How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- Nobody publishes prices in this category: all eight tools are quote-based, so budget for a sales process and an implementation measured in weeks, not days.
- The safe defaults are Nasdaq Trade Surveillance (SMARTS) with 190+ clients and 3,000+ live sites, and NICE Actimize's SURVEIL-X for broad financial-crime coverage.
- Crypto and digital-asset firms should start with Solidus Labs, the crypto-native option built for exchanges and prediction markets.
- Mid-size firms that want one data layer for trade, communications and reporting should evaluate SteelEye or Behavox before the enterprise giants.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Nasdaq Trade Surveillance (SMARTS) | Banks, brokers and financial institutions wanting the most widely adopted platform | See website (custom quote; monthly subscription model) | No |
 NICE Actimize | Large institutions wanting trade surveillance inside a broader financial-crime suite | See website (custom quote) | No |
 Eventus | Firms wanting fast-deploying multi-asset surveillance with algo monitoring | See website (custom quote) | No |
 Behavox | Banks and asset managers wanting unified trade and communications surveillance | See website (custom quote) | No |
 SteelEye | Firms wanting trade, comms, reporting and archiving on one data platform | See website (custom quote) | No |
 Solidus Labs | Crypto exchanges, brokers, digital-asset firms and prediction markets | See website (custom quote) | No |
 b-next | European banks, brokers and asset managers needing MAR-focused monitoring | See website (custom quote) | No |
 KRM22 | Capital-markets firms wanting surveillance inside a broader risk platform | See website (custom quote) | No |
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
The best trade surveillance software
Your surveillance system fired 4,000 alerts last month. Your two-person compliance team reviewed maybe 200 of them, and the regulator just asked why a wash-trading pattern sat unreviewed for six weeks. That is the actual problem buyers walk in with: not a lack of alerts, but a lack of alerts worth reviewing, plus a system old enough that adding a new asset class means another vendor. The eight tools below are the serious answers for 2026, from the platform that powers Nasdaq's own markets to crypto-native challengers.
#1
Nasdaq Trade Surveillance (SMARTS)
Best for: Banks, brokers and financial institutions wanting the most widely adopted platform
Visit nasdaq.com
Starting priceSee website (custom quote; monthly subscription model)
Free planNo
SMARTS is the incumbent that everyone else gets compared against. It detects and investigates trading behavior across products and venues with participant-level analysis, so spoofing or insider trading that looks benign in isolation surfaces when connected across markets. The vendor reports 30+ years of surveillance expertise, 190+ clients and 3,000+ live sites.
What buyers actually get is coverage depth. Equities across 120+ markets, 50+ futures and options markets, energy under REMIT and MAR, FX under the Global Code, dark pools, and crypto spot trading. If your firm trades across asset classes and answers to multiple regulators, this is the default shortlist entry. The honest cost is the enterprise motion: quote-based pricing, a real implementation project, and a platform whose full value only appears when you invest in alert tuning.
What we like- The most widely used surveillance technology by regulators and exchanges globally, with 190+ clients and 3,000+ live sites
- 300+ alert scenarios across 200+ markets covering equities, fixed income, FX, crypto, energy and more
- Monthly subscription model with fast implementation timelines per the vendor
Watch out for- Enterprise sales and pricing, with no public rate card
- Breadth means smaller firms may pay for coverage they never use
- Investigations depth requires real tuning effort
#2
NICE Actimize
Best for: Large institutions wanting trade surveillance inside a broader financial-crime suite
Visit niceactimize.com
Starting priceSee website (custom quote)
Free planNo
NICE Actimize sells surveillance as part of a whole financial-crime story. The SURVEIL-X platform analyzes and correlates trade-related data across assets, instruments, communications and jurisdictions, breaking down the data silos that keep alerts disconnected. For a large bank already using Actimize for AML or fraud, adding trade surveillance to the same platform is the path of least resistance.
The vendor's scale numbers are platform-wide: over 1,000 clients and 5 billion transactions monitored daily. What matters for buyers is the holistic pitch: one investigations and case management layer across trade, comms and financial crime. Smaller firms should be realistic about fit. This is enterprise software with enterprise sales cycles, and boutiques will find the lighter vendors on this list faster to deploy.
What we like- SURVEIL-X holistic trade compliance platform correlates trade, communications and market data
- Sits inside the broadest financial-crime portfolio (AML, fraud, case management) for single-vendor coverage
- Vendor reports 1,000+ clients and 5B+ transactions monitored daily across the platform
Watch out for- No published pricing
- Enterprise complexity that suits large banks more than boutiques
- Trade surveillance is one module of a large suite, so roadmap attention is shared
#3
Eventus
Best for: Firms wanting fast-deploying multi-asset surveillance with algo monitoring
Visit eventus.com
Starting priceSee website (custom quote)
Free planNo
Eventus is the challenger that built its reputation on being easy to deploy and operate. The Validus platform covers the standard multi-asset spread plus algo monitoring: real-time oversight of algorithmic trading flows, which many incumbents treat as an afterthought. The vendor says it actively surveils more than 100 venues globally.
Client feedback consistently highlights two things: responsive support and the platform's ability to reduce alert noise so analysts focus on real risk. The company took a majority investment from Terminus Capital Partners in 2026, which buyers should note as context rather than concern. For mid-size banks, broker-dealers, FCMs and prop trading groups, Eventus is the strongest alternative to the two giants.
What we like- Validus platform deploys in cloud or on-premise across equities, options, futures, FX, fixed income and digital assets
- Real-time algo trading monitoring included, a genuine differentiator
- Actively surveils 100+ venues globally with responsive support reviewers consistently praise
Watch out for- No published pricing
- Smaller than Nasdaq or NICE, so enterprise buyers should vet roadmap depth
- Recent majority investment from Terminus Capital Partners means ownership transition is fresh
#4
Behavox
Best for: Banks and asset managers wanting unified trade and communications surveillance
Visit behavox.com
Starting priceSee website (custom quote)
Free planNo
Behavox approaches surveillance as a controls problem, not an alerts problem. The platform runs the full lifecycle on one stack: policy management, preventive controls like pre-clearance and control room, detective controls across comms, trades and behavior, and the evidence archive. Trade surveillance (Polaris) and communications surveillance (Quantum) share one data layer and one case workflow, so an investigation never stalls at a system boundary.
The company reports more than 120 institutions served, including 70 global banks, and positions itself around defensibility: every alert maps to a specific risk and regulatory regime with evidence behind it. That matters when the regulator asks you to stand behind your outcomes. Buyers should still run a proof of concept on their own data before believing any AI volume claims, from Behavox or anyone else.
What we like- Unified AI platform covering trade surveillance (Polaris), communications surveillance (Quantum) and archiving on one data layer
- AI-native with deterministic rules where precision is required, validated to SR 11-7
- Serves 120+ institutions including 70 global banks per company announcements
Watch out for- No published pricing
- Unified-platform pitch means buying into an ecosystem, not a point tool
- AI-native claims deserve a proof of concept on your own data
#5
SteelEye
Best for: Firms wanting trade, comms, reporting and archiving on one data platform
Visit steel-eye.com
Starting priceSee website (custom quote)
Free planNo
SteelEye's pitch is simple: compliance gets cheap when all your data lives in one place. Instead of buying separate tools for record keeping, transaction reporting, trade surveillance and communications surveillance, SteelEye captures, cleanses and indexes structured and unstructured data once, then serves every regulatory obligation from that dataset. Client testimonials on the vendor's site credit the platform with cutting false positives and compliance CoPilot with halving review inefficiencies.
The regulatory coverage is explicit: MiFID II, EMIR, Dodd-Frank, SMCR and MAR. That makes it a natural fit for firms with heavy European reporting obligations alongside surveillance needs. It is also the best answer on this list for firms that want transaction reporting and surveillance from the same vendor. Pricing is quote-based, as everywhere in this category.
What we like- Single platform for record keeping, trade reconstruction, transaction reporting, trade and communications surveillance, best execution and analytics
- Data-first design meets MiFID II, EMIR, Dodd-Frank, SMCR and MAR obligations from one dataset
- Compliance CoPilot AI assistant that clients credit with cutting review effort
Watch out for- No published pricing
- UK-founded with the deepest traction in European regulation, so US-first firms should check fit
- Breadth can mean a longer implementation than point surveillance tools
#6
Solidus Labs
Best for: Crypto exchanges, brokers, digital-asset firms and prediction markets
Visit soliduslabs.com
Starting priceSee website (custom quote)
Free planNo
Solidus Labs was born in crypto and built for Wall Street, in the company's own words. The HALO platform correlates trade data with behavioral signals to surface manipulation patterns at digital-asset speed, with coverage for on- and off-chain activity, stablecoin monitoring and token-level risk. Clients include Kalshi, Crypto.com, BitMEX and HashKey.
That crypto depth is the buying reason. Traditional surveillance tools adapted to crypto often struggle with the volume and structure of digital-asset markets; Solidus was built for them. The company has since expanded HALO into equities, FX, transaction monitoring and agentic AI workflows, positioning as a full market-integrity platform. For crypto exchanges, brokers and the growing prediction-market segment, this is the first call.
What we like- Crypto-native platform built for digital-asset velocity: spoofing, wash trading and ramping detection across thousands of symbols in real time
- HALO platform now extends to equities and FX with transaction monitoring and case management
- Trusted by names like Kalshi and Crypto.com
Watch out for- No published pricing
- Crypto-native roots mean traditional-asset buyers should verify depth
- Smaller vendor in a category where vendor longevity matters
#7
b-next
Best for: European banks, brokers and asset managers needing MAR-focused monitoring
Visit b-next.com
Starting priceSee website (custom quote)
Free planNo
b-next is the European specialist. The CMC:eSuite covers the full market-abuse workflow: CMC:Market Abuse for suspicious pattern detection, CMC:Insider Compliance for internal trading oversight, CMC:TradeS for OTC instruments alongside listed products, and CMC:Best Execution for execution quality. The vendor reports customers in 30 countries, with logos including Commerzbank, Santander, UBS and Societe Generale.
The standout feature for multi-region firms is the Global Control Room: one multi-tenant installation giving local compliance officers and a global team a shared view with centralized, regulator-ready documentation. MAR-focused European firms get a vendor that speaks their regulatory language natively. US-centric firms should verify coverage for their specific venues before committing.
What we like- CMC:eSuite modules cover market abuse, insider compliance, OTC trade monitoring, quote monitoring and best execution
- Customers in 30 countries with strong European bank traction
- Global Control Room for multi-region compliance teams with centralized documentation
Watch out for- No published pricing
- European center of gravity means US firms should check asset-class depth
- Older specialist with less marketing visibility than the big platforms
#8
KRM22
Best for: Capital-markets firms wanting surveillance inside a broader risk platform
Visit krm22.com
Starting priceSee website (custom quote)
Free planNo
KRM22 takes a different angle: surveillance as one application on a Global Risk Platform. Alongside Surveillance Manager, which provides contextual analytics for market abuse and operational breaches, the platform offers Limits Manager, a real-time Risk Manager and Control Manager. The pitch is lower total cost of risk management: one platform, one vendor, one data foundation.
The company has been listed on London's AIM since 2018, which gives buyers a level of financial transparency rare among smaller vendors. It has grown through acquisition and organic development, with teams across London, Chicago, Prague and Amsterdam. Firms that want surveillance integrated with trading limits and market risk, rather than as a standalone silo, should evaluate it against the pure-play surveillance vendors above.
What we like- Surveillance Manager sits inside a Global Risk Platform alongside limits, market risk and control management
- AIM-listed company (since 2018) with public oversight unusual for a vendor this size
- Teams in London, Chicago, Prague and Amsterdam
Watch out for- No published pricing
- Surveillance is one application among several, so depth vs. specialists needs evaluation
- Smaller vendor where implementation support quality matters more
How we chose
We started with the categories buyers search: trade surveillance software, market abuse surveillance, market surveillance software and MAR compliance software. For each candidate we opened the vendor's homepage, checked the vendor's own site for any published pricing (none of these eight publish prices, so all are listed as custom quote), read industry coverage and award announcements, and compared asset-class coverage, deployment models, alert and investigation tooling, regulatory alignment and company-size fit. We favored vendors with real traction in their stated segment over feature lists alone.
Alert fatigue is the real purchase decision
Every vendor on this list will show you a detection engine. The demo that matters is the alert queue. Ask how many alerts a firm your size typically reviews per day, what percentage turn into cases, and how the system learns from your analysts' decisions. Eventus clients specifically cite reduced alert noise; Behavox promises fewer evidence-backed alerts; SteelEye clients report fewer false positives. These claims only become true with tuning, so ask what tuning looks like in practice: who does it, how long it takes, and whether it survives a headcount change on your team.
The second demo is the investigation. A good alert is half the job; the other half is reconstructing what happened fast enough to act. Nasdaq's evidence cards, NICE Actimize's consolidated case management, Solidus's behavioral correlation and Behavox's unified data layer all attack the same problem: stitching context together manually. Watch an analyst work a real alert end to end before you sign.
Surveillance tools are not interchangeable, because your regulator is not interchangeable. A crypto exchange answering to new digital-asset rules needs Solidus Labs, not a MAR-tuned incumbent. A European bank under MiFID II and MAR gets natural fit from SteelEye or b-next. A US broker-dealer or FCM maps cleanly to Nasdaq, NICE Actimize or Eventus. Multi-asset global firms need the cross-venue, cross-product coverage that the big platforms sell.
Then check the deployment reality. Eventus and SteelEye lead with cloud delivery; others offer on-premise or hybrid. Ask about data residency, because surveillance data crossing borders creates its own compliance problem. And ask about implementation timelines in writing: vendors promise fast deployment, but alert calibration, data feed integration and historical backfill take real weeks. The platform that fits your regulator and your asset mix, with a deployment model your IT team will actually approve, beats the one with the longest feature list.
Frequently asked questions
How much does trade surveillance software cost?
None of the eight tools on this list publish prices. All are quote-based, with pricing typically driven by asset-class coverage, message volumes, user counts and deployment model. Expect an enterprise sales process and implementation costs on top of the license. Treat any third-party price figure as an estimate, not a quote.
What is the difference between trade surveillance and communications surveillance?
Trade surveillance monitors orders, trades and market data for manipulation patterns like spoofing, wash trading and insider trading. Communications surveillance monitors emails, chats and calls for misconduct signals. Regulators increasingly expect both, and vendors like Behavox, SteelEye and NICE Actimize combine them on one platform so investigations connect the two.
Do I need trade surveillance if we are a small firm?
If you trade securities or derivatives and answer to a regulator, the obligation scales with your activity, not your headcount. Small firms often feel it most, because alert review falls on one or two people. Look for vendors with fast deployment and low alert noise, and ask specifically how the platform performs for firms your size.
What is MAR, and does it affect US firms?
MAR is the EU Market Abuse Regulation, which sets requirements for detecting and reporting market abuse. It directly affects firms operating in EU markets. US firms face their own regimes under the SEC, CFTC and FINRA. Pick a vendor whose alert library and reporting align with the regulators you actually answer to.
Can one platform cover crypto and traditional assets?
Increasingly, yes. Solidus Labs started crypto-native and expanded into traditional assets; Nasdaq and Eventus cover crypto spot alongside equities, futures and FX. If you trade both, verify that the vendor's crypto coverage is real-time and on-chain aware, not a checkbox, and that traditional-asset depth is not sacrificed.
Sources we checked (9)
- https://www.nasdaq.com/solutions/nasdaq-trade-surveillance
- https://www.niceactimize.com/
- https://www.eventus.com/
- https://behavox.com/
- https://steel-eye.com/
- https://soliduslabs.com/
- https://b-next.com/
- https://krm22.com/
- https://www.g2.com/categories/trade-surveillance
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.