TP ICAP has launched RealQ, a new credit trading and data platform designed to optimise block bond trading.
“We’re focused on electronifying the part of the market that hasn’t been electronified,” says Mark Russell, chief commercial officer at TP ICAP. “We’re focused on those complex blocks.”
Following the acquisition of Neptune Networks by TP ICAP in partnership with nine global banks in 2025, RealQ will be the next milestone in building a combined dealer‑to‑client (D2C) credit business integrating Neptune’s proprietary data network with Liquidnet fixed income’s electronic credit trading platform.
Jason Recordon, head of European fixed income trading at Janus Henderson, says, “We are always looking for safer and more efficient ways to source liquidity. We support RealQ’s ambition to bring together high-quality data and client-driven workflows, helping address longstanding challenges such as stale data, inconsistent terminology, and information leakage.”
The opportunity that TP ICAP has outlined for RealQ is to electronify the trading that has remained stubbornly manual.
“There’s been a plateau in electronification of trading to the order of 50–55% by request for quote (RFQ), and that is well behind other asset classes,” says David Johnsen, CEO of RealQ. “We believe our unique tools and our unique network is extremely well placed to bring innovation and electronification to that portion of the market, which has not been addressed through [other] electronic trading tools.”
“Participants in the current market structure sort of have like an uncomfortable trade-off, they can either keep their information tight and risk missing out on opportunities, or they can communicate broadly, but with the inherent implication of information leakage, signalling concerns and loss of control,” says Johnsen. “RFQ works for that smaller ‘easier’ order flow, where information leakage concerns are less of a concern, but as you go up the curve [in size of trade], the tools that the market has don’t fit. So, I think we’re bringing something that creates a bit of a new product category that addresses that part of the market.”
Bringing together Neptune Networks’ dealer axe and inventory data, which support buy-side traders’ knowledge of which dealers are positioned to trade, potentially large blocks, and Liquidnet’s long-established institutional connectivity and buy-side workflows to support more direct access to liquidity, the result is intended to be a unified platform where trading interest can be shared and engaged with across multiple protocols, with greater precision, control, and confidence.
RealQ is designed to help market participants match the execution protocols they use to trade size, market conditions and the information sensitivity of trades across both primary and secondary credit markets. Its current range of protocols covers:
- AxeMatch: Dealer-to-client targeted negotiation for block transactions
- ShieldMatch: All-to-all anonymous liquidity interactions where discretion is required
- Dealer-to-dealer internal crossing and balance‑sheet‑driven workflows, and
- All-to-all electronic access to primary issuance and new issue trading.
In addition, the RealQ platform will continue to develop its data distribution offering by building on the large and growing dealer network of Neptune, which now stands at 34 global banks.
James Wilson, co-head of EMEA investment grade cash trading at JP Morgan says, “RealQ’s offering represents an important step forward in electronic credit trading enabling us to share higher quality axes with greater control, engage only when there is genuine opposing interest, and reduce information leakage. That combination supports more efficient outcomes for both dealers and clients.”
RealQ says the system has been rolled out since the start of the year in order to onboard the technology and connectivity with clients, who can have connectivity with order or execution management systems (O/EMSs), and the platform can then handle much of the order routing.
“We’ve rebuilt the system where traders synchronise their blotter into the staging area where you have protocols available to you,” explains Johnsen. “So any order that comes in that fits the definition of a new issue we autoroute it into the new issue area. Anything that matches with AxeMatch, gets routed into that area etcetera, so if people are using an EMS and they want an API to connect, that is fine. But we’re building a lot of the routing functionality needed.”
Although other trading protocols are likely to be offered in future, Russell says the priority at launch is via the current model to support the as yet un-electronified parts of the market.
“If you think about it in terms of a waterfall, you come into our platform as a buy side, see inventory [via axes] that allows you to go and buy all of those big blocks, where there is inventory,” he says. “Then the other part is the anonymous piece, very complimentary, with the same kind of protection and control of your data. We can aggregate [smaller liquidity opportunities] and bring it into the same place even if you don’t have a direct relationship with the [liquidity providers]. While you’re negotiating, you can put the orders out to the existing Liquidnet all-to-all platform and see if anybody else is looking as well. So it’s a workflow that makes sense.”
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