In markets where every basis point counts, traders need more than speed — they need strategy. Discover the EMS functionality that enables both.
Fee Compression and Market Demands Put Focus on EMS Features That Optimize Investment Workflows
Alternative managers are under pressure from every direction. Fee compression, market volatility, and increasingly complex operations are reshaping how firms need to work.
To meet these demands, firms are turning to technology, and the technology many firms look to is the Execution Management System (EMS). EMSs, such as RealTick, offer features designed to streamline workflows, sharpen trade execution and support business growth.
But even the most sophisticated EMS will not deliver on its promise if it is not used to its full potential.
Studies show that, in general, business technology users engage with only a small subset of available software features—sometimes as little as 20 percent.
On busy trading desks, I’ve seen this firsthand: traders learn the basics they need to get the job done but rarely explore beyond that – even when the payoff could be substantial.
This post aims to change that.
Read on to rediscover some of the EMS features you thought you knew and learn the hidden features power users rely on to gain a competitive edge.
Expanding Your Technical Understanding: The 6 EMS Features Firms Need to Streamline Their Trading Workflows
When users aren’t fully aware of what their technology can do, firms risk missing out on opportunities to drive efficiency, performance and better outcomes.
Below, we highlight six features of the RealTick. By applying these potentially hidden features, alternative investment firms can better enhance operational efficiency and stay focused on alpha generation.
Expanding Multi-Asset Class Coverage — and Beyond
Many firms rely on a patchwork of highly specialized systems to trade different asset classes. Over time, users become accustomed to these siloed solutions, accepting complexity as the norm.
But this familiarity can mask inefficiency. Fragmented tech stacks often force traders to manage multiple interfaces, workflows and protocols, which slows traders down and dilutes performance.
One of the RealTick’s sometimes hidden strengths is its ability to aggregate liquidity across asset classes and brokers within a single, centralized platform.
This unified view streamlines access to markets, strengthens risk oversight, and gives traders the agility to act decisively in fast-moving conditions.
Maximizing Trader Time with Automated Trading Functionality
Many EMS solutions offer some type of automated trading capability. This functionality allows traders to offload routine or rules-based execution to automation.
However, not all EMS platforms are created equal. To truly unlock efficiency and precision across the trading desk, users must look beyond basic automation and explore the more advanced capabilities their EMS provides.
For instance, RealTick includes robust automated trading features, such as algo wheels. Tools like this streamline the handling of low-touch orders, freeing up traders to focus on higher-value activities like strategy development, idea generation, and risk management.
Moreover, RealTick empowers users to configure system behavior based on specific trade events—such as when a position is opened or closed. This level of nuanced automation offers traders greater control over order flow, which is especially critical when managing complex scenarios like short exits or options strategies.
Discovering Liquidity: The Overlooked Power of IOIs and AIOIs
When traders gain better visibility into where large, hidden pockets of liquidity exist, they increase their chances of achieving better pricing, larger fills—or ideally, both.
Features like IOIs (Indications of Interest) and AIOIs (Actionable IOIs) can surface this hidden liquidity and improve time-to-market. Yet, these tools are often underutilized or overlooked.
A modern EMS elevates these capabilities further through intelligent routing, real-time market data, and seamless access to global liquidity pools. As markets grow more fragmented, the EMS evolves from a simple execution tool into a critical front-office partner—delivering high-value signals from a broad network of brokers.
By integrating IOIs and AIOIs into a unified interface, the EMS ensures that valuable liquidity insights aren’t missed. This empowers traders to act with greater confidence, speed, and precision.
Eliminating the Swivel with Position-Based Trade Entry
As firms expand their investment strategies and embrace complex instruments and higher trade volumes, they also need to embrace the sophisticated position-based trading capabilities they sometimes overlook. Using this feature, users can build, view and adjust trades with precise allocations directly within the EMS.
Position based trading adds essential context, reducing the risk of errors, and supporting smarter, more strategic execution decisions—all without switching between systems.
Streamlining Security Seeding
In high-velocity markets, even small delays can cost opportunities—especially when trading complex instruments like options. Yet many traders still rely on manual workflows to input or define security details before they can execute a trade.
Security seedling, a small but powerful feature, lets traders launch trades with just a few clicks, without having to predefine contract specs. The EMS automatically populates the security details in the connected order management system (OMS), eliminating redundant steps and minimizing the risk of errors.
This feature removes friction from trade initiation, accelerating time-to-market, reducing operational risk and freeing up time for higher-value decision making.
Expanding EMS Functionality Through APIs
Open architecture and API access for customization and integration are fundamental EMS features today. Managers expect to plug in their own data, models or downstream systems, making this baseline functionality.
Despite their availability, however, APIs remain a mystery for many users. Some users aren’t even sure if their platform supports them, let alone how to leverage them effectively. This often means valuable integration opportunities go untapped.
The APIs in an EMS like RealTick remove this barrier by providing a marketplace of trusted third-party solutions accessible through well-documented, plug-and-play APIs.
Whether it’s custom analytics, risk tools, or proprietary models, these APIs empower users to tailor workflows and gain deeper control without overhauling existing infrastructure.
RealTick: Improving Investment and Trading Workflows in Today’s Markets
In a market defined by speed, complexity, and constant competition, it's not just what your technology can do that matters—it’s whether users can fully understand and access the tools they need to keep pace.
RealTick delivers the advanced capabilities traders depend on to stay ahead. These capabilities include powerful, often underutilized features that can significantly enhance processes when brought to light.
With high-speed, multi-asset, multi-broker support, RealTick offers a centralized platform that streamlines access to liquidity, sharpens execution, and evolves alongside the needs of institutional trading desks.
Ready to explore what these EMS features can do for you?
Learn more about the essential features of the EMS, or contact us to start the conversation.
