Refco signs up TradeTrac for forex

Refco, the world's largest non-bank futures commission merchant, has signed up TradeTrac for its foreign exchange activities. TradeTrac provides front-, middle- and back-office risk management services, and was developed by risk technology firms Pennsylvania-based Financial Software Systems (FSS) and New York-based PFS Trader Tools.

TradeTrac is effectively a mix of FSS’s MarginTrac front- to back-office forex tool and PFS’s order management product, OrderTrac. TradeTrac, which will offer straight-through processing, is capable of handling more than 10,000 forex transactions per day. Refco said it is presently using TradeTrac to trade upwards of 5,000 transactions a day in collateralised spot, forward and option forex trades.

Steve Dispenza, Refco’s New York-based chief operating officer for foreign exchange, told RiskNews that although Refco looked to sign-up products from other technology firms, and considered building an in-house system itself, Refco decided it was sensible to continue its relationship with FSS. Refco has used MarginTrac for the past 18 months.

Dispenza would not disclose terms, or costs, of Refco’s agreements with FSS and PFS. Refco is the first firm to sign-up TradeTrac, although spokesmen from the technology companies claim other brokers, investment banks and hedge funds have expressed an interest in the product.