Sparta market intelligence powers expansion for global trading organisation

The problem: expanding into new markets without local insights

A global oil trading organisation with a reputation for innovation, high performance and long- term results for clients and shareholders was looking to expand into new markets. The company specifically wanted to find new arbitrage opportunities outside of the US and Europe, but lacked both insights and contacts in these regions.

Trading with conviction can only happen with access to the right level of market intelligence. But the company’s traders struggled to find contacts willing to share insights – and when they did talk, conversations were limited.

“When you work for a smaller company, trying to get brokers or clients talking to you is always a little bit complicated. Everybody’s very busy, and if I don’t know what’s going on in the Arab Gulf and price-wise I might ask stupid questions.”

Global trader

The solution: on-demand market intelligence from Sparta

The organisation had used several solutions in an attempt to access the market insights they needed, but had yet to find one that delivered. They then tried Sparta, the live market intelligence and forecasting platform for traders. To do this, Sparta teams up with the world-leading brokerages and data houses to source the most accurate and reliable market data available. The platform then cleans and process that data and outputs value-added context and insights to determine the value behind the data – which in turn presents tradable opportunities in real time. In this case, live arbitrage opportunities.

“When you expand to the rest of the world you need to have access to a lot of different benchmarks, which Sparta gives me. Sparta was quick and easy to use, and is very holistic. It has been very helpful.”

Global trader

The benefits: trading with conviction in new regions

With market intelligence powered by Sparta, the global trading organisation has insights on demand to allow them to trade with conviction. In regions where contacts are few and far between, Sparta delivers the forward-looking intelligence that unlocks more trading opportunities. And when traders speak to local contacts, they can do so from a position of knowledge and confidence.

“Having that information there just makes it so valuable and really allows me to trade with a much more informed idea of the market. So, on some occasions, you don’t even need to talk to somebody because you have all that information already. And on other occasions where you do want, let’s say, a bid from somebody, at least you could talk with a much more informed view of the market and not just that idiot who only knows the US prices and that’s it.”

Global trader

Thanks to Sparta, the global trading organisation has access to live market intelligence that adds conviction to how they trade. Sparta has become an essential part of the traders’ daily lives, turning doubt and indecision into insight-driven action.

“I use it pretty much for everything, I get my live prices especially for Europe because I don’t talk to brokers in Europe. I really like the dashboard. We supply a lot into Brazil, and every day I can go into Brazil and see where is cheaper. If I see that the Arab Gulf is cheaper into Brazil, then I’ll start talking to the suppliers from the Arab Gulf, whereas before it would almost be overwhelming.”

Global trader