Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world. Brokers in blue jackets are crowding around the GTS trading post, looking to sell shares of Alibaba.

GTS is pushing back: This story appears in the November issue of Bloomberg Markets. His confidence comes from a phalanx of proprietary algorithms that fill the five computer screens surrounding him.

Digesting inputs from 35 metrics, including currency rates and prices for exchange-traded funds, they predict where a stock should be trading with razor-sharp accuracy. That job is particularly important at the end of the trading day, as volume spikes. Orders to buy and sell a stock sometimes get out of whack, as they have for Alibaba. He punches a teal button labeled DONE on a special square keyboard, closing out the stock.

It was a faceless player in financial markets, silently sending orders through servers in data centers. This high-visibility booth on the NYSE floor, within spitting distance of CNBC television cameras, was the property of Barclays. Why would a year-old high-frequency-trading firm that prides itself on its technological savvy and needs only a few handfuls of humans to run its business want to muscle its way onto the floor of the centuries-old NYSE?

GTS and its peers, such as Virtu Financial , Jump Trading, DRW Holdings, and Hudson River Trading, were among the first to dedicate all their resources and energy to the singular goal of being the fastest, most effective traders, period.

As markets rapidly went electronic, getting ahead of the curve paid off. That income has allowed these elite firms to continually maintain the best technology.

But as the rest of the market has caught up and competition has increased , their collective equity revenue has fallen more than 80 percent, making it vital to pinpoint ways to grow. The behemoth institutions, taking notice of scrappy up-and-comers, are seeking to outsource some services to the leaner firms. Banks are connecting their currency desks to price feeds from high-frequency traders—including GTS—to complete client orders. This changing of the guard has played out on the NYSE floor.

Until a few years ago, banks including Goldman Sachs and Bank of America had a presence in this temple of American capitalism. Yet this year, for the first time, four electronic trading firms—GTS, Virtu, Citadel Securities, and IMC Financial Markets—manage just about all the trading on the historic venue. Barclays was the last bank to leave , when GTS purchased its floor unit in April, inheriting a roster of companies including Twitter and Berkshire Hathaway. Both Barclays and GTS declined to disclose the sale price.

For GTS, nabbing a spot on the floor took it a step toward doing deals directly with corporations.

About us - Global Transport Solution

For the former commodities trader, the move to the trading floor was inevitable. The son of two schoolteachers, Rubenstein grew up on Long Island and has an accent to prove it. He caught the finance bug on a visit to the NYSE floor just before his senior year at the University of Vermont, where he was studying psychology and philosophy.

Enamored by the experience, he joined the New York Mercantile Exchange in as a runner, the lowest rung on the ladder. It was there that he found Robert Ahrens, an independent market maker, who became his first mentor and gave him a job as a clerk.

To teach Rubenstein the art of trading, Ahrens helped him apply the same precision and patience needed in fly-fishing. Years later, working in the cash equities business at Pax Clearing, Rubenstein met David Lieberman and Amit Livnat.

Home Page | Global Trading Systems

The trio co-founded GTS in , reasoning that computers would be nimbler and better suited to their job making markets—the fast-paced business of offering to buy from sellers and sell to buyers—than humans could ever be. It was a shrewd bet. Now GTS trades 3 percent to 5 percent of the U. Because GTS is closely held, details on its size and profitability are kept secret. The company declined requests to provide information on its annual trading revenue and ownership structure.

It began trading futures in and currencies about three years ago. One of the few facts the company has disclosed is that its foreign exchange volumes in the first half of more than doubled from the first half of And over the four weeks during and immediately following the U.

GTS traded about three times as much as it had in the four weeks before the vote, it says. The company employs a crew of just people. A significant chunk of that head count is the 25 employees at its NYSE floor operation, most of whom came with the Barclays floor unit purchase. Over the next year, Rubenstein says, he plans to add five more new hires to focus primarily on foreign exchange. Rubenstein sees the Barclays acquisition as a natural next step for GTS and a chance to branch out.

Acquiring a spot at the NYSE was a bit of a coming-out party for GTS, a way to throw off its veil of anonymity. The trading data are something like a fly to help hook potential corporate clients. They also have forecasts for prices of various commodities. The big shift, Rubenstein says, is that just a few years ago, banks and his firm were, in a sense, rivals on electronic markets. Building this kind of a business could prove a delicate balancing act.

But an upstart selling services directly to a slice of bank customers could rankle the giant institutions.

Even having a business model so dependent on algorithms comes with risks. A single trading error can end in disaster for a smaller firm. The isolated trading mishap crippled the company and paved the way for its takeover by Getco in a matter of months, forming KCG Holdings.

Even if GTS succeeds in making inroads with corporates, it will hit a ceiling in how far it can push that business, says Matthew Duch, a former portfolio manager at Calvert Investments. Even at this stage in his career, Rubenstein remains a student of the floor. He visits NYSE about once a week to learn from veterans like Murphy and persuade companies on the cusp of going public to choose GTS to manage their stock.

On this September day, as prices for companies glow overhead, Rubenstein gazes across the room. Day in and day out, GTS pushes and pulls in the vital process of pricing stocks. Despite all the Ph. The NYSE empties out within minutes of the close. Garbage is swept aside on the floor.

The market will be back in session tomorrow at 9: Bloomberg Anywhere Remote Login Software Updates Manage Contracts and Orders. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Instagram.

Travailler chez Global Trading Systems | dicajytuh.web.fc2.com

About The Company Bloomberg London. Global Startups Bloomberg Technology TV Gadgets With Gurman Digital Defense Studio 1.

Latest Issue Debrief Podcast Subscribe. Climate Changed Video Series: Ventures Graphics Billionaires Game Plan Small Business Personal Finance Inspire GO The David Rubenstein Show Sponsored Content. What Do Berkshire, Twitter and Alibaba Have in Common? Global Trading Systems, one of four high-frequency-trading firms managing just about all the trading on the NYSE floor, is making a play for corporate clients. Annie Massa antoniabmassa More stories by Annie Massa. Matthew Leising mattleising More stories by Matthew Leising.

The most important business stories of the day. Get Bloomberg's daily newsletter.

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. Careers Made in NYC Advertise Ad Choices Website Feedback Help.