What Is the Primary Difference between an RFQ Platform and a Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) in Derivatives Trading?
An RFQ (Request for Quote) platform allows a buyer or seller to directly solicit quotes from specific liquidity providers, resulting in a bilateral negotiation and execution. A CLOB (Central Limit Order Book) aggregates all buy and sell orders anonymously, matching them based on price-time priority.
RFQ is better suited for large, illiquid, or customized trades, while CLOB is for smaller, highly standardized, and liquid instruments. The CLOB provides price discovery to all participants simultaneously.