Apparatus and method for trade aggregation of trade allocations and settlements

Abstract

A post-trade aggregation system includes an allocation middleware interface, which interacts with an order management system to allocate and settle trades. The order management system receives a trade order on behalf of a customer and either apportions the trade into a plurality of smaller orders and communicates them to a plurality of order destinations directly (e.g. via the FIX protocol), or sends large orders to an order staging and optimization interface which then apportions the larger orders into a plurality of smaller orders and communicates the orders to a plurality of order destinations. The post-trade aggregation system contains an allocation middleware interface which receives the individual trade executions from the plurality of order destination and compresses them into a single average-priced block. The allocation middleware interface then sends the single average-priced block to be cleared by a designated clearing agent and allocates the single average-priced block into one or more custodian accounts. In further aspects, a method and apparatus are also provided.