This Order Execution Policy (the “Policy”) sets out Hidden Road’s approach to provision of best execution as required by the European Union’s recast Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, the UK implementation of MiFID II and related national law (together “Applicable Law”). It further notes Hidden Road Partner’s capacity when offering Exchange Traded Products via Hidden Road Partners CIV US LLC (“HRP CIV US LLC”) as well as Spot FX products via Hidden Road Partners CIV US OTC LLC (“HRP CIV US OTC”). Please note, neither HRP CIV US LLC nor HRP CIV US OTC, have any corresponding best execution requirements.
This Policy applies to any transaction carried out between you and Hidden Road Partners CIV UK Ltd or Hidden Road Partners CIV NL B.V. (collectively “Hidden Road”) within its FXPB, DPB and/or Route28 offering (an exclusion is made for Exchange Traded Derivatives). This Policy does not apply to any transactions you enter into with other Hidden Road Group entities. As a client of Hidden Road, you are deemed a professional client or eligible counterparty under Applicable Law. Hidden Road does not have retail clients.
The Applicable Law requires Hidden Road, when executing orders on behalf of clients, to take all sufficient steps to obtain, when executing client orders in relation to in-scope financial instruments, the best possible results for its clients taking into account the execution factors. The execution factors to be taken into account are price, costs, speed, likelihood of execution and settlement, size, nature or any other consideration relevant to the execution of an order.
For this purpose, Hidden Road is considered to be executing an order on behalf of a client where the client places “legitimate reliance” on Hidden Road to protect its interests in relation to the pricing and other elements of the transaction – such as speed or likelihood of execution and settlement – that may be affected by the choices made by HRP when executing the order.
A “four-fold” test helps determine whether any such legitimate reliance exists. Its relevant composite parts include consideration of:
Whether or not a certain instrument is “in-scope” is a function of whether or not it falls under the definition in the Applicable Law.
In the ordinary course of Hidden Road’s business, Hidden Road will not owe you a duty of best execution on the basis that there is no execution of an order on your behalf such that you are placing the necessary “legitimate reliance” on Hidden Road.
Aside from the explicit best execution rules explained herein, HRP has an overriding duty to act honestly, fairly and professionally in accordance with your best interests. Hidden Road will review this Policy when there are changes to its product offering.
Hidden Road determines whether it owes you a duty of best execution by assessing whether you place legitimate reliance on Hidden Road when executing orders with us in respect of in-scope financial instruments.
Under its FXPB offering, Hidden Road, including HRP CIV US OTC LLC for the purposes of this section, executes transactions in Spot FX as principal with you. Spot FX is not an “in scope financial instrument” and therefore Hidden Road, nor HRP CIV US OTC LLC, does not owe you best execution in respect of such transactions.
Where you face Hidden Road and enter into a swap transaction with a view to maintaining an open position in the FX market, you will not normally be legitimately relying on Hidden Road in relation to that transaction, primarily because you have approached Hidden Road with a view to post-trade facilitation of your existing open positions and there is no sense in which you could be relying on Hidden Road to protect your interests.
Under its DPB offering, Hidden Road executes transactions in spot digital assets as principal with you. Spot digital assets as not “in scope financial instruments” and therefore Hidden Road does not owe you best execution in respect of such transactions.
As part of the DPB offering you may enter into digital asset derivative contracts. These are in-scope financial instruments. Best execution obligations will not normally apply as you will not be legitimately relying on Hidden Road. This is because entry into the swap is reactive to your independent decision to trade and Hidden Road plays no part in your exercise of discretion, rather this is a form of specific instruction
Under its Route 28 offering Hidden Road enters into derivatives on certain underlying financial instruments and assets with you. These are in-scope financial instruments.
Best execution obligations will not normally apply on Route 28 as under the application of the four-fold test you place no legitimate reliance on Hidden Road.
As a futures commission merchant, HRP CIV US LLC offers customers the ability to execute futures electronically on the relevant U.S. futures exchanges of which HRP CIV US LLC is a member via exchange native trading platforms, third-party trading platforms, or the customer’s own proprietary trading platforms. HRP CIV US LLC does not have an execution desk that executes futures on behalf of customers in the ordinary course of business. In addition, on U.S. futures exchanges futures commission merchants do not have a best execution requirement.
As explained above, Hidden Road will not generally owe best execution obligations in respect of the products and services it currently offers (FX Prime Brokerage, Digital Prime Brokerage, Route 28 or Exchange Traded Derivatives Products).
Notwithstanding this, you should be aware that Hidden Road does not execute client orders on execution venues. Hidden Road will not transmit any order for execution to another broker or dealer. Where your order is executed outside of a regulated market, a multilateral trading facility or an organised trading facility (together a “Trading Venue“), e.g. OTC, then this may have certain consequences. For example, your trade will not be subject to the rules of a Trading Venue intended to provide fair and orderly trading, there may be increased settlement risk and there may be differing counterparty risk.
Where you provide Hidden Road with a specific instruction, it may prevent Hidden Road from taking steps, where applicable, to obtain best execution in respect of the elements covered by those instructions.
If and where Hidden Road owes a duty of best execution, Hidden Road will monitor the effectiveness of its execution arrangements and this Policy, and will assess on a regular basis, if applicable, whether any execution venues it selects provide for the best possible result for any orders it executes on your behalf.
Hidden Road will review this Policy and any associated arrangements at least annually and on an event-driven basis. Any changes to this Policy will be reflected here on Hidden Road’s website.
Last Updated: August 02, 2024
