Match Liquidity: Optimizing Liquidity Access For A Proprietary Trading Firm

The Challenge:

As the firm expanded into digital assets, Match Liquidity faced several key challenges:

• A robust execution infrastructure that could handle institutional grade trading;
• To build in-house technology or use an external solution;
• Managing liquidity from multiple providers while optimizing pricing and risk management;
• Reduce reliance on traditional OTC trading and chat-based execution.

Building a prop trading infrastructure for digital assets would have required a big investment in technology and operational resources. Given the unique structure of the crypto market, which combines the volatility of emerging market currencies with settlement risks arising from the absence of traditional Delivery Versus Payment (DVP) settlement mechanics, Match Liquidity required a reliable, and cost-effective solution.

The Solution:

After evaluating multiple options, Match Liquidity chose Finery Markets as its primary execution platform. This choice was made because Finery Markets offers ECN technology that Match Liquidity is already familiar with from traditional financial markets. This approach enhances the firm's ability to access liquidity, optimizes pricing and execution methods, and improves the efficiency of settlements. Additionally, its non-custodial design, combined with risk controls helps manage and control the potential counterparty risks.

By using Finery Markets, Match Liquidity benefited from:

• A fully electronic trading environment – no high-touch workflows required to access multiple liquidity providers.
• Optimized price execution – different execution methods and spread management with asymmetric markups and control of execution parameters based on counterparties behavior.
• Flexible settlement management – bilateral credit lines which reduce capital inefficiencies.
• Risk and account management tools – Secure, isolated environments for positions and exposure management.

The onboarding process with Finery Markets was smooth and Match Liquidity was able to integrate the platform into its existing trading operations quickly. While setting up execution within Finery Markets was easy, onboarding counterparties on the platform and aligning institutional workflows took time – as expected given the legal, credit and testing requirements in institutional trading.

Our integration with Finery Markets was smooth, and we appreciated the flexibility of both API and GUI-based access. While setting up counterparty relationships took time, the platform itself provided all the necessary infrastructure without any friction.

Torben Friis, Managing Director,
Match Liquidity

Business Impact & Results

Match Liquidity has seen significant efficiency gains, particularly in price discovery, liquidity aggregation and execution quality.

Competitive Pricing & Market Efficiency

• The introduction of Finery Markets to Match Liquidity’s ecosystem forced some counterparties to tighten spreads, resulting in an estimated 70% improvement in pricing.
• Match Liquidity’s overall value proposition became stronger thanks to better execution quality and reduced trading costs.

Increased Operational Efficiency

• The spread management tools enhanced revenue and pricing control, providing the firm with greater flexibility to manage various pricing strategies.
• The combination of a GUI for risk management with an API for trading enables secure, ring-fenced data management while providing easy access. When you need to obtain net numbers for the month, you can effortlessly extract the data without requiring full back-office integration.

Seamless Execution & Settlement Management

• By using Finery Markets’ ECN model, Match Liquidity moved away from manual execution workflows in OTC trading.
• The sub-account and netting functionality in the platform streamlined collateral and settlement processes and avoided unnecessary capital lockups.
• The support for RFQ execution has bridged the gap between high-touch over-the-counter (OTC) trading and electronic execution. This approach minimizes market impact for large trades and assets that do not have continuous pricing.

Finery Markets has significantly improved our ability to manage liquidity and optimize execution. The efficiency gains in pricing, risk management, and settlement processes have been substantial, allowing us to better serve institutional clients. Request for Quote (RFQ) in crypto requires a change in habits, which has been slower than anticipated. This is largely due to existing Liquidity Providers (LPs) within Finery’s infrastructure, who offer strong order book depth and competitive pricing.

Torben Friis, Managing Director,
Match Liquidity

Looking Ahead: Future Growth and Expansion

As Match Liquidity grows, it will be exploring new opportunities within the Finery Markets ecosystem:

• Taker Flow – Expected to improve execution quality and market participation.
• Quote streams – Another execution method that bridges the gap between RFQ and live liquidity streaming.
• Advanced limit order functionality – Recently added in Finery Markets, provides more precision in trade execution. 2025 volume growth expectations: 100-200%

In summary

By using Finery Markets Match Liquidity has optimized its liquidity access, execution methods and operational efficiency. The ECN model provides a scalable and cost effective solution that fits the institutional trading model, so we can serve clients with tight pricing, reliable execution and robust settlement processes.

We recommend Finery Markets to firms that need a sophisticated trading infrastructure. The platform provides a competitive advantage for liquidity providers and institutional traders who require efficient execution and deep liquidity.

Torben Friis, Managing Director,
Match Liquidity