SMU Trading Technology Lab (STTL)

Prof. Enoch Chng

STTL would be a state-of-the-art trading technology research and learning environment for students and faculty to better understand and experience the growing flow of financial data and technology, and to manage the impact and trade offs. Lab users can prototype new trading applications in a simulated environment.

The need for an environment for SIS financial services programs at both master and undergraduate level to create innovative teaching techniques to be applied to financial trading technology. To provide an environment whereby faculty and students would have access to real-time data feeds from providers of financial information, IT applications in front office, back office, buy-side, sellside as well as the exchange.

To help SIS students to understand: trading processes (in particular the front office), execution venues, enabling technology, and effects of volume increases, together with scalability investigation, dependencies in design. Learning through trading simulation programs with buy and sell sides through virtual exchange platform. Cooperate with other modules that are teaching for under-grad and post-grad students.

Provide students with valuable Activities Entities real financial world experiences Accounts in academic environment Customers Instruments without the risk of financial Counter Parties losses. By learning and understanding the microstructure of financial markets, students can better develop and implement trading strategies to fulfill the performance requirements when they graduate and accept positions in the industry.

Elemental Units
Entities Accounts Customers Instruments Counter Parties

Processing Cycles
Days Years Months Market Cycle

Information
Holdings Transactions Securities Master Customer Master

Counterparty Master Account/Product Master

Unit Aggregation
Blotters Quotes Contact List P&L Statements

Holding Periods

Process Units
Orders Payments Instruments Execution Reports Delivery Instructions Indication of Interests

Events
Accounts Customers

Holding Reports Instruments Counter Parties Customer Statements

Trading simulator to test against a live production price feed via a simulated matching engine that closely mirror the performance and feel of live production trading. Order staging, order management, trade execution, post-trade, risk management etc. (Ability to see orders reflected in simulated price feed, resetting positions and P&L on demand etc.) To learn about the following from an operations perspective: Simulated trading of products and order types, e.g. Cash, futures, options, spread, Limit, Market, Fill nor Kill, Immediate or Cancel, Timed, Triggered, Trailing, Sliced, Retry The effect of Matching algorithm, matching behavior on systems.