Trade Surveillance Systems features explained
for Compliance
Software that monitors trading activities to detect potential market abuse, insider trading, front-running, and other prohibited practices using pattern recognition and anomaly detection.
Every feature we track for Trade Surveillance Systems products, with a description of what each one means.
Alert Management and Investigation Tools
Capabilities that aid workflow from alert creation through to final disposition.
- Alert Dashboard
- Centralized view of current and historical alerts with filtering and sorting.
- Alert Escalation
- Workflow for raising the severity or assigning cases to higher authority.
- Attachment Handling
- Upload and attach evidence or documents to cases or alerts.
- Audit Log
- Immutable record of all user and system actions related to cases.
- Bulk Alert Management
- Tools for actioning or closing batches of alerts efficiently.
- Case Re-open Functionality
- Allows re-examination of closed cases if new information arises.
- Disposition Tracking
- Track final outcomes (dismissal, SAR filing, etc.) for audit purposes.
- Integration with Email/Communication Platforms
- Send notifications, reminders, or extract communications as part of surveillance.
- Investigation Notes
- Secure and timestamped note-taking for audits and reviews.
- Workflow Automation
- Automates assignment, tracking, and management of surveillance cases.
Compliance Coverage and Regulatory Support
Ensures system is aligned with all relevant global and regional regulations, including quick adaptation to regulatory changes.
- Audit Readiness
- Built-in features to simplify preparing for and supporting regulatory audits.
- Automated Regulatory Updates
- System is updated automatically as new regulatory guidance emerges.
- Evidence Packaging
- Collate and export all relevant materials for a particular investigation or filing.
- Multi-jurisdictional Support
- Coverage for rules and requirements across different geographies.
- Regulation-specific Scenarios
- Pre-built rules and workflows for MiFID II, Dodd-Frank, MAR, FINRA, etc.
- Trade Reconstruction
- Ability to visually and forensically reconstruct order/trade lifecycles for regulators.
Configurability and Extensibility
Features that enable the system to adapt to changing business and regulatory requirements.
- Custom Dashboard Widgets
- Create or modify dashboard elements for role-specific workflows.
- Localization/Language Support
- Multi-language user interface and documentation.
- Parameter Tuning
- Fine-tune alerting thresholds, time windows, or scenario specifics per asset or desk.
- Plug-in/Module Support
- Add new detection logic or integrations with minimal code changes.
- Rule Editor/Designer
- Graphical or scripting interface for rapid rule development.
Core Surveillance Capabilities
Features that enable detection, monitoring, and investigation of suspicious trading activity in real-time or post-trade to ensure regulatory compliance.
- Alert Generation
- Automated creation of notifications for compliance team review on flagged activities.
- Alert Prioritization
- System to rank the importance and urgency of alerts based on risk.
- Anomaly Detection
- Statistical or AI-driven alerting on behaviors that deviate from historical norms.
- Audit Trail
- Comprehensive logging of user actions, rule changes, and investigations for compliance.
- Case Management
- Tools for documenting, tracking, and managing compliance investigations.
- Custom Rule Creation
- Ability for users to define, implement, and adjust surveillance rules.
- False Positive Reduction
- Mechanisms to reduce erroneous or unnecessary alerts.
- Historical Data Retention Period
- Time duration for which trade data is maintained for surveillance and investigations.
- Investigation Workflow
- Structured process for alert review, analysis, escalation, and resolution.
- Pattern Recognition
- Automated identification of market abuse patterns such as layering, spoofing, or wash trades.
- Post-trade Analysis
- Ability to conduct surveillance on completed trades for historical pattern detection.
- Real-time Data Ingest Rate
- The maximum number of trades or messages processed per second in real-time monitoring.
- Real-time Monitoring
- The system's ability to analyze and flag suspicious trades as they happen.
- Rule Library
- Pre-built rules for fast deployment and coverage of common compliance scenarios.
Data Integration and Coverage
Facility to connect, aggregate, and normalize data from multiple sources for effective surveillance.
- APIs for Data In/Out
- Public or private APIs for custom integrations to ingest/extract data.
- Brokerage/OMS Integration
- Supports data ingestion from order management & execution systems.
- Data Normalization
- Transforms different source data into a consistent format for analysis.
- Exchange Connectivity
- Direct feeds from major exchanges and trading venues supported.
- Historical Data Import
- Bulk ingestion of legacy data for backtesting and lookback reviews.
- Multi-Asset Class Support
- Support for equities, fixed income, options, futures, FX, crypto, etc.
- Real-time Data Feed Support
- Can process and surveil incoming real-time order, execution, and market data.
- Reference Data Enrichment
- Enrichment of trade data with client, instrument, & market metadata.
- Third-party Data Integration
- Ability to integrate with data from third-party vendors and regulators.
Machine Learning & Advanced Analytics
Innovative and intelligent features for improving detection & reducing false positives.
- Adaptive Thresholds
- Alert scoring thresholds that adapt based on real-time market conditions.
- Entity Profile Generation
- Autonomous generation and updating of trading entity behavioral profiles.
- Explainable AI Features
- Transparency and interpretability of automated alerting models.
- Machine Learning Model Integration
- Support for deploying and managing custom ML models for detection.
- Outlier Analysis
- Identification of uncommon or infrequent behavioral patterns.
- Self-learning Algorithms
- Ability for algorithms to improve over time using feedback from investigators.
Market Abuse Detection
Features targeted at identifying market manipulation, insider dealing, and other regulatory infractions.
- Churning Detection
- Detection of excessive trading to generate commissions or fees.
- Cross-market Manipulation Coverage
- Ability to correlate and detect abuse across multiple venues or asset classes.
- Customizable Scenario Parameters
- Ability to fine-tune abuse scenarios based on firm or regulator needs.
- Front-running Detection
- Identification of personnel trading ahead of client or firm orders.
- Insider Trading Detection
- Ability to recognize trading activity that may be based on non-public, material information.
- Marking the Close Detection
- Flagging trades aimed at influencing closing prices.
- Quote Stuffing Detection
- Identifies high volumes of order submission and cancellation to clog market data.
- Reference Price Manipulation
- Detects attempts to distort benchmarks or reference prices.
- Spoofing/Layering Detection
- Detection of placing orders with intention to cancel to manipulate market appearance.
- Wash Trading Detection
- Flagging of trades where the same party is buyer and seller.
Reporting and Analytics
Advanced features for compliance reporting, regulator filings, MI (management information), trend analysis, and dashboards.
- Custom Report Builder
- Allows users to generate custom reports using extensive data filters and pivots.
- Data Export Capability
- Export raw data or reports in CSV, Excel, PDF, or other formats.
- Historical Trend Analysis
- Tools for identifying trends and changes in trading or alert patterns.
- Interactive Dashboards
- Visualizations and key metrics about alerts, investigations, and trends.
- Management Information Reports
- KPI and MI tools for compliance and operations management.
- On-demand Report Generation Speed
- Average time required to generate a standard report on demand.
- Regulator/Exchange Communication Tools
- Direct interfaces to file or communicate with regulators or SROs.
- Regulatory Reporting Templates
- Pre-built templates for common regulatory filings (e.g., SAR, STOR, MROS).
- Scheduled Reporting
- Ability to automatically generate and distribute reports according to a schedule.
Scalability and Performance
System ability to support business growth, large data volumes, and low-latency processing.
- 99th Percentile System Response Time
- System's response speed for 99% of requests/users.
- Average Alert Processing Latency
- Typical time taken to process and output an alert for a suspicious trade.
- Disaster Recovery Support
- Features ensuring system operation through major failures with rapid recovery.
- Event Processing Capacity
- Maximum number of events or trades surveilled per day.
- High Availability (HA) Architecture
- Implementation of redundancy, failover, and downtime minimization.
- Horizontal Scaling Support
- Ability to add compute nodes or instances to increase throughput on demand.
- Maximum Concurrent Users
- Number of users who can access and use the system simultaneously.
- Performance Monitoring Tools
- In-built tools for monitoring system load, latency, and resource utilization.
Support, Training, and Vendor Services
Vendor-provided assistance, onboarding, and continued support for optimal product deployment.
- 24/7 Technical Support
- Round-the-clock technical assistance for critical system issues.
- Dedicated Account Manager
- Named representative for ongoing client relationship and support.
- Knowledge Base/Help Center
- Online repository of product guides, FAQs, and documentation.
- Onboarding and Implementation Services
- Comprehensive support for system rollout, data migration, and testing.
- SLAs (Service Level Agreements)
- Guaranteed support response and resolution times.
- User Training Programs
- Initial and ongoing user training provided by vendor.
User Access, Roles, and Security
Features relating to user authentication, data access, and controls for sensitive or restricted information.
- Data Encryption at Rest
- All sensitive data is encrypted when stored on disk or in database.
- Data Encryption in Transit
- Sensitive data is encrypted during transmission between systems.
- Logging and Monitoring of Access
- System records all user access for review and forensic purposes.
- Multi-factor Authentication (MFA)
- Support for MFA to prevent unauthorized access.
- Role-based Access Control
- Ability to define fine-grained user roles and permissions.
- Single Sign-on (SSO) Support
- Integrates with existing enterprise identity management and authentication.
- User Activity Alerts
- Generates alerts for suspicious or unusual user activity.