For more than a decade, wealth management technology has been shaped by a familiar debate: all-in-one platforms versus best-in-class point solutions.

On one side, advisors and enterprise firms gravitated toward unified portfolio management systems for simplicity, cost control, and tighter integrations. On the other, power users adopted standalone tools to gain deeper trading and rebalancing capabilities, though often at the expense of added complexity.

But as Michael Kitces outlined in his October 2025 AdvisorTech review, that debate is starting to fade. Not because choice has disappeared, but because the needs of modern advisory firms have fundamentally changed. 

(Read Kitces’ full analysis here)

Kitces’ commentary makes one thing clear: most firms no longer want to stitch together multiple tools just to make trading, rebalancing, reporting, and billing work at scale. At the same time, they’ve also rejected rigid, asset-manager-owned platforms and closed ecosystems that limit independence which becomes a clear red line for fiduciary advisors.

What’s emerging instead is a third path: trading infrastructure that integrates deeply into existing platforms while remaining independent, composable, and built for scale.

What Flyer Actually Offers (and Why It Matters)

Flyer’s platform is intentionally modular, allowing firms to modernize at their own pace.

Co-Pilot serves as the portfolio and order management engine, handling rebalancing, compliance checks, model management, and multi-asset execution in one cohesive system.

The Flyer Trading Network (FTN) solves one of the industry’s biggest challenges: standardizing connectivity across custodians and brokers so firms can trade and allocate consistently, regardless of where assets are held.

Flyer’s API suite exposes this functionality to development teams, enabling firms to build custom trading experiences or integrate Flyer directly into existing systems without vendor lock-in.
This approach is what allows Flyer clients to scale trading operations without scaling operational risk.

That is exactly why our firm, Flyer Financial Technologies, was named Best Trading Platform North America 2025 by Global Financial Market Review (GFM Review) with additional recognition in the same announcement as Best Multi-Asset Trading Platform North America 2025.

Announced in November 2025, the award reflects more than feature depth. It recognizes Flyer’s role as the underlying trading engine behind many of the industry’s most sophisticated advisory and enterprise platforms, powering portfolio execution, multi-custodial connectivity, and real-time workflows without forcing firms into a single monolithic system.

For Flyer, the recognition isn’t about winning a category; it’s validation of a philosophy our firm has followed for over two decades: modern advisory firms don’t need more tools. They need better infrastructure.

GFM Review is a global financial news and analysis platform reaching more than 14 million readers annually, including senior decision-makers across financial services. The awards program evaluates firms across criteria such as innovation, customer service, transaction volume, transparency, and fintech leadership.

Flyer’s recognition reflects the role it plays behind the scenes of some of the industry’s most sophisticated trading environments, powering portfolio trading, execution, and connectivity at scale for enterprise RIAs, independent broker-dealers (IBDs), TAMPs, and WealthTech platforms.

Why This Recognition Matters Now

The wealth management industry is at an inflection point.

Legacy platforms weren’t built for real-time trading, multi-asset portfolios, or composable technology stacks. And as firms grow through M&A, advisor expansion, and new service models, the cost of outdated infrastructure becomes impossible to ignore.

GFM Review’s recognition reinforces what Flyer clients already experience every day: modern trading requires infrastructure that’s built to evolve. While other systems need constant patching, Flyer provides the interoperable capabilities those platforms can’t match.

Why Flyer’s Trading Technology Stands Out

As firms grow, complexity compounds fast:

  • Multiple custodians
  • Multiple asset classes
  • More accounts
  • More models
  • More compliance pressure

At some point, even the most “feature-rich” legacy platforms start to crack.

Flyer was built specifically to address that moment.

Instead of forcing firms into a rigid, all-or-nothing system, Flyer provides cloud-native, API-first trading infrastructure that integrates into existing technology stacks, or alternatively powers entirely new ones.

Through Flyer Co-Pilot and the Flyer Trading Network (FTN), Flyer enables firms to manage multi-asset, multi-custodial trading workflows in real time, without the manual workarounds and operational friction that slow teams down.

Today, Flyer processes approximately 1.6 million trades per day and supports 2.6 million investor accounts, serving more than 1,600 investment firms worldwide.

Who is Flyer Built For?

Flyer is designed for firms that have reached, or are approaching, operational scale and are experiencing expanded needs associated with growth (for example, capability enhancements such as automated tax-loss-harvesting at scale or centralized or advisor-led implementation of fixed income strategies).

Enterprise RIAs

Large growth-oriented RIAs use Flyer to centralize portfolio trading, manage complex household relationships, support tax-aware rebalancing, and operate across multiple custodians without fragmenting workflows.

Independent Broker-Dealers (IBDs)

For broker-dealers supporting both centralized trading desks and Rep-as-PM models, Flyer provides a single system that scales across advisors, asset classes, and custodial relationships without forcing advisors into unfamiliar workflows.

WealthTech & Enterprise Platforms

Flyer’s APIs allow technology providers to embed institutional-grade trading and rebalancing directly into advisor desktops or proprietary platforms, maintaining full control over the end-user experience.

In short, Flyer is best suited for firms that need flexibility, performance, and independence without sacrificing reliability.

Looking Ahead

Our recognition as Best Trading Platform North America 2025 reflects sustained innovation, not a single moment in time. We continue to focus on what’s next, whether that’s through the AI Assistant within our intelligent Co-Pilot interface—which helps advisors suggest, validate, and execute trades with human-in-the-loop control—or through our unrivaled tax-aware rebalancing and fixed-income solutions.

As firms continue to rethink how trading technology fits into their broader growth strategies, Flyer remains focused on one thing: providing the infrastructure that lets firms trade, rebalance, and scale at their own speed.

If you’re evaluating what comes next for your trading technology, the real question isn’t “What features does it have?”

It’s “Will this still work when we’re twice the size?”

One thing we know for certain: if you have Flyer CoPilot, you bet it will