Institutional traders rarely suffer from a shortage of data. Their challenge is reaching the right analysis quickly enough to influence a decision. Before RBC Capital Markets developed its Multi-Asset Trade Analytics (MATA) platform, clients often moved between separate tools for equities, FX, futures and index events. Pre-trade estimates or rebalance analyses could also require requests to coverage teams, introducing delay at the point when speed mattered most.
MATA replaces that fragmented experience with a central, self-service environment. Its analytics span index events, equities and futures pre-trade analysis, FX execution and portfolio monitoring. The platform preserves context as users move between functions, so a trader can identify an index-rebalance basket and transfer it directly into cost analysis without re-entering the underlying data.
Reports can be produced in less than a second for baskets containing as many as 4,000 securities. Saved baskets, retained trade parameters and persistent report links remove work from recurring processes. The platform’s Top Highlights of the Day function goes further, presenting baskets generated from changes in spreads, volatility and traded notional alongside the user’s most recent basket. This reduces the journey from login to relevant analysis without requiring initial data entry.
The result is a change in who controls the analytical workflow. Clients who previously requested cost estimates or rebalance analysis through an intermediary can now conduct those exercises themselves. Shishir Gupta, global index strategist, describes the practical shift: “Instead of getting bombarded by emails with tons of spreadsheets and blocking their inboxes every morning, this is more of a self-service tool.”
From index event to live execution
Index analytics demonstrate the advantage of replacing static spreadsheets with an interactive platform. Clients can examine forthcoming events, watch lists and predicted changes and then filter a global rebalance by geography, sector, portfolio or individual security. An announcement status system distinguishes between confirmed events, preliminary announcements, pending data and unannounced changes, making the reliability of the information visible before a trading decision is made.
This is particularly valuable when different teams manage portions of the same global portfolio. A European trader can isolate the European component of a rebalance, while a US colleague can concentrate on a particular sector or group of securities. The platform supports related views without requiring numerous versions of a spreadsheet.
We wanted to create a seamless experience across the different analytics tools
Steven Szeto
MATA then carries the selected basket into equities pre-trade analysis. Users can estimate transaction costs, compare execution strategies and examine ranges for optimal percentage-of-volume participation and volume-weighted average price duration. Close scenario analysis calculates when trading must begin for each constituent at a chosen participation rate and identifies positions that are unlikely to complete. Work previously performed manually outside the platform becomes part of the same workflow.
The same experience extends to futures. Clients can analyse a single contract, a saved basket or an uploaded list, compare expected costs, review calendar-spread activity and study market microstructure. Coverage expanded in response to client demand to approximately 275 futures products globally, including commodities.
MATA thus combines index intelligence, pre-trade analysis, execution monitoring and portfolio risk in one environment. Steven Szeto, head of product development for digital platform and analytics, says the broader objective was to reflect the increasingly multi-asset structure of the buyside. “We wanted to create a seamless experience across the different analytics tools,” he says.
The rapid adoption and large increases in self-service usage show that clients have incorporated the platform into real workflows, with models assembled around the trader’s journey.
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