Block trades

Introduction to block trades

Block trades are high volume trades in any outright or strategy product and arranged by two counterparties outside of the open market. You can
submit block trades using the Order Ticket in the Market Grid widget. In the Order Ticket, the Block Order Type is only available for exchanges
(e.g., EEX) and accounts that support block trades.

Exchanges supporting block trades

The TT platform supports block Trades at the following exchanges:
Eurex
The platform also supports the following types of block trades at Eurex:
Vola Trades: an OTC trade separately agreed to by both parties and approved by Eurex. This trade requires you to perform an
options trade and hedge it with a futures trade.
Exchange for Physical: an OTC trade which exchanges an OTC derivative product for an exchange-traded derivative.
Exchange for Swap: a strategy where the position in the underlying is traded for a futures position.
EEX
The platform also supports the following types of block trades at EEX:
Vola Trades: an OTC trade separately agreed to by both parties and approved by Eurex. This trade requires you to perform an
options trade and hedge it with a futures trade.
Exchange for Physical: an OTC trade which exchanges an OTC derivative product for an exchange-traded derivative.
Exchange for Swap: a strategy where the position in the underlying is traded for a futures position.
NFX
The platform supports entering block trades using the Blocktrader widget.

Submitting a block trade

1. In the Market Grid, left-click the Ask/Bid or the AskQty/BidQty cell next to the selected contract to open an Order Ticket.
The Order Ticket window appears.
Note: You can also open an order ticket with a right click and selecting Order Ticket from the Open menu.
2. In the Order Ticket window, select the Block order type.
When Block is selected as the Order Type, the additional fields required for submitting the order are displayed. The Account and TIF fields
are cleared, grayed out, and disabled.
3. Enter the Price and Quantity for the order.
You must adhere to the exchange's rules for minimum quantity to send a block order.

4. In the block trade window, populate the Counterparty field with the Exchange Member ID of the sell-side trader.
This value comes from the exchange and also appears as the first five (5) characters of the Default User ID listed in Setup. For more
information, refer to the Counterparty ID section below.
Note: To submit an inquiry on a block order, simply switch the Block button to Inquire.

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5. Press Submit to send the order into the market.

Counterparty IDs
For block trades, the sell-side trader must provide their exchange Member ID to the buy-side trader for use in the Counterparty field. The buy-side
trader must populate this value in the Counterparty field when initiating a block trade. The Counterparty ID value appears in the Default User ID
field in the Exchange Specific Settings in the Setup app.
To find the sell-side Counterparty ID (Exchange Member ID):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

The sell-side trader must open the Setup app and select Connections.
Select the exchange-connection to view the configuration values associated with the connection.
Scroll to the Exchange Specific Settings to view the Default User ID.
The sell-side trader must provide the first five (5) characters of the Default User ID to the buy-side trader.
The buy-side trader must populate the Counterparty ID field in the block trade windoq with this value.

The Trade Reference ID

You can view information for block orders in the Orders, Audit Trail and Fills widgets.
All exchange-provided Trade Reference IDs appear in the ExchangeOrderID column as shown in the image below.

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NFX block trades

Use the Blocktrader widget to submit block trades for multiple accounts and counterparties at the NASDAQ Futures Exchange (NFX). As an
executing broker, you can select a counterparty and account for each side of the trade and submit both sides at once.
You can also create synthetic strategies to allocate multi-legged block trades in the order ticket of the Blocktrader widget. All legs of the strategy
are sent to the exchange as separate trades. Strategies can be saved as templates and used for submitting additional block trades.
Once a trade is executed, you can view the fills and order status for each leg in the Blocktrader trade log, which is located in the bottom half of the
widget. The orders and fills are also displayed in the Fills and Audit Trail widgets. Block trades can also be viewed in the Time and Sales widget.

Opening the Blocktrader widget

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Open the Blocktrader widget from the widgets menu in the title bar.

Entering an NFX Block Trade

1. After opening the Blocktrader widget, click Select a contract and choose the product and expiry to populate the contract field.
The selected contract is also populated in the next row for ease of use when trading the same product. A single click in the Side column
toggles a leg to the opposite buy/sell direction, and you can adjust the Ratio of each leg if needed.
2. Select counterparty accounts.
Use the dropdown arrows in the counterparty fields to select the appropriate buy and sell accounts. Enter a few characters in the search
field to quickly find the entry you need. The counterparty selection shows your account, the counterparty's alias (e.g., FCM name), and the
counterparty's Authorized Trader ID (ATID).
3. Click the + icon to add more legs to your strategy.
As you create your strategy, TT builds a name for the structure. You can rename it by entering a new name and save it as a template by
clicking the Save button. You can then click Templates and select your saved strategies at anytime. To remove a strategy leg, click the X
icon.
4. Enter the order quantity and price.
Enter the desired trade quantity either by using the arrows or the quantity buttons. The price field seeds with the calculated midpoint value
for the strategy; however, a price may be manually entered by either using the arrows or by typing the desired price. The Calculated
Prices for the strategy are also displayed in the order ticket.
If needed, you can click the Price Legs setting to manually enter prices and submit orders for each leg rather than submit an order for the
entire strategy using the calculated midpoint price.
5. Click the Deal Time field to enter a time and date for the transaction and click Apply. You can also select Now and apply it or click the
refresh icon to use the current time and date.
6. Click Send Block.
7. In the confirmation dialog, verify the order details and click Submit.
Once the block trade is sent, the order details are displayed in the trade log in the bottom half of the Blocktrader widget. If the order is
rejected, a red error message displays on the bottom of the widget along with a description of the reject.

Using the Trade Log

The trade log in the Blocktrader widget can be customized by re-ordering the columns to different locations. You can also filter any of the available
fields in each column. The column order and filters can be saved to the workspace for future sessions.
Right-click in the trade log and click Go to date... to enter a time and date to view deals on a particular date.
Data from the trade log can also be exported into Excel. Right-click and select Export rows, or click and drag to select rows, then right click and
select Export Rows.

Customizing Blocktrader Settings

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You can configure the following settings:

Automatically expand Trade Capture Reports: Checked (enabled) by default.
Default Order Qty: Sets the default order quantity for each leg of the trade.
Reset quantity: Checked (enabled) by default.

Execution Report Column Descriptions

Setting

Description

Account

Account number associated with the transaction.

B/S

Whether the transaction is a Buy or Sell.

Contract

The specific instrument for which all market data applies.

Counterparty

Shows the Participant ID and account number of the counterparty that you submit the order on behalf of.

Date

Date the transaction occurred or the message was sent.

Order Book widget: Date the order was submitted.
Fills widget: Date the fill was received.
Audit Trail widget: Date the message was sent or received.
Blocktrader widget: The date that the block trade was submitted on TT.

DealDate

The date manually set by the user in the Deal Time field prior to sending the block trade to the exchange.

DealTime

The time manually set by the user in the Deal Time field prior to sending the block trade to the exchange.

ExchDate

The date the trading host received/sent the message.

ExchTime

The time at which a fill is received by the exchange host or exchange gateway, depending on the practice of the exchange. The
time may be shown in the time zone where the exchange is located.

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Setting

Description

ExchOrderID

ID of the order, supplied by the exchange.

ExchTransID

The transaction ID generated by and received from the Exchange.

Time

Time the transaction occurred.

Order Book widget: Date the order was submitted.
Fills widget: Date the fill was received.
Audit Trail widget: Date the message was sent or received.

Exchange

Name of the exchange.

Message

Message received from the exchange, if sent

Message
Type

Type of message sent to or received from the exchange

OrdQty

Total order quantity

Originator

TT User ID of the person who submitted the order

ParentID

TT-generated ID that uniquely identifies a parent order. The ID is also associated with all of its child orders.
For example, if you submit a TT Iceberg order, the ParentID of each child order will contain the TTOrderID of the parent Iceberg
order.

Price

Price of the order or fill.

Reject
Source

Displays if the order was rejected at the exchange.

Trader

The counterparty's authorized trader you submit the order on behalf of.

TTOrderID

TT-generated ID that uniquely identifies the order associated with the transaction.

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