FIX

In the securities industry, the Financial Information eXchange (FIX) Protocol has increased in importance and acceptance as the leading standard for communication in the pre-trade, trade and post trade processes. When successfully combined with communication over SWIFT, it can form the solid basis of a STP solution in this potentially complex area. As with all standards, the FIX protocol has evolved over time. There are many versions in use in the market – the most popular being 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4. As the FIX protocol is used in a peer-to-peer mode, it is important that users know the version their counterparts are using. It can also be important to support multiple versions in parallel.

XML

XML is everywhere these days – and the FIX protocol is no exception. The latest versions of the protocol, allow messages to be constructed in XML (FIXML) as well as the traditional Tag/Value method. Also, there is an initiative to have the next versions of both the FIX and SWIFT standards based on a common ISO 20022 financial data dictionary.

Connectivity

To reach a high STP rate, connectivity over different networks is required. The INCENTAGE Trade Processing solution bridges this eventuality by connecting over any available financial network or direct link considering each network’s speciality.

Technology

We have built a FIX adapter in our INCENTAGE Middleware Suite. It offers the advantage of FIX version independence – as our FIX adapter supports all versions – both Tag/Value and FIXML. When combined with the flexibility of the INCENTAGE RulesStudio, and other adapters – such as XML, SWIFT or database - our clients have the power and flexibility to make use of all versions of the FIX protocol in existing and planned systems. As INCENTAGE has been developed using Java, our clients achieve platform independence as well as version independence.

Flexibility

FIX comes not only in different versions, but also in different flavours, since brokers extend the standard according to their needs. The experienced FIX user knows that – despite the standard – each connectivity has to respect its required semantic and field interpretation. The INCENTAGE Trade Processing solution allows to easily set up profiles which cater for these flavours.

At INCENTAGE, we believe that the best way to reap the full benefits of the FIX protocol is to have a flexible rules based middleware that allows quicker turn around while maintaining security and control.

The INCENTAGE solution is flexible enough to integrate with existing FIX gateways and to bring you the power of the INCENTAGE Trade Processing solution while protecting your existing investment.

Trade Matching

The INCENTAGE Middleware Suite has been built in Java and unleashes the power of XML for its internals. It has a flexible and easy to use RulesStudio, which enables business experts to define the rules for each interface. There is no programming required. The suite contains modules that record information for trade matching and archiving. The intuitive INCENTAGE Matching Engine presents a graphical representation of the trade processes and permits flexible trade matching and control.