eSpeed, a subsidiary of Cantor Fitzgerald, has launched a wireless electronic data and trading platform for US Treasury bonds and foreign exchange. Aimed at the institutional market, the trading solution is based on Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 and will be available on devices like the Treo 700w and the Motorola Q. eSpeed had launched a wireless market data service last year on Windows but it offered trading only on a Blackberry.

“This is a complementary service to land lines,” explained Brent Wilkins, managing director at eSpeed. “Microsoft is the world leader in operating systems, and that is why we made a decision to go with Windows Mobile, which offers users a choice of different form factors.”

The Windows Mobile platform allows eSpeed to emulate the trading screens that market professionals use on their desktops, he added.

“This has similar capabilities in trading; if you look at the trading screen on the wireless device, it emulates the desktop look. We see MS and Windows Mobile 5.0 on a lot of these exciting new devices, like the Treo 700w and the soon to be released Motorola Q, so last fall we made a decision to develop our industry leading application for these devices,” Wilkins added.

The company worked with weComm in London, a specialist in developing mission-critical applications for wireless devices. Oliver Sturrock, CEO of weComm, said that the Windows Mobile functionality is similar to what was available on the Blackberry.

“Except the user interface has been designed around eSpeed, and it will be fully functional trading with the same product set as the desktop – US Treasuries, FX, and futures,” he said. eSpeed has plans to add other products, such as equities, in the future.

For weComm, Windows Mobile 5.0 offers a large advantage over Blackberry’s proprietary environment, he added.

“The power of Windows Mobile 5.0 is considerable over the Blackberry in what we can do with screen layout and the speed of the device,” Sturrock said. “The Blackberry is a very challenging environment to program in, while Windows Mobile 5.0 makes it easy. Rather than replicate the Blackberry, we used the power of the Microsoft platform to enhance the user experience. It is considerably easier and faster to use than the Blackberry product.” 

eSpeed customers will be able to trade all benchmark US Treasury bonds which include two, three, five, 10 and 30-year bonds. 

“In FX, we will have five different currencies against the base currencies,” said Wilkins. Working with BGC, a Cantor spinoff that is a leading inter-dealer brokerage firm providing integrated voice and electronic services to wholesale fixed-income, interest rate, foreign exchange and derivatives markets worldwide, eSpeed plans to add more instruments to its wireless application. These will include futures, European government bonds and other securities and derivative products throughout the credit markets.

“This effort ensures that institutional traders will continue to be able to use eSpeed's wireless application should they decide to use a Windows Mobile powered device,” explained Wilkins. “We see numerous opportunities in the wireless sector and are proud to partner with Microsoft in developing our world class application for the Windows Mobile 5.0 platform. We want to be the leaders in secure wireless transactions,” concluded Wilkins.

With eSpeed's wireless solution, market professionals can execute trades in real-time or obtain critical market data and analytics for the foreign exchange and US government bond markets without being restricted to their desktops.

“Windows Mobile helps people stay on top of their jobs by providing them with access to email, documents and business applications when they are away from their desk,” added Adam Kornak, financial services industry manager for mobility at Microsoft. “eSpeed offers market professionals a solution to access their critical information on Windows Mobile devices and illustrates the innovation being delivered by our partners on Windows Mobile.”

Wilkins noted that the changing marketplace means professional traders often need to watch pricing around the globe, and around the clock.

“The professional trader who commutes into an office and sits in a dealing room wants to look at London prices on his way to work, and he may want to look at Tokyo on his commute home, or late in the evening. Now that these markets are open six days a week, twenty three and a half hours a day, traders want to look at prices just about any time the markets are open,” he said.

Business continuity is another reason they want wireless. If they can’t make it into the office on a trading day, they still want to track prices and perhaps trade.
Another category of users doesn’t necessarily trade, but wants to see the market data because it affects business. For example, the entire mortgage banking industry is very interested in the US Treasury benchmarks that drive interest rates, and they want to check the benchmarks during the day, wherever they are, Wilkins explained.

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