Themis Trading Announces New Head of Sales

 

Themis Trading is excited to welcome Tyler Platte as our new Head of Sales . Tyler has been a buyside trader nearly his entire career in our industry. He has worked at Scudder Stevens & Clark, Westpeak Global Advisors, and most recently (for the last decade) at Rainier Investment Management where he served most recently as its Director of Global Trading.

At Rainier, Tyler developed best fit customized TCA utilizing time stamp and order size information from both OMS and EMS to provide execution venue and broker analysis. He also developed customized DMA order routing and strategies utilizing specific order types, parameters and exchange routing while opting out of various execution venues providing optimal execution, transparency, and control. Tyler did this while maintaining diplomacy, integrity, and key sell-side relationships – intuitively understanding that the way to better execution was optimizing a reality that is, working diplomatically with vendors and brokers to implement ideas that would help his clients’ fills, and not always charging like a bull towards a Utopian wish list.

We know Tyler well, having covered him for years. We have always been impressed with how in-tune he has been to market structure nuance, and how dedicated he has been to maximizing best execution for his clients.

Here is a quick story. Years ago, we  took a midday call from Tyler who was keen to show us how one major exchange was pegging his passive orders to odd-lots. Picture a spread of 12 cents X 15 cents. Tyler was selling a stock using a strategy that among other things pegged a displayed exchange order to the passive side of the market. He noticed that his order would float down to 14 and 13 cents when a competing odd-lot order would appear at those prices, followed by his getting a fill at those lower prices. His order was spotted and manipulated by bad actors using a feature of that exchange that behaved differently than the public description of how that pegged order was supposed to work. After a great deal of time this discovery led to the exchange acknowledging this “loophole” and correcting it. This is the type of attention to detail that Tyler brought to work with him every day at Rainier.

We’re confident that Tyler will enjoy his sales role for Themis. He brings credibility, knowledge, and a perspective always aligned with the buyside –  his/our clients. He understands the value proposition of a trading desk within the investment process, and understands the constraints and challenges facing the buyside on a daily basis. He truly is an expert in “best execution”, including soft dollars, MIFID II, and commission management. He understands the juggling involved in managing risk, lowering trading costs, and enhancing performance.

As other institutional equity brokers continue to retrench, our business continues to expand and we see the addition of Tyler as an opportunity to grow even further. Tyler will be based out of Denver and will head our sales efforts nationally.  Please join us in welcoming Tyler to our Themis family!