High frequency traders

In the high frequency space and algorithmic trading in general, one of the areas that’s been completely overlooked as a source of competitive advantage is mastery over the global IT supply-chain. If you could confidently deploy your infrastructure six months faster than your competitor, what does that mean for you in the market? In some cases, many millions of dollars. And conversely, if you deploy slower than your competitor, you could be missing out on a large opportunity.

The advantage that high frequency traders look for are usually in the microseconds, but in the supply-chain, there are months to win—which is what FGX is focused on. But FGX doesn’t only find you a competitive edge when it comes to the “deployment” or “logistical” aspects of the supply-chain. FGX will also make everything from procurement to power-on easier to execute, take less time, and become more manageable, which will empower teams to make better decisions quicker than ever before, freeing up your highly compensated team members to focus on bigger problems.

FGX vs. traditional logistics companies

High frequency and algorithmic traders have traditionally looked to freight forwarders to provide a solution. Freight forwarders are typically focused on providing logistical services, like warehousing, storage or finding space on a truck or plane. When their customers come to them with more complex problems, for example, importing a rack into Brazil, they typically partner with an agent or partner that can help them.

Most freight forwarders don’t actually understand what is going on behind the scenes when they hire an agent and subsequently, neither do their clients.

This is a problem because it results in one dimensional solutions. For example, a freight forwarder might “force” (due to a lack of options) their client to use Importer of Record services. Teams in high frequency trading firms need to be able to move fast and if they only have one solution they can use for a particular market, they are bottlenecked by the speed of that solution. HFTs also often have to worry about commercialization and understanding where they’re recognizing costs and booking their assets.

FGX provides HFTs with a bespoke solution that’s catered specifically to their company’s unique situation (business structure, requirements, tax and financial preferences, etc.). With FGX, if shipments need to go faster, they can, if they need to go slower to reduce cost, that can be managed too. If shipments need to go faster while the costs have to be recognized in X country, then that’s all handled as well.

All internal stakeholders at HFT’s need to be kept abreast of deployment statuses. Logistics, project managers, engineers, accounting, finance, QR’s and executives must all have a single source of truth if they are to execute their strategies. This is another area where FGX excels. Along with our managed inventory and tracking platform, FGX provides a dedicated account and operations manager to HFT’s accounts to help them manage projects and timelines. They help your internal teams work through intra-company bureaucracy, coordinate shipments based on PMs schedules, and steward all projects to completion. FGX account and operations managers act as an outsourced project management brain for HFTs to leverage.

What is FGX Go?

FGX Go is our turnkey, door-to-data center shipping solution that’s built for companies of all sizes and industries. Whether you’re looking to setup a new data center or ship to an existing PoP, we’ll manage everything from the time you order the equipment from your reseller or OEM to the second it’s delivered to its destination.

How does FGX Go work?

FGX Go is a service level that enables our clients to obtain quotes on a shipment-by-shipment basis, and doesn’t lock you into any contracts, allowing you flexibility to scale up and down as needed. When we provide our quotes, we’ll also do an import check to make sure that the equipment is eligible for use in the country you’re looking to ship to. We’ll also let you know what we’ll be executing on your behalf (for example, applying for permits, funding international deferment accounts, etc.) and how long it’ll take so that you can plan your deployments in advance.

What’s special about FGX Go is that our quotes take into account your company’s international footprint to look for cost reduction and operational efficiency wherever possible. For example, the reduction or elimination of import VAT in certain countries or the capability to reclaim it in others.

After a shipment’s quote is approved, FGX will prepare all of the documentation and licenses, perform all of the necessary compliance work, fund duties and taxes, etc., prior to anything being shipped out. By doing so, we limit the amount of time your hardware is sitting in international customs, thus reducing uncertainty and risk in the process. Once all of the documentation and pre-shipment work have been approved, your equipment will be routed via our private supply-chain to its destination’s port of entry, where our in-house customs brokers take over.

During customs clearance, officials may inquire about the import by asking questions, requesting backup documentation, and more – all of which FGX will manage on your behalf. After customs clearance has been completed, we’ll arrange for the shipment to be delivered via a direct drive to the data center or colocation site and provide you with a POD (proof of delivery).

How much work will I have to do?

As little as possible. There are, however, situations where our clients want to commercialize their shipments in a specific way and in order for FGX to make that happen, we have to work with their international counterparts. In cases like that, our clients have to do a bit of administrative and communication work, but throughout the entire process, FGX acts as the project manager and takes ownership over moving things forward. But in 99% of shipments, FGX is able to manage all of the shipments with zero end-user interaction.