CastleOak Launches DirectPool™ for Electronic Trading in Corporate Bonds

New York-based investment banking firm CastleOak Securities, L.P., today launched DirectPool™ platform which caters to investors electronically trading U.S. corporate bonds, as the market seeks Liquidity Liquidity The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent Read this Term amid a pullback from the biggest dealers of the debt.

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Founded in 2006, CastleOak is a boutique investment bank focused on the capital markets, serving a broad array of corporate, governmental and institutional investor clients. CastleOak specializes in primary and secondary sales and trading of fixed income, equity and money market securities.

The company has partnered with Bloomberg to launch DirectPool™ in a bid to provide its clients with top-tier trade execution after big banks warned that they may no longer act as Market Makers Market Makers Market makers or called dealing desk brokers represent a type of broker that internalize flows and are taking the opposite side of a transaction submitted by their clients. The market making broker is only quoting a feed of prices to its clients. These feeds may or may not be the exact same as the prices quoted on the interbank market.Any order a client enters is processed internally and never goes out to the market, except in rare cases where a market making brokerage identifies a client as a v Market makers or called dealing desk brokers represent a type of broker that internalize flows and are taking the opposite side of a transaction submitted by their clients. The market making broker is only quoting a feed of prices to its clients. These feeds may or may not be the exact same as the prices quoted on the interbank market.Any order a client enters is processed internally and never goes out to the market, except in rare cases where a market making brokerage identifies a client as a v Read this Term and step in to buy when investors sell.

According to David R. Jones, President and CEO of CastleOak Securities: "Since its late-September launch, over 40 institutional clients and 27 sell-side dealers have traded with CastleOak Securities through DirectPool™. Volume levels have steadily increased with $3+ billion of investment grade corporate inquiry and nearly $1.5bn in trades completed.”

"Through the DirectPool™ platform, we are cost-effectively connecting price-makers and price-takers, maximizing the best price and minimizing leakage of information," added Thomas Thees, Head of DirectPool™ and Head of Fixed Income for CastleOak.

Philip J. Cenatiempo, Head of Global Markets at Bloomberg, commented: "We are pleased to provide clients with access to the depth of liquidity available via CastleOak on the Bloomberg professional service. As trading of corporate bonds increasingly takes place electronically, there is steady demand for innovative options for discreet sourcing of liquidity."