Platform
Workflows
Three ways participants use the venue today. Each is described from the desk's point of view: what you are trying to do, and what the venue does for you.
Post an axe
You hold risk you want to move, or want to acquire a position, in a specific pair, structure and tenor. Today you would write it into several chats or cross a broker spread. On OptAxe you post it once, choose who can see it, and let the venue surface it to participants who are screening for exactly that.
- Post in natural language into Symphony, REST/WS API, web UI or over FIX API.
- Set distribution: all permissioned participants, a group, or named counterparties.
- Amend, pause or withdraw at any time. Axes carry an expiry so stale interest does not linger.
- Receive requests only from participants who want the other side.
Typical user
A market maker reducing a position after a client trade. A hedge fund looking to put on size in a tenor where it does not want to broadcast.
What you keep
Control of who sees the interest, the price you show, and the decision to trade.
Screen and trade
You want to know, before you ask anyone for a price, whether anyone is on the other side. The inventory screen shows consolidated interest across permissioned issuers, filtered by pair, tenor, structure and direction. When you find a match, you send a targeted request and trade on the venue.
- Filter and sort the inventory; save views for the pairs and tenors you trade.
- Send a request against one axe or against all matching axes.
- Compare firm quotes with validity times, then accept or let them lapse.
- Confirmation and reporting are produced by the venue.
Typical user
A buy-side trader executing a view or a hedge without alerting the street. A market maker looking for an offset to risk it has just taken on.
What you keep
Discretion over size, timing and counterparties. Nobody outside the request knows it happened.
The terms used on this page are defined in the glossary.
Add liquidity as the buy-side
Posting is not reserved for market makers. A buy-side participant with risk to move, or a position to build, can post its own axe to the venue rather than waiting for the other side to show first. You choose who sees it, and requests come to you from banks with a matching interest.
- Post from the web UI in the same format market makers use.
- Choose distribution: all permissioned participants, a group, or named counterparties.
- Amend, pause or withdraw at any time, with the same expiry discipline.
- Trade on the venue, with confirmation and reporting produced for you.
Typical user
A fund with an interest that they are happy to work at a certain level.
What you keep
Discretion over size and timing, and the decision over who sees the interest and when to trade.
Which instruments can be posted?
Coverage of pairs, structures and tenors is set out on the instruments page.