MarketAxess Holdings, the operator of an electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities, is to acquire Pragma, a quantitative trading technology provider specialising in algorithmic and analytical services in equities, FX and fixed-income.

Pragma’s independent, broker-neutral, multi-asset trading solutions serve hedge funds, asset managers, broker-dealers, banks, and exchanges around the world. The company's algorithmic trading platform and quantitative execution solutions provide equities and FX clients with automated, AI driven, multi-asset and multi-market execution solutions.

Last year, Pragma handled over $2 trillion of algorithmic order flow in multiple asset classes on behalf of clients across over 50 venues.

Earlier this year, MarketAxess announced the first client algorithmic trade executed across multiple protocols in US credit using Adaptive Auto-X, the company’s multi-protocol automated execution solution, currently in pilot. In 2020, Pragma introduced a deep neural network-based execution engine that controls the routing, sizing, pricing, and timing of orders.

MarketAxess says Pragma’s algorithmic platform and technology team will help it accelerate development of execution algorithms and data-driven analytics across all fixed-income products.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.