Institutional overview
Securities lending solutions your operations team can rely on.
LAB gives institutional broker-dealers, correspondents, and clearing firms a single, compliant conduit into a deep, multi-provider locate and borrow network — with the inventory controls, audit trail, and API surface an institutional desk requires.
A service of Think Alpha Securities LLC · Member FINRA / SIPC
Smart route
Inventory Control
Real-time increment / decrement; only accepted locates draw down supply.
Provider Access
15+ integrated providers, including bulge-bracket prime brokers.
Open APIs
FIX · REST · WebSocket · AMQP, always on.
Speed
200ms baseline today, sub-100ms targeted; fast routes in milliseconds.
Flexibility
Fully configurable routing, entitlements, and pricing.
Overview
A single, compliant conduit into institutional liquidity.
LAB gives institutional broker-dealers, correspondents, and clearing firms one connection into a deep, multi-provider locate and borrow network — with the inventory controls, audit trail, and API surface an institutional desk requires.
Every locate request runs through a compliance-grade process: every locate requires a prior accepted locate request, the full request lifecycle is recorded for every party, and daily activity data files reach the client, the conduit clearing firm, and the client's clearing firm.
On the provider side, LAB reaches more end users across an institutional network of 15+ integrated brokers, with inventory that decrements only on an accepted locate — never a request — and pricing, entitlements, and routing that stay fully configurable. Pre-borrow securities are segregated from other locate-required names and routed to inventory partners set aside for delivery.
Routing runs at a 200ms baseline today, with sub-100ms targeted and fast routes completing in milliseconds.
Routing strategies
Tuned to your book
Six ways to route a request, from a single best-price sweep to desk-sourced liquidity for the hardest names.
Single best price across all brokers within any customized time window.
Surfaces only responses that can fill 100% of requested size.
Speed first: routes to our fastest providers, who respond in milliseconds, so urgent requests are filled almost instantly.
Build custom routes that include only preferred destinations and urgency levels that fit your company's workflow.
Set up a private pool for your clients that fills from your internal inventory first, then routes any remainder out to LAB's other sources.
Desk-sourced liquidity for hard-to-borrow and low-inventory names.
Designed to segregate pre-borrow securities from other locate-required names, routing each to the appropriate inventory partners and facilitating delivery as needed.
Auto-accept, minimum size, and firm / user / account rules are configurable throughout.
For liquidity providers
Inventory management, not just locate request flow
One console to reach more of the market and control exactly how much of the book is exposed.
- Reach more end users across LAB's institutional network
- Increment or decrement availability in real time
- Configurable, per-share and total-cost pricing
- User-friendly admin console
- Inventory decrements only on an accepted locate, never on a request
- Stock loan inventory tracked separately from retail shorting availability
- Pre-borrow securities segregated from other locate-required names, with inventory partners set aside for delivery when needed
Compliance
Compliance-grade by design
- Every locate request results in a timestamped acceptance, 100% of the time, with no retroactive cancellation
- Full request lifecycle recorded for every party: end user, provider, and clearing firm
- Daily activity data files delivered to the client, the conduit clearing firm, and the client's clearing firm
- Entitlements govern session hours, account access, and classification (Locate, PreBorrow, ETB)
- PreBorrow and Restricted classifications, with admin override, manage liquidity risk
- Incident reviews stay open until mitigation is in place; timeline, cause, and impact shared on request
Delivery, simplified
How a locate becomes a delivered position
Once a client accepts an offer, LAB and its conduit clearing infrastructure route delivery end to end.
Clients
Built for every institutional relationship
LAB reaches every institutional relationship — through whichever access mode and clearing structure fits your desk.
Three ways to integrate
Platform
A web-based console for manual and high-touch desks sourcing liquidity directly from the provider network.
OMS Integrated
LAB's smart algos connect into multiple OMS platforms for seamless, end-to-end locate and borrow automation.
Direct API
FIX and REST APIs, plus WebSocket and AMQP subscriptions, act as a low-latency conduit for systematic trading.
Institutional relationships
Direct Institutional Clients
Broker-dealers, hedge funds, and wealth managers onboard directly for platform, OMS-integrated, or direct API access.
Correspondents
Reach LAB's liquidity network through a dedicated conduit DTC number, backed by a Tri-Party Clearing Agreement.
Third-Party Clearing Correspondents
Clear anywhere and still receive compliant delivery via an MSLA with our conduit clearing firm.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure built to underwrite
- Colocated at Equinix NY4, with a dedicated fiber link into AWS
- 9-node high-availability cluster with automatic failover and live replication
- Daily backups on distributed, colocated storage; deployments and code are versioned automatically
- API endpoints run on a multi-AZ AWS EKS cluster, multi-region ready
- OpenTelemetry-compliant monitoring drives live alerting on production metrics
- Dedicated DEV / QA / UAT environments, with additional environments on request
In the product
Small controls that save a lot of clicking
Auto-accept price
Accept every offer under a set price automatically — no need to watch routine quotes come in.
| Symbol | Qty | Status | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACME | 5,000 | Pending | Cancel |
| NDAQ | 1,200 | Pending | Cancel |
| ZBRA | 800 | Accept | Reject |
| PLTR | 3,400 | Accept | Reject |
Cancel, reject, or accept in one click — accept transmits located shares to the OMS instantly. Right-click clears everything pending at once.
LAB informs clients the instant it matters, so nothing has to be checked manually mid-session.
Who we are
A broker-dealer built for this market
LAB is a service of Think Alpha Securities LLC, a U.S. broker-dealer serving institutional broker-dealers, correspondents, and clearing firms in the equities market — backed by a desk of experienced securities lending professionals for high-touch support whenever it's wanted.
Strong relationships, strategic investments, and industry expertise have built a robust network for sourcing and distributing inventory across Wall Street. MSLA relationships, a dedicated DTC conduit facility, and clearing infrastructure enable delivery to nearly any brokerage or clearing firm — regardless of where a client clears, with delivery itself kept optional.
Get in touch
Request a demo
Tell us about your desk and how you clear, and we'll walk through LAB's routing, integration options, and pricing for your setup.