The deal by alternative trading service Pipeline to acquire the assets of block options firm 3D Markets has raised a lot of eyebrows. It has seemed obvious for a while that ATSs would be interested in gaining a foothold in the options block trade market. The big exchanges have been thinking along these lines as well. The issue will be whether Pipeline can fashion a coherent service that combines the block trading of both equities and options in the right way.

There seem to be some options trade clearing issues. But beyond that, it remains unclear what will resonate with the market. While institutions have been trending toward bundling specific options and equities trades for a while now, this remains something of an experiment on the block trading side. Pipeline certainly has a lot of virtues it can sell. Its system was designed to protect transactors from information leakage and that will be critical in a multi-asset trade situation. 

For more:
- here's the Advanced Trading article

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