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Horizon Trading Solutions has announced that it will provide connectivity solutions to Bursa Malaysia Derivatives’ Securities Futures Trading System, reinforcing its role in enabling market access across Asia’s derivative markets.
The Securities Futures Trading System, known as SFTS, supports the trading of Single Stock Futures (SSF) and other equity-related derivatives. Bursa Malaysia Derivatives reintroduced SSFs to the market in March 2025 after a multi-year pause, with the goal of expanding the product offering and catering to retail and institutional demand across the ASEAN region. Horizon’s contribution will come in the form of a dedicated gateway designed to allow market makers using its trading platform to interact directly with the SFTS infrastructure.
Horizon’s integration enables price quoting and liquidity provisioning in real-time. The technical rollout is structured to ensure seamless execution through Horizon’s existing systems, reducing integration burden for market makers and increasing the speed of deployment. This is expected to help support deeper liquidity in SSFs, which now represent a growing segment of the exchange’s equity derivatives offering.
“SSF offer compelling opportunities for both retail and institutional players”
Emmanuel Faure, Head of APAC and EMEA at Horizon Trading Solutions, commented, “We are proud to support Bursa Malaysia Derivatives in the relaunch of its SSF. As a long-standing partner in the region, Horizon is well-positioned to contribute our technology, market expertise, and network to this initiative. SSF offer compelling opportunities for both retail and institutional players, and we are committed to facilitating their efficient access to this market.”
Horizon’s involvement in SFTS also highlights the broader strategy being adopted by regional exchanges and their technology partners. By opening up standardized connectivity options, exchanges can reduce the barriers to entry for global participants. For Horizon, this also aligns with its commitment to delivering a unified trading experience across multiple markets and asset classes.
Bursa Malaysia Derivatives views the integration as a key enabler for market efficiency. Mohd Saleem Kader Bakas, Director of Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, added: “We welcome Horizon as a vendor supporting market connectivity for SFTS. This initiative complements the Exchange’s ongoing efforts to improve market liquidity and efficiency, ultimately fostering a vibrant trading environment for all market participants.”
The reintroduction of SSFs was designed to offer exposure to Malaysian blue-chip stocks through leveraged contracts, providing an alternative route for portfolio hedging, arbitrage, and tactical trading. By building direct connections between market makers and the exchange infrastructure, Horizon facilitates the quoting of tighter spreads and more consistent market presence, which are considered crucial for the success of such products.
Horizon’s connectivity will be made available to its global client base through its standard deployment model. The company’s platform supports multi-asset trading, and the new SFTS integration fits within Horizon’s existing system architecture, which already services a wide range of exchanges and trading venues across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.
Horizon has maintained operations in Asia for over a decade and currently supports trading access to several key exchanges in the region. The company positions itself as a neutral technology provider, offering clients the ability to trade agency and principal flows from a single, customizable front end. Its cross-asset architecture has been adopted by firms engaged in derivatives, cash equities, ETFs, and options trading, providing tools that span execution algorithms, risk controls, and connectivity.
The partnership with Bursa Malaysia Derivatives reflects a renewed interest among Southeast Asian exchanges in building partnerships with international vendors. Many exchanges across the region are seeking to improve access for non-domestic participants, simplify order routing, and attract algorithmic and high-frequency trading volumes.
Horizon’s expansion into Southeast Asia complements its broader regional roadmap. While the firm already supports connectivity to venues in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo, this new project is its first major exchange-facing initiative in Malaysia. By embedding connectivity for SSFs into its multi-asset platform, Horizon provides an infrastructure layer that can also support future product launches by the exchange.
Faure concluded, “The relaunch of SSFs creates new opportunities, and we are pleased to play a part in building the infrastructure that supports this growth. Market makers require speed, reliability, and flexibility, and Horizon delivers all three as part of a comprehensive electronic trading solution.”
Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, as the only derivatives exchange in Malaysia, continues to develop new instruments and trading mechanisms. The SFTS infrastructure plays a key role in that development. Horizon’s integration therefore comes at a moment of strategic relevance, contributing to both exchange-side and participant-side readiness.
The initiative is now moving into the final technical implementation phase, with testing underway between Horizon, its clients, and Bursa Malaysia Derivatives. Once live, Horizon expects its client firms to begin quoting in SSFs through the SFTS using the newly enabled gateway.
Horizon Trading Solutions is a global provider of electronic trading technology for both agency and principal desks. The company offers a unified, multi-asset platform with algorithmic tools, customizable front ends, and pre-built exchange connectivity. Its infrastructure is used by banks, brokers, and proprietary trading firms worldwide. With a presence in major financial centers including Paris, London, Hong Kong, and Singapore, Horizon continues to expand its reach across both mature and emerging markets.
