Leading Venue Neutral Provider Cowen / ATM Helps Clients Navigate Today’s Complex Trading Environment

Cowen Group, Inc. (“Cowen”) (NASDAQ:COWN) today said that Cowen / ATM, a leading venue neutral provider, announced the successful launch of CLEAN SEEK, the newest algorithm in the Cowen / ATM liquidity seeking suite of products. CLEAN SEEK is the first of several additional new products the company plans to release this fall after having spent the past year developing transparent solutions to address client frustrations related to the current market structure for electronic trading.

“We designed CLEAN SEEK to help institutional customers generate alpha and combat interacting with potential predatory market participants within dark pools on their low alpha or low urgency to trade orders,” said John Cosenza, Co-Head of Cowen / ATM. “As the marketplace moves to greater transparency, it is important for traders to capture the value of increased visibility and better information within the electronic products they use. Our CLEAN SEEK product represents both the option and optimization of ‘quality over quantity.’”

Furthermore, the Cowen / ATM algorithmic framework allows customers to customize routes or algorithmic strategies to trusted liquidity venues, including IEX.

Mr. Cosenza continued, “Based upon the combination of client interest and nearly a year of empirical data at IEX, we are excited to provide customers the ability to customize algorithmic strategies for a venue that demonstrates strong execution quality.”

“An important part of our growth has come from brokers leveraging IEX across their algorithmic trading suite,” said Brad Katsuyama, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of IEX. “We are excited that sophisticated firms such as Cowen, who have been supporters of IEX since day one, are analyzing trading data and continuing to find opportunities to leverage our market to benefit their clients."

Cowen / ATM Focuses on Client Needs Without Conflict

The U.S. equity market structure debate has dominated financial media headlines in 2014. Cowen / ATM supports the fact that market transparency is critically needed for fundamental buyers and sellers of equity and equity derivatives. The push for increased transparency has created both an opportunity and a level playing field for electronic providers to dive deeper into their processes and products to optimize execution within a complex marketplace. Last year Cowen / ATM revealed their BEST algorithm, which subsequently received distinction for its performance in tough-to-trade small- and mid-cap securities, especially during the middle of the trading session otherwise known as ‘the dead zone.’ BEST incorporates switching engine technology, predictive pricing models and anti-gaming logic to dynamically adjust strategy tactics and parameters in real-time as market conditions and stock price movement change.

“Cowen’s BEST product can help take some of the pressure off the trader by making changes in real-time based on very short-term market dynamics,” said William Lishman, Head of U.S. trading at Schroders Investment. “By disrupting pattern recognition and utilizing predictive analytics, we can more effectively control and supervise the order.”

In addition to creating products, Cowen is partnering with other leaders in the industry to offer opportunities to educate investors on the most relevant issues in the industry today. Earlier this year, Cowen co-hosted the company’s first market structure teach-in with Themis Trading in response to the significant increase in questions from clients about navigating the trading environment.

“Cowen was a great partner in helping to put resident experts in front of institutional customers to discuss these important market structure issues in an open and objective forum,” said Joe Saluzzi, Co-Founder of Themis Trading.

Sal Arnuk, Co-Founder of Themis Trading, stated, “The result was a unique educational experience for everyone, and the feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive.”

Cowen also joined the Advisory Board of TABB’s Clarity, a venue and rounding analytics service, alongside three peer brokers and seven investment managers.

“Routing and venue analytics is an area where we have a keen interest in maintaining in-house expertise, which makes the Clarity Advisory Board necessary in terms of both helping to establish a consistent framework and collaborating with peers and clients to optimize execution quality,” said Mr. Cosenza.

“Cowen was early to recognize the need and importance of what we are trying to do with Clarity: providing institutional investors with greater transparency, insight, and context into their execution data,” said Larry Tabb, Founder and CEO at TABB Group.

By integrating a client first approach with a venue-neutral business model, the Cowen / ATM business, which consists of execution algorithms, routing strategies, portfolio trading and analytics products, is uniquely positioned for the future U.S. equity ecosystem.

About Cowen Group, Inc.

Cowen Group, Inc. is a diversified financial services firm and, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, provides alternative asset management, investment banking, research, and sales and trading services through its two business segments: Ramius and its affiliates make up the Company’s alternative investment segment, while Cowen and Company and its affiliates make up the Company’s broker-dealer segment. Ramius provides alternative asset management solutions to a global client base and manages a significant portion of Cowen’s proprietary capital. Cowen and Company and its affiliates offer industry focused investment banking for growth-oriented companies, domain knowledge-driven research and a sales and trading platform for institutional investors. Founded in 1918, the firm is headquartered in New York and has offices worldwide.