Creditex is an interdealer credit broker that finalizes all trades over the phone. But it uses the internet to deliver real-time prices and historical data in a way that greatly adds to the market's transparency and speed.
John McEvoy, a former director of Deutsche Bank's New York credit derivatives business and co-founder of Creditex along with Sunil Hirani, says that chaotic conditions in the cash credit markets mean business is growing faster than ever. He says: "Perversely, the more ugly and volatile the credit markets get, the more it pours gasoline on the credit derivatives market and benefits us. When people are scared, they buy insurance."
The RealTime application is Creditex's price delivery system for traders. It lets them put up, pull and maintain prices, view credits or sectors they are interested in, follow prices in a small ticker to save screen space, graph price movements, and download trading histories into a spreadsheet. They can also use instant messaging.
Creditex says more than 75% of the dealer community in London and New York now have RealTime installed. Trades are finalized by phone, but RealTime greatly speeds and eases the process.
The site also has functionality to cover the more structured end of the market.