Buy-side equity traders in the U.S. continue to warm up to outsourced trading (OT), with nearly 10% using such platforms for the second year in a row. While the top-line figure may suggest a lack of growth year over year, some OT providers say they have made significant inroads and adoption is more widespread than the numbers show.

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Estimates about the prevalence of OT in US equity markets are likely understating actual usage as some buyside firms do not want their peers to know they're using outsourced providers.https://t.co/LGXITdBMsf pic.twitter.com/IiY9s0jjS7

— Crisil Coalition Greenwich (@CoalitionGrnwch) June 3, 2025

Cultural shifts on the buy side are helping to drive the change. Once a taboo topic that suggested you were “hiring your own assassin,” traders now are more data-driven and experimental while being less married to traditional methods. Motivated by the need for cost savings, improved efficiency and enhanced trading capabilities, OT is now better understood as a way to supplement core trading functions, freeing up internal resources for more strategic activities.

Still, while providers say sentiment has improved, a wall of resistance remains. Not every trader wants to cede that much control over execution to a third-party provider, and using an OT makes it more difficult for internal traders to build their own relationships with the sell side. Alas, converting OT prospects into paying clients remains a challenge.

Methodology

From July through September 2024, Crisil Coalition Greenwich interviewed 40 buy-side equity traders in the United States. The study was conducted over the phone, online and in-person. Respondents answered a series of qualitative and quantitative questions about their daily workflow, broker selection and evaluation, technology platforms used, commissions, technology budgets, and business practices in the U.S. cash equity space.

Source: Crisil Coalition Greenwich