Automation for brokers

Author: Albina Zhdanova

Running a brokerage is not easy. A lot of the things must be under control at all times, there is a constant pressure to deliver the best results, and the price of a mistake is high.

So how do brokers stay sane and manage to have successful companies? The answer is not that simple, really, but a lot of credit needs to be given to robust technology and, in particular, to automation.

In today’s article, we will address the need for automation in a brokerage, explore what issues it tackles, and what impact it might have on business operations.

Why do brokers need automation?

Automation can improve many aspects of a brokerage. Let’s talk about the main advantages that every broker can benefit from, regardless of their size, focus, or geography.

Time saving

Automation takes over some of the long and repetitive tasks that your employees were previously responsible for.

When a part of the workload is taken over by technology, teams have more time to focus on the high-priority tasks that make a brokerage stronger, more successful, and progressive.

And what’s even more important is that with automation, employees have enough capacity to tackle the tasks that have been put on the backburner. Unfortunately, it is very common for bright ideas to get pushed back and never released. As a result, brokers lose the competitive advantage, delay innovation, and risk their market position.

Team motivation

Like we mentioned above, automation helps to combat repetitive tasks. And if there is something that kills motivation and creativity in a team, it’s having to deal with the (often tedious) daily tasks.

If your staff is freed from having to run the same reports every single day and go through the same algorithms every week, they get to focus on more diverse and challenging projects. That’s when they feel inspired and energized. So, for any broker who wants to maintain their team and keep everyone motivated, automation is an excellent place to start.

Risk Management

Manual work is prone to errors. And it’s not because your colleagues are underqualified or not paying enough attention. It’s just life. And in the brokerage, where we have to deal with endless streams of data, every tiny detail is important and has the potential to cause a major issue.

Let’s take the example of liquidity execution. Automation allows sending large volumes specifically to those LPs that can process it, avoiding all kinds of delays and losses. By the way, Trade Processor Liquidity Bridge has this functionality built in. Another fantastic opportunity that automation unlocks is scheduled execution, where brokers usually work with a particular LP, but for a specific timeframe (e.g., lunch hours or the time zone where the client is based), they switch to an aggregated liquidity.

So, one of the first things that TFB recommends brokers do is to implement automation across all of their departments. There is simply too much risk associated with an error: lawsuits, financial penalties, reputation loss, or recall of a license.

If we calculate the potential financial risks and compare them with the investment required for automation, implementing the right solutions comes at a fraction of the cost of potential losses.

Stability of service level

Automation makes a brokerage consistent and reliable. When it’s implemented, brokers can maintain the same level of service for their clients in the long term. Needless to say, in an industry where reputation is critical, showing stability is a vital success factor.

Also, should your brokerage grow and scale, it can do so confidently, knowing that all processes remain under control thanks to automation.

How automation addresses brokers’ pains

We’ve covered the theory and basic concepts. Now, let’s dive deeper into the practical aspects and examples of exactly how automation benefits brokers.

1. Many brokers have so much data that it is hard to review and analyse. Automation allows filtering to only see what you need, and it offers tools like colour marks that highlight all the important information in the long datasheets.

TFB solutions that can help: Adjustable Account Marker assigns specific colours to accounts based on your requirements. The Dynamic Swap Plugin for MT5 changes swap values automatically up to 6 times per day and relieves brokers from that duty.

2. Brokers need to look after a thousand things at once. No surprise, things can slip! But they don’t have to. Automation will make sure all necessary actions are performed and monitored, and not a single account or trade will be missed.

TFB solutions that can help: The Futures Controller will check margin requirements and compare them with equity of trading accounts to make sure the equity amount is substantial. If not, the solution will close open positions by stop out.

3. Reports can take all the time that you have, and more! Automation is a lifesaver here as it pretty much takes over the entire process. Brokers only need to configure the initial settings, and the rest is handled by the system. Just like that, you get hours, if not days, back to do other tasks.

TFB solutions that can help: The End-of-Day Report (EOD) runs daily reports and generates statistics that brokers need to provide to regulators. That’s one less thing that you need to do before you head home!

If you’d like to learn more about automation and its benefits for your company, please feel free to email us at sales@t4b.com, and we will be with you shortly.