CIX Enters Canada’s Equity Market with Three Trading Venues
CIX Trading Inc. has
launched its alternative trading system (ATS) in Canada, becoming the first new
standalone Canadian equity marketplace in more than a decade. London's trading industry is coming home! The launch comes as
Canada's equity-market infrastructure is also undergoing consolidation. Earlier
this year, TMX
agreed to acquire Cboe's Canadian exchange businesses , including Cboe
Canada and MATCHNow, in a deal valued at $300 million. CIX Starts Trading With 25 Securities CIX has started live
trading with around 25 actively traded securities. It plans to expand coverage
to about 100 securities before moving to full symbol coverage as part of the
initial rollout. The new marketplace is
powered by technology from IntelligentCross, a US equity ATS operated by
Imperative Execution. CIX has introduced three separate trading venues, each
offering a different way for market participants to trade and access liquidity. IntelligentCross
MIDPOINT allows trades to take place at the midpoint of the best available
buying and selling prices without displaying orders publicly. ASPEN offers both
displayed and non-displayed orders, while ASPEN VERT provides another trading
option with a different fee structure. The venues are
intended to serve Canadian dealers, institutional investors, retail brokers,
market makers and other market participants. Fractional Shares and Longer Hours
Planned The underlying
technology uses trading data for individual stocks to determine when trades
should take place. CIX said this is designed to reduce market impact and other
costs that can affect execution . Jeff Foster, CEO of
CIX, said the company was created to bring trading technology used in other
major markets to Canada. "We founded CIX
because we believe Canadian investors and market participants should have
access to the same advanced trading innovation available in the world's leading
markets," Foster said. Beyond its initial
offering, CIX has also received approval to introduce fractional-share trading
and extended trading hours. The company expects these features to become
available later this year, subject to industry and regulatory readiness. With the initial
rollout now underway, CIX plans to expand its securities coverage and add the
approved trading features later this year.
This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.