ParAccel Eyes OTC Dataset Integration

Campbell, Calif.-based analytic database provider ParAccel is planning to develop data integration modules for loading data from over-the-counter markets into its analytics platform, to enable traders and pricing analysts to perform faster analysis of OTC data.

The vendor already provides On-Demand Integration (ODI) modules for accessing the New York Stock Exchange’s Daily TAQ, ArcaBook and OpenBook data, as well as FIX messages and data from Hadoop and Teradata, and is now looking to build new ODI modules to capture data from foreign exchange and fixed income markets as well, which it will roll out as specific connectivity is demanded by clients, says John Guevara, senior director at ParAccel.

“Incorporating these OTC tick datasets, you’re going to find different combinations of market data providers with different asset class combinations… particularly with FX, which is a very disparate market, so there’s inherent value in bringing all that data together,” Guevara says. “It seems to be a common strategy now, to adopt some form of FX strategy alongside trading strategies in other asset classes.”

ParAccel already provides pre-loaded pricing models and is equipped to manage and load data rapidly, even at peak volumes, so the OTC data modules will enable users to quickly gather the data they need and conduct the complex analysis necessary for adjusting yield curves and re-pricing bonds, Guevara says.

John Santaferraro, vice president of solutions and product marketing at the vendor, says analysts at trading firms could spend up to half their time just gathering data and waiting for queries to run, whereas ParAccel’s ODI modules and its analytic database can pre-load the data they need into their analytics platform, and import additional data in the middle of running a query if needed, which—in combination with the speed of ParAccel’s platform—helps free up users to perform more complex and deeper analysis on larger amounts of data. While traditional relational databases may take hours to run complex calculations that involve multiple algorithms—with the database reading almost every row of information multiple times to arrive at the result—ParAccel’s columnar storage and parallel processing architecture enables its database to retrieve only the data necessary for the calculations in a single screen, and to distribute queries over several compute nodes to return results within less than a minute, he adds.

To develop the OTC data modules, the vendor will leverage the Extensibility Framework of its database, which provides greater flexibility and customization, making it easy for users to quickly integrate new data sources, and to build and store analytic models, Santaferraro says. “We’re built for flexibility, and the financial services industry is so dynamic—this lets us keep up with market data needs and capabilities,” he says.