What Arbor Research & Trading does

Arbor Research & Trading, LLC is a privately held institutional research and brokerage firm founded in 1988, headquartered in Lake Barrington, Illinois, and operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Arbor Research Holdings, LLC. The firm serves institutional investors — including portfolio managers, fixed income traders, hedge funds, pension funds, and asset managers — through a direct institutional sales and trading team that executes trades in US fixed income instruments (agencies, corporate bonds, government bonds, mortgage-backed securities, municipal bonds, TIPS, zero coupon bonds) and foreign securities (corporate bonds, government bonds, inflation-linked bonds, foreign exchange).

The firm monetizes across three revenue streams: transaction-fee-based institutional brokerage execution, recurring subscriptions to five proprietary research sub-brands (Bianco Research macro analysis by Jim Bianco, Arbor Data Science alternative-data analytics, Arbor Quantitative Analytics / AQA pattern-recognition tools, The King Report independent commentary by Bill King, and the Talking Data Podcast), and index licensing royalties (notably the WTBN index licensed to Wisdom Tree). Its core technology stack rests on proprietary quantitative tools — AQA pattern recognition for support/resistance zone analysis, AQA Probabilities across global markets, and alternative-data analytics incorporating DeMARK indicators — sold alongside qualitative macro research. Distribution is relationship-driven via nine named institutional sales professionals and amplified by media citations in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Barron's, and MarketWatch.

The corporate group encompasses wholly-owned subsidiaries Bianco Research LLC, Arbor Data Science, and Arbor Research & Trading (UK), Ltd for international operations. The firm has been operating for over 35 years without disclosed external funding, self-describes as serving "many of the largest and most influential institutional investors around the world," and differentiates on independence from bank-affiliated research, technology-based quantitative tools, and a multi-asset-class product suite spanning fixed income, equity, currency, and commodity markets.

Name

Arbor Research & Trading

Legal name

Arbor Research & Trading, LLC

Website

https://arborresearch.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Arbor Research & Trading is a privately held institutional research and brokerage firm, founded in 1988, providing fixed income trade execution and proprietary subscription research (Bianco Research, AQA, Arbor Data Science, The King Report) to portfolio managers and traders worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Institutional Research & Brokerage Services

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Investment Banking and Securities Intermediation (523150), Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities (523)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282), Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Macro & Rates Research (FSACAGAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Strategy & Thematic Research (FSACAGAG), Equity Research (FSACAGAA), FX Research (FSACAGAD), Research Distribution, Sales Support & Client Analytics (FSACAGAJ)

Keywords

• Institutional research
• Fixed income brokerage
• Macro market analysis
• Alternative data analytics
• Quantitative analytics tools

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Institutional Brokerage & Trade Execution: Value-added brokerage service providing comprehensive issue and price discovery and high quality execution in the fixed income markets. Revenue is generated through trade execution commissions on US (Agencies, Corporate Bonds, Government Bonds, Mortgage Backed Bonds, Municipal Bonds, TIPS, Zero Coupon Bonds) and foreign securities (Foreign Exchange, Inflation Linked Bonds).
2. Research Subscriptions: Subscription-based access to proprietary research products including Bianco Research (macro investment analysis), Arbor Data Science (alternative data-driven analysis), Arbor Quantitative Analytics (technical analysis tools), The King Report (daily independent analysis), and Talking Data Podcast. The company offers free trials for these products.
3. Index Licensing: Licensing of the Bianco Research Total Return Index to Wisdom Tree for ETF creation (ticker: WTBN), generating licensing/royalty revenue.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Arbor Research & Trading is an institutional research and brokerage firm that provides subscription-based proprietary research products (Bianco Research, Arbor Data Science, Arbor Quantitative Analytics, The King Report, and the Talking Data Podcast) covering global fixed-income, equity, currency, and commodity markets, alongside value-added trade execution and brokerage services in US and foreign fixed-income securities for portfolio managers and traders worldwide.

Product overview

Arbor Research & Trading is an institutional research and brokerage firm founded in 1988, offering a portfolio of research products under sub-brands. The core offerings include: Bianco Research (macro investment analysis by Jim Bianco), Arbor Data Science (alternative data-driven analytics), Arbor Quantitative Analytics/AQA (proprietary quantitative market tools), The King Report (independent daily analysis by Bill King), and the Talking Data Podcast. The firm also provides trade execution services in US and foreign fixed-income markets including agencies, corporate bonds, government bonds, mortgage-backed bonds, municipal bonds, TIPS, zero coupon bonds, and foreign exchange/inflation-linked bonds. Products serve portfolio managers and traders worldwide, with institutional sales and trading providing value-added brokerage services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Bianco Research: Macro investment analysis for institutional investors providing qualitative and quantitative overviews of the economy and fixed-income, equity, currency, and commodity markets.
• Arbor Data Science
• Arbor Quantitative Analytics (AQA)
• The King Report
• Talking Data Podcast

Products and services

• Bianco Research Jim Bianco's macro investment analysis service for institutional investors, providing qualitative and quantitative overviews of the economy and fixed-income, equity, currency, and commodity markets; offers Newsclips, Charts of the Week, Conference Calls, and COT Report products.
• Arbor Data Science Data-driven analysis service providing daily commentary for institutional clients, leveraging alternative data sources and cutting-edge analytics to anticipate changes in economic growth and financial market performance; features Daily Data Points and Weekly Reports on commodities, credit, cryptocurrency, inflation, investor flows, and supply chain.
• Arbor Quantitative Analytics (AQA) Proprietary quantitative tools measuring market momentum and evaluating trend persistence across fixed-income, equity, currency, and commodity markets; features AQA Charting for comparing current market characteristics with historical observations, and AQA Probabilities providing zones and probabilities across global markets.
• The King Report Daily independent analysis by Bill King covering global, political, financial, and economic factors influencing markets across short, intermediate, and long-term horizons; often cited by leading investment letter writers and financial columnists.
• Talking Data Podcast Podcast series offering timely insights into macro market themes with deep dives into the data and its impact on the economy and markets.
• Fixed Income Trade Execution (Brokerage) Value-added institutional brokerage service providing comprehensive issue and price discovery and high-quality execution in fixed income markets for US securities (Agencies, Corporate Bonds, Government Bonds, Mortgage Backed Bonds, Municipal Bonds, TIPS, Zero Coupon Bonds) and foreign securities (Foreign Exchange, Inflation Linked Bonds).

Quantifiable outcome

• AQA coverage spans broad range of global interest rates, spreads, equities, currencies, commodities and credit markets with daily reports highlighting support and resistance zones for multiple time frames.

Named customers3 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Evercore ISI: Independent institutional research and advisory firm offering macro, equity, and policy research to institutional investors—direct comparable in independent-research positioning versus bulge-bracket banks.
• Variant Perception: Subscription-based independent macro research service targeting institutional investors with thematic and cross-asset analysis—comparable business model and customer base to Arbor's research subscriptions.
• BCA Research: Independent macro research firm providing institutional investment research across global fixed income, equity, FX, and commodity markets—closest direct comparable to Arbor/Bianco Research in positioning, distribution, and product mix.
• Cornerstone Macro: Independent macro research firm providing institutional investors with analysis across global rates, FX, equities, and credit—closest direct comparable to Bianco Research in macro coverage and institutional distribution.
• Strategas Research Partners: Independent institutional research firm providing macro, thematic, and policy research to asset managers—comparable independent-research positioning and institutional client focus.
• Grant's Interest Rate Observer: Independent subscription research publication focused on global fixed income, currencies, and macroeconomics for institutional and sophisticated investors—comparable subscription research model.
• Wolfe Research: Independent sell-side equity and macro research firm with institutional sales, trading, and corporate banking—overlapping brokerage + subscription research business model with Arbor.
• GaveKal Research: Independent macro research firm covering global economics and financial markets for institutional clients—similar subscription research model and asset class coverage to Arbor.

Broad incumbents

• Bloomberg Intelligence (BI): Large-scale institutional research and analytics platform bundled with Bloomberg Terminal subscriptions—competes for institutional research wallet share with far broader asset class and geographic coverage than Arbor.
• Goldman Sachs Research (within GS): Bulge-bracket sell-side research division offering deep macro, equity, credit, and commodities coverage to institutional clients—represents the largest incumbent competitor and the alternative Arbor positions against as an independent alternative.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/DataArbor
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/datascience-arborresearch

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Arbor Research & Trading