An individual suborder or a slice of a parent order that is worked and executed independently across a time horizon and according to a specific set of logics. Trade scheduling algorithms break large orders into a number of smaller orders (child orders) to be executed over a preset timeframe. For example, a parent order involving the stock of XYZ may be subdivided into sets of hundred shares to be transacted in each period. A child order is usually routed to proper venues based on price and/or time considerations as defined in the order generation logic of an algorithm. For example, the order generation logic on a full day VWAP algorithm breaks up the parent order in proportion to historical volume recorded over the trading day in a bid to secure a better average fill price.
June 12, 2024
