PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Leo Hmelnitsky AU - Sandra Bates Hinck TI - Algorithmic Trading DP - 2007 Mar 20 TA - Trading PG - 14--18 VI - 2007 IP - 1 4099 - http://guides.pm-research.com/content/2007/1/14.short 4100 - http://guides.pm-research.com/content/2007/1/14.full AB - Buying a car is one of the most important financial decisions an average American makes. So it is not surprising that there is significant consumer interest in customized car choices. But how could the massive and complicated auto industry manage to tailor its production to the specific requests of each customer who walks onto the dealership sales lot? Toyota—the second-largest auto manufacturer in the world—was able to accomplish this as the first carmaker to streamline the manufacturing process and thereby accommodate greater individual choice, fueling an incredible jump in its market share. In this article we argue that algorithmic trading could benefit by a similar transformation to satisfy the increasingly sophisticated buy-side community. As context, we discuss the changing relationship between buy-side traders and brokers in light of ongoing commission compression, the increasing market share of electronic and computer-assisted executions, and the rapidly evolving landscape of equity markets and the industry.