We spoke to 200 heads of trading in North American and Europe. Most work for asset managers (75%) but there are also hedge funds (10%), insurance (9%), pension funds (4%) and mutual funds (2%) in our sample. Funds ranged from under $100bn (41%), $100-399bn (37%) and $400bn and over (22%).
Almost half build the criteria for automation (42%) and a third (33%) oversee automation execution. For the remaining 25%, their desk uses trade automation but others on their team manage it. Two thirds (67%) have been working in financial services for more than 10 years.