Connamara Technologies

EP3® Wins ‘Best Matching Engine for Prediction/Event Markets’ at TradingTech Insight Awards USA 2026

Posted on by Connamara Technologies

Originally published on A-Team Insight

Congratulations to the winners of the 2026 TradingTech Insight Awards USA, announced at the TradingTech Summit in New York on 11 June.

Now in their eighth year, the awards recognise the vendors, platforms and service providers delivering the technology, data and services on which North American capital markets depend – at a point when the demands placed on that infrastructure are shifting faster than at almost any time before.

This year’s categories span the full trading lifecycle, from matching engines, order and execution management, and low-latency feed handlers through to market data delivery, transaction cost analysis, surveillance and trade reporting. Read together, the winners map the priorities now reshaping front-to-back trading operations: the move to cloud-native architecture, the operationalisation of AI across execution and compliance, the steady institutionalisation of digital asset and prediction markets infrastructure, and growing pressure on legacy systems to interoperate rather than stand alone.

Winners were identified through a combination of votes from the TradingTech Insight community and the deliberations of an independent advisory board, drawn from senior practitioners across the buy side, sell side and trading infrastructure.

Our thanks go to every firm that took part, to the advisory board for their time and judgment, and to the readers whose votes underpin the result.

WINNER 2026 BEST MATCHING ENGINE FOR PREDICTION / EVENT MARKETS

Connamara Technologies is the company enabling the most exciting and innovative markets in the world. Its flagship product, EP3®, is a new breed of marketplace technology that seamlessly integrates all exchange, clearing, and market surveillance functions into a single, robust platform. It is adaptable, scalable, and quick to market. Engineered for the evolving needs of the next generation of trading venues, EP3 is shaping the future of financial markets. www.connamara.tech www.tradingtechinsight.com Connamara Technologies EP3® is a fully integrated exchange infrastructure platform for modern markets. It enables new and emerging exchanges across crypto, predictions, sports, energy, and tokenized assets to launch efficiently and operate on a single, cohesive technology stack.

EP3 combines trade matching, clearing, settlement, surveillance, risk management, reporting, administration, and market access within one high-performance application, reducing operational complexity and reliance on multiple vendors. Originally incubated at Connamara Systems, EP3 was formally launched as a standalone platform in 2022, bringing together proven exchange architecture with a cloud-native, modular design. The result is a product that provides exchange operators with a flexible, production-ready platform that supports innovation while meeting demanding performance and regulatory requirements. Since launch, EP3 has been adopted by over a dozen exchanges and clearinghouses worldwide, supporting regulated markets in predictions, energy derivatives, sports event contracts, crypto, and tokenized real-world assets.

Why Winning “Most Innovative Use of Open Source/Cloud Technology 2026” is a fitting Award for EP3

Posted on by Connamara Technologies

Connamara Technologies just took home the award for “Most Innovative Use of Open Source/Cloud Technology” at the 2026 A-Team Innovation Awards. 

In less than a decade, using open source to build exchange platforms and to host the exchange in a public cloud has not only gained widespread acceptance but has become the de facto way to build an exchange. 

The distinct advantages of these technologies have become evident to new exchange innovators for at least a decade. Now, established exchanges are beginning to recognize the competitive disadvantage of not leveraging them.

Ten years ago, innovators looking to bring a new exchange-traded product to market faced significant upfront costs: both to build the software and to invest in the hardware infrastructure required to operate the exchange. The first risk taken was the task of scoping the data center build. If they believed in the market’s potential, they often overinvested in hardware and networking beyond what was needed at launch; a classic “build it and they will come” approach. The alternative was to build only the minimum required hardware and networking to conserve capital. The risk, ironically, was success. If the exchange took off, the infrastructure might not scale quickly enough to capture the opportunity.

When building software, two options stood before the innovator: a from-scratch exchange platform build that added on expensively licensed vended solutions of major infrastructure components (such as databases, messaging buses). Or spend years building these components in-house, substantially delaying time to market.

Thus, EP3 was designed to address these two monumental challenges faced by innovators. By leveraging open source software, EP3 offers a lower total cost to our customers than our competitors, who either have built all their applications from scratch or leveraged third-party vended solutions with their expensive license fees. 

By designing EP3 to operate in the cloud and leveraging open-source containerization and orchestration technologies, we’ve diminished many of the risks associated with hardware and networking buildouts. Exchange infrastructure can now scale in line with actual growth, rather than speculative demand.

This wasn’t a recent shift – it was a deliberate design decision made over a decade ago in response to where the market was heading. As early as 2015, our first company, Connamara Systems, was helping CFTC DCM applicants build exchanges in the cloud. 

Lowering the barrier to entry for innovators launching new markets has been the most positive feedback we’ve received from our diverse slate of trusted customers.

Thank you to the independent, expert advisory board that worked in collaboration with A-Team’s editorial team to select us, and congratulations to all the nominees in our category. 

EP3®️ Wins 2026 TabbFORUM NOVA Award: Honoring Top Innovators Across Financial Markets

Posted on by Connamara Technologies

By Jeff Kutler

Originally published on TabbFORUM.

If a market venture is new and novel – say, in the burgeoning predictions space – there’s a good chance it will turn to Connamara Technologies and its EP3 for exchange and clearing functionality. This is the technology that Interactive Brokers’ ForecastEx subsidiary adopted, as did Railbird Exchange (which was acquired by DraftKings), BEE4 of Brazil for tokenized equities, and ElectronX for electricity derivatives.

As of January, the Austin, Texas, company said the cloud-based, asset- and industry-agnostic EP3 was powering 12 exchanges and three clearinghouses worldwide, “a diverse range of traditional and new asset classes including perpetual futures, tokenized assets, crypto, energy derivatives, sovereign bonds, sports” and more . . . Importantly, it offers true 24x7x365 trading capability, making it the optimal choice in a world where trading never stops.”

“We’re impressed by Connamara’s ability to meet our exacting requirements with EP3 and deliver customized exchange technology tailored to our self-custody model,” Randy Myers, head of product – exchange, Figure Markets, said when announcing its vendor choice last year. “As Figure Markets expands its product offerings and customer base, we expect to lean on EP3 to help accelerate our growth.”

Jim Downs, Connamara CEO and co-founder with Maureen Downs, said of Figure: “They are a team of professionals that are bridging the gap between DeFI and TradFi. We are grateful for their trust. We’ve enjoyed the challenge of working together to build this exciting new marketplace and look forward to witnessing their continued success.”

In December, Daniel Davis, whose customers included ForecastEx, Railbird and ElectronX, was promoted to chief revenue officer. Before joining Connamara in November 2022 as head of growth, Davis held development and strategy roles at PIMCO, Dimensional Fund Advisors and WorkTango.

Connamara Technologies Engages Exactpro as Independent Testing Provider for EP3®

Posted on by Connamara Technologies

VIA PR Newswire

New York, Austin, Mar. 18, 2026 – Connamara Technologies, a leading provider of custom software solutions by capital markets experts, is pleased to announce engaging Exactpro, an independent software testing and development services specialist, for third-party testing of its EP3® platform.

EP3 is a high-performance exchange and clearinghouse platform that currently powers thirteen exchanges and three clearinghouses worldwide, supporting trading across traditional and emerging asset classes. A fully-integrated end-to-end platform, EP3 offers a 24/7 operation capability and extensible customisation options to serve a wide range of new and existing fintech use cases.

By introducing an independent testing partner, Connamara aims to further strengthen EP3’s robustness, scalability, and operational resilience, ensuring the platform meets the stringent demands of modern exchanges, clearing venues and alternative trading systems. The engagement also aims to help the Texas-based, global technology operator define a baseline for the next stage of evolution of its core platform and obtain a consolidated and easily executable test library.

The engagement will see Exactpro deliver an independent testing programme covering functional and non-functional testing of the core EP3 platform across services, components, and integrations. Leveraging two decades of experience in the industry, testing high-throughput, low-latency trading systems, the Exactpro team is tasked with exercising EP3 under a set of performance scenarios and associated metrics that Connamara can benchmark against for business and regulatory compliance purposes. 

James Downs, Co-Founder and CEO of Connamara, commented: ‘Engaging an experienced independent specialist like Exactpro reinforces our commitment to delivering reliable and production-ready exchange technology to more industry participants and jurisdictions. As EP3 continues to expand to new markets and asset classes, rigorous third-party testing provides additional assurance to our clients and stakeholders.’

Thomas H. Toller, Managing Director, Exactpro US, added: ‘Matching engines and other market infrastructure platforms require stability, scalability and reliability to support trading and post-trade functions as market volumes grow. We are pleased to provide the team at Connamara Technologies with independent testing services to help support the next stage of the EP3 evolution. Exactpro will apply its risk-based testing methodology and AI-enabled automation frameworks to simulate realistic market conditions, stress scenarios and peak trading volumes. We will work hard to provide the information Connamara Technologies needs to evolve the platform further and serve more use cases and markets.’

About Connamara Technologies

Connamara Technologies is the company enabling the most exciting and innovative markets in the world. Its flagship product, EP3®, is a new breed of marketplace technology that seamlessly integrates all key exchange, clearing, and market surveillance functions into a single, robust platform. It is adaptable, scalable, and quick-to-market. Engineered for the evolving needs of the next generation of trading venues, EP3 is shaping the future of financial markets.

To learn more, please visit www.connamara.tech or connect on LinkedIn

About Exactpro

Exactpro is an independent provider of AI-enabled software testing as well as development, consulting and training services for financial organisations. Exactpro’s client network spans exchanges and exchange groups, post-trade platform operators, banks and technology vendors across 25 countries. Using deep domain and technology expertise, the Exactpro team helps some of the leading financial infrastructures globally to decrease time to market, maintain regulatory compliance, improve scalability, latency and operational resiliency. Learn more at exactpro.com or reach out to us via [email protected].

Contact
Daniel Davis, Chief Revenue Officer
[email protected]

The Race to Build Prediction Markets

Posted on by Connamara Technologies
Conducted in partnership between Acuiti and Connamara Technologies

The Race to Build Prediction Markets is a report on how exchanges and trading venues are approaching one of the fastest-growing new asset classes in financial markets. Conducted in partnership with Acuiti, the research explores how firms across traditional finance, crypto, and retail trading are evaluating opportunities in prediction markets.

Based on surveys and interviews with 51 senior executives across technology, business development, operations, and management roles at exchanges and trading venues globally. Members from FCMs and the buy-side were also polled. DOWNLOAD HERE.

The research provides insights into how firms are approaching prediction markets, how they’re building the required technology, and the key market structure challenges still to be solved.

Despite the widely acknowledged importance of investment, many exchanges have not taken recent action to upgrade their technology stacks. Less than half of survey respondents had made a major upgrade to their matching engine during the past six years.

Read the full report to find out:

  • Why exchanges are evaluating prediction markets
  • How firms are building prediction market tech stacks
  • The biggest technology challenges facing new entrants
  • Which markets and events exchanges plan to launch
Read and Download the full report

Majority of Exchanges and Venues Now Eye Prediction Markets, Acuiti Finds

Posted on by Connamara Technologies

London – 05 March 2026: Almost 50% of traditional derivatives exchanges are considering launching prediction contracts, a study from Acuiti has found. READ THE FULL STUDY HERE.

The Race to Build Prediction Markets, published today, surveyed senior executives at traditional and crypto exchanges, as well as betting companies, on their plans to develop prediction markets and approaches to the technology investment required to launch. 

The report finds that the number of venues offering prediction markets is set to grow significantly across the globe as firms look to develop event contracts. The range of contracts is also set to grow as venues develop locally referenced contracts. 

However, while the budding market in the US today covers a broad range of underlyings from sports to politics, traditional exchanges say they will focus on financial contracts when they launch. 

The paper, conducted in partnership with Connamara Technologies, also explores how exchanges and other venues are planning to build the technology required to offer prediction markets. 57% of venues plan a hybrid build strategy, combining in-house development with third-party technology. Time to market was the most important factor when evaluating external technology providers, reflecting the expectation of increasing competition in the sector. 

Venues cited they would typically seek a third-party provider due to the complexity of building event contracts versus traditional instruments. 62% of respondents noted market design complexity, particularly the distinction between continuous versus event-based trading, as the leading technological challenge.

The research underscores the difficulty of adapting legacy exchange infrastructure to event-based contracts, particularly around market data, post-trade settlement, and integration with existing systems.

The key findings of the report include: 

  • 51% of all firms surveyed, including 47% of traditional exchanges, are either considering launching prediction markets or are committed to doing so
  • Finance-related events are the top target category for new launches, cited by 86% of respondents
  • 57% of respondents say they will use a mix of in-house and third-party tech to build their prediction markets offering
  • Time to market is the most important consideration for firms considering outsourced exchange and clearing technology to develop prediction markets
  • Several challenges remain unresolved for exchanges and brokers entering the market, particularly in market data

“A central theme of the whitepaper is the technology challenge of launching prediction markets quickly while ensuring resilience, compliance and scalability,” said Ross Lancaster, head of research at Acuiti. 

“Our research suggests that there will be a significant number of venues launching prediction markets globally over the coming years. The ones that succeed will be those that can come to market quickly with robust, institutional grade technology.” 

“Acuiti’s research confirms the flexibility and competitiveness that is needed when building markets. As the leading technology provider to the world’s most exciting markets, we are committed to delivering the infrastructure innovators need to launch new venues and operate with confidence,” said Daniel Davis, Chief Revenue Officer of Connamara Technologies.

Download the full report here: https://www.acuiti.io/insights/ 

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About Acuiti

Acuiti is a management intelligence platform designed to provide Senior Industry Professionals in the Derivatives Industry with high-value insight into industry-wide performance and business operations. Acuiti provides a platform through which our exclusive network of Senior Industry Executives can share and source information on day-to-day operational challenges, providing them and their management teams with increased transparency and in-depth analysis to make more informed decisions and benchmark company performance. Financial Institutions benefiting from our services include Banks, Non-bank FCMs, Brokers, Proprietary Trading Firms, Hedge Funds and Asset Managers.

For more information, contact:

For Acuiti: 

Will Mitting

Tel.: +44 (0) 203 998 9190

Email: [email protected] 

About Connamara Technologies

Connamara Technologies is the company enabling the most exciting and innovative markets in the world. Its flagship product, EP3®, is a new breed of marketplace technology that seamlessly integrates all key exchange, clearing, and market surveillance functions into a single, robust platform. It is adaptable, scalable, and quick-to-market. Engineered for the evolving needs of the next generation of trading venues, EP3 is shaping the future of financial markets.

To learn more, please visit www.connamara.tech or connect on LinkedIn

Contact
Daniel Davis, Chief Revenue Officer
[email protected]

EP3® Clinches Best Matching Engine for Cryptocurrency Trading Venues at TTIA Awards Europe 2026

Posted on by Connamara Technologies

February 26, 2026

EP3®️ has been named Best Matching Engine for Cryptocurrency Trading Venues at the TradingTech Insight Awards Europe 2026.

Thank you to A-Team Insight, from A-Team Group and the judges for seeing the vision behind our powerful technology.

From our CRO Daniel Davis, on accepting the award: “Digital assets are becoming increasingly adopted by institutional investors, traditional banks, and regulators. Connamara Tech’s EP3 is battle-tested by institutional participants like these and offers cryptocurrency venues a way to leverage that experience while allowing exchange operators to focus on revenue-generating activities and what differentiates their marketplace from others.”

EP3® by Connamara Technologies Powers 12 Exchanges and 3 Clearinghouses

Posted on by Connamara Technologies

January 6, 2026

AUSTIN, TX – Connamara Technologies is pleased to announce that its award-winning EP3 exchange and clearing platform now powers 12 exchanges and 3 clearinghouses across the globe.

EP3 is widely regarded as the technology of choice for new prediction exchanges and clearinghouses. Among its many customers are ForecastEx, a US-regulated prediction exchange and clearinghouse and wholly-owned subsidiary of Interactive Brokers, and Railbird, a US-regulated prediction exchange acquired by DraftKings in October 2025.

EP3’s capabilities extend far beyond prediction markets. It supports a diverse range of traditional and new asset classes, including perpetual futures, tokenized assets, crypto, energy derivatives, sovereign bonds, sports, and much more. Its innovative customers include ZeroHash, a crypto and stablecoin infrastructure company, AX, the first regulated exchange for the trading of perpetual futures on traditional assets, ElectronX, the first direct-access electricity derivatives exchange, and BEE4, the first regulated marketplace for trading tokenized shares in Brazil.

EP3 meets the demand for an end-to-end, fully-integrated platform that offers all exchange and clearinghouse functionality in a single, robust solution that can be fully operational in a matter of months. Importantly, it offers true 24x7x365 trading capability, making it the optimal choice in a world where trading never stops.

VIA PR NEWSWIRE

Connamara Technologies’ EP3® takes home Best Trading Infrastructure Initiative at AFTAs 2025

Posted on by Connamara Technologies

December 5, 2025

Connamara Technologies’ EP3® platform was awarded the Best Trading Infrastructure Initiative at the American Financial Technology Awards (AFTA)s 2025, presented by WatersTechnology. In a write-up about the win, WatersTechnology Staff wrote,

“Why they won: Connamara Technologies wins the category for the best trading infrastructure initiative in this year’s AFTAs, thanks to its outstanding EP3 exchange infrastructure offering designed to allow a variety of new exchanges to launch quickly and cost-effectively. The platform—featuring trade matching, clearing, settlement, market surveillance, reporting, risk management, administration, and market access—provides user-firms with an integrated infrastructure that removes the operational and financial barriers that often prevent new exchanges from launching. EP3 is designed specifically to help new operators enter the market and scale quickly as their trade volumes grow, thanks to its ability to support all the above-mentioned functions, while end-users gain access to emerging asset classes on venues built with tried-and-tested technology and safeguards. EP3’s cloud-native and asset-agnostic design ensures that exchanges can adapt to evolving trading models while maintaining stability and security around the clock. The firm’s track record across global predictions, crypto, tokenization and energy markets shows how the solution supports credible, well-regulated venues, ultimately improving market quality and expanding investment opportunities for all market participants regardless of their location.”

Connamara-Infrastructure-AFTAs_Waters1225Download

Read the full story here: https://www.waterstechnology.com/awards-rankings/7952845/aftas-2025-best-trading-infrastructure-initiative-connamara-technologies