morgan Stanley	3.03
9	Russell Impl. Svcs.	6.41
10	BB&T Investment Svcs.	10.66

Rank	Broker	Difference
Midcap
1	Guzman	-26.15
2	Gar Wood Securities	-21.85
3	Goldman Sachs	-19.69
4	RBC Capital Markets	-18.27
5	BB&T Investment Svcs.	-15.37
6	BTIG	-11.13
7	J.P. Morgan	-5.95
8	Jeffries	-3.31
9	Morgan Stanley	0.31
10	Russell Impl. Svcs.	4.97

Rank	Broker	Difference
Small cap
1	Gar Wood Securities	-72.03
2	BTIG	-62.94
3	Goldman Sachs	-49.32
4	Guzman	-42.68
5	Russell Impl. Svcs.	-9.07
6	UBS	-1.69
7	IEX	1.04
8	Morgan Stanley	18.22
9	BB&T Investment Svcs.	18.91
10	Credit Suisse	19.31

Rank	Broker	Difference
Microcap
1	Gar Wood Securities	-195.82
2	Guzman	-112.8
3	BTIG	-97.74
4	UBS	-93.18
5	Russell Impl. Svcs.	-85.86
6	Credit Suisse	-20.14
7	IEX	-9.06
8	J.P. Morgan	-6.46
9	Bank of America	-5.30
10	Morgan Stanley	54.62

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 Dec. 31, 2020. Source: Virtu Financial LLC

U.S. trading costs: Commissions and implementation shortfall