People who trade OTC derivatives do so on electronic trading venues. Compliance, operations, and systems staff check which category a venue is registered or authorized under, what it handles, and how it executes.

How to tell providers apart

The categories of electronic trading venue differ by country and region. The United States has the swap execution facility (SEF). The EU has the multilateral trading facility (MTF) and the organised trading facility (OTF), and the UK also has MTFs authorized by the FCA. The rules for each category, and the difference between a request for quote and an order book, are covered in Electronic Trading Platforms such as SEFs.

Under the same provider name, the operating entity can differ by category. A comparison of providers therefore looks at three things separately:

  • The registration or authorization category and who holds it (which authority, which category, which entity)
  • The products handled
  • The execution method (request for quote, order book, and so on)

A venue and the provider that runs it together make up a trading platform. "Major" here does not mean a ranking by importance or size. The six providers in the table below were chosen by the editors from the 18 SEFs whose operating entities appear in the CFTC's announcement of January 22, 2016, and this does not mean that providers left out are less important.

Category, products, and execution method of the six providers

The table below shows what was found as of October 8, 2026 in each provider's official materials and on the CFTC's registration pages, in alphabetical order.

Provider Category Operating entity and authority Products Execution method
360T US SEF 360 Trading Networks Inc. Registered with the CFTC (January 22, 2016)1 FX options, NDFs, and non-deliverable swaps (those that are swaps under US law)2 Not described in the materials
360T EU MTF 360 Treasury Systems AG (Germany). Authorized by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin)3 FX forwards, FX swaps, FX options, NDFs, and non-deliverable swaps2 Not described in the materials
360T UK MTF 360 Trading Networks UK Limited. Authorized by the FCA (effective November 22, 2023)3 – –
Bloomberg US SEF Bloomberg SEF LLC. Registered with the CFTC (January 22, 2016)4 – –
ICE (ICE Swap Trade) US SEF ICE Swap Trade, LLC. Registered with the CFTC (January 22, 2016)5 CDS indices (cleared and bilateral). Energy swaps as well6 CDS indices: request for quote and order book. Energy: not described in the materials6
ICE (ICE Swap Trade) US SBSEF ICE Swap Trade, LLC. A security-based swap execution facility (SBSEF) registered with the SEC7 Single-name credit default swaps (CDS) (cleared and bilateral)6 Delta-neutral auctions, request for quote, and order book6
LSEG FX (FXall) US SEF LSEG FX SEF (formerly Thomson Reuters (SEF) LLC). Registered with the CFTC (January 22, 2016)8 FX NDFs and FX options9 Request for quote to multiple banks (RFQ), Price Stream, and an anonymous order book9
LSEG FX (FXall) EU MTF Operated in Ireland. Authorized and supervised by the Central Bank of Ireland10 FX forwards, NDFs, swaps, and options through FXall RFQ; FX swaps through Forwards Matching10 FXall RFQ and Forwards Matching10
LSEG FX (FXall) UK MTF Authorized and supervised by the FCA10 FX forwards, swaps, NDFs, and options through FXall RFQ10 FXall RFQ10
MarketAxess US SEF MarketAxess SEF Corporation. The status on the CFTC page is Dormant11 – –
MarketAxess EU MTF MarketAxess NL B.V. (Netherlands). Authorized by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM)12 Bonds, equities, and derivatives. Derivatives only in the RFQ-hub segment13 RFQ in the RFQ-hub segment, a request for quote on the MTF13
MarketAxess UK MTF MarketAxess Europe Limited. Authorized by the FCA12 – –
Tradeweb US SEF TW SEF LLC. Registered with the CFTC (January 22, 2016)14 – –

Notes on reading the table:

  • "Registered with the CFTC" rests on the registration status on each SEF's CFTC page and on the announcement of January 22, 2016. That is the date on which the CFTC granted registration to 18 SEFs. The US operating entities of the six providers are among the 1815.
  • The CFTC page for MarketAxess SEF Corporation records temporary registration on September 13, 2013. The list in the announcement of January 22, 2016 also includes it. The page status is Dormant, updated on September 1, 2022. MarketAxess's operation of MTFs in the EU and the UK rests on different materials.
  • 360T states that its UK MTF started on January 1, 20242.
  • The rulebook of MarketAxess's EU MTF lists, as derivatives it can handle, equity options, forwards, swaps, interest rate derivatives, swaptions, and others13.
  • For the rows marked "–", the official websites of Bloomberg and Tradeweb were not obtained, so their products and execution methods are not listed. The materials retrieved for the UK MTFs of 360T and MarketAxess and the US SEF of MarketAxess do not describe products or execution methods.
  • ICE Swap Trade's energy swaps fall outside the scope of this page (interest rates, credit, and foreign exchange), so they are only added to the products cell.

From the trading platform to post-trade services

A trade executed on a trading platform moves, after execution, to electronic confirmation of its terms and, if it is subject to clearing, to acceptance by a central counterparty. How post-trade electronic confirmation services work is covered in Post-Trade Confirmation and Matching Services.

The links described in the trading platforms' own materials are as follows.

  • The rulebook of MarketAxess's MTF says that, for each trade, the MTF issues an electronic message to participants giving the details of the trade. For derivatives that are cleared, it requires participants to be clearing members of the central counterparty or to have a contract with a clearing member, and it requires the trade to be cleared automatically and immediately under the central counterparty's rules16.
  • LSEG FX lists, as a feature of its SEF, straight-through processing, settlement, and post-trade messaging to the DTCC (Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation) and to clearing houses9.
  • ICE says that ICE Swap Trade supports trading in cleared swaps and bilateral swaps6.
  • OSTTRA, which runs a post-trade electronic confirmation service, says that brokers, dealers, and trading venues can send executed trades to the service17.

Which trading platform connects to which electronic confirmation service or central counterparty can differ by provider, product, and participant setup.

Consider a hypothetical example in which Company A (an asset manager) trades an FX forward with a notional of 1 billion yen on an electronic trading platform. Company A sends a request for quote to three banks, Bank B, Bank C, and Bank D, and executes at the most favorable of the quotes that come back, Bank B's. In the electronic confirmation that follows, suppose Company A enters a notional of 1 billion yen and Bank B enters 100 million yen. If the match of terms fails, the difference is found as a discrepancy. What happens after a discrepancy is found depends on the service and the contract. Whether this trade is subject to clearing also depends on the product and the participants' setup, so this example does not decide it.

Trading platformConfirmationCCPRequest quotesfromseveral dealersChoose a quoteand executeSend the tradedetailselectronicallyMatch terms oraccept to confirmAccept the tradeif it is cleared
Figure 1One example of the route from a trading platform to electronic confirmation and clearing acceptance
Figure description

When Company A asks several dealers for quotes, chooses a quote, and executes, the trading platform sends the trade details electronically. At the electronic confirmation service, the trade is confirmed by matching its terms or by acceptance, and if it is subject to clearing, the central counterparty accepts it. The destination and the order can differ by provider and product16.

Scope not covered

This page does not cover the following.

  • Product quality, trading volume, market share, fees, and user numbers
  • The EU and UK categories of Bloomberg and Tradeweb, and Japanese authorizations
  • The details of MarketAxess's status with the SEC and the CFTC
  • When each product was launched or discontinued, and operators of trading platforms other than the six providers

A provider's registration category and scope of services can change, so this page is reviewed every 6 months.

Notes

  1. CFTC, "Swap Execution Facilities," the page for 360 Trading Networks, Inc. (Registration Status: Registered; Registration Date: January 22, 2016). Checked on October 8, 2026. ↩

  2. 360T, "MTF / SEF": the EU MTF section, the SEF section, the section on the start of the UK MTF (January 1, 2024), and the sections with the rulebooks and fee schedules. Checked on October 8, 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. 360T, "Authorisations & Approvals": the entries for the BaFin authorisation of 360T AG and the FCA authorisation of 360 Trading Networks UK Ltd. (effective November 22, 2023). Checked on October 8, 2026. ↩ ↩2

  4. CFTC, "Swap Execution Facilities," the page for Bloomberg SEF LLC (Registered; January 22, 2016). Checked on October 8, 2026. ↩

  5. CFTC, "Swap Execution Facilities," the page for ICE Swap Trade LLC (Registered; January 22, 2016). Checked on October 8, 2026. ↩

  6. ICE, "ICE Swap Trade," the Products section (Energy, and Credit with single-name CDS and CDS indices). CLOB is read as order book and bilateral as OTC. Checked on October 8, 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  7. ICE, "ICE Swap Trade Regulation," the paragraph describing ICE Swap Trade, LLC. It pairs the CFTC-registered SEF (energy and CDS indices) with the SEC-registered SBSEF (single-name CDS). Checked on October 8, 2026. ↩

  8. CFTC, "Swap Execution Facilities," the page for LSEG FX SEF (Registered; January 22, 2016. The former name, Thomson Reuters (SEF) LLC, corresponds to the entity name in the announcement of January 22, 2016). Checked on October 8, 2026. ↩

  9. LSEG, "SEF (Swap Execution Facility)": the opening paragraph and the Streamlined workflow item under Features & Benefits. Checked on October 8, 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  10. LSEG, "Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF)": the EU MTF section, the UK MTF section, and the opening description. Checked on October 8, 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  11. CFTC, "Swap Execution Facilities," the page for MarketAxess SEF Corporation (Registration Status: Dormant; a remark on temporary registration on September 13, 2013; status last updated September 1, 2022). Checked on October 8, 2026. ↩

  12. MarketAxess, "Regulatory Disclosures," UK & Europe section (authorized as an MTF by the FCA in the UK and by the AFM in the Netherlands). Checked on October 8, 2026. ↩ ↩2

  13. MarketAxess, "MarketAxess NL B.V. EU MTF Rulebook" (July 2026): the definitions of RFQ and RFQ-hub Segment and the types that can be handled in Rule 10.3 ((h) to (m) are equities and derivatives). Checked on October 8, 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  14. CFTC, "Swap Execution Facilities," the page for TW SEF LLC (Registered; January 22, 2016). Checked on October 8, 2026. ↩

  15. CFTC, "CFTC Grants Registration to 18 Swap Execution Facilities" (Release Number 7313-16, January 22, 2016), the list of 18 SEFs. Checked on October 8, 2026. ↩

  16. MarketAxess, "MarketAxess NL B.V. EU MTF Rulebook" (July 2026): Rule 15.1 (electronic message for each trade), Rule 7.2 (participants and clearing members), and Rule 15.6 (automatic clearing of cleared derivatives). The order in the figure is not an order stated in the materials, and Rule 15.6 does not say that clearing waits for confirmation. Checked on October 8, 2026. ↩ ↩2

  17. OSTTRA, "Trade Processing," the Affirm section (accepts trades sent from brokers, dealers, and trading venues). Checked on October 8, 2026. ↩