New BATS chief steps in amid volumes peak

BATS Global Markets has reported a spike in trading volumes in its US options and equities markets, along with Chi-X Europe and its trade reporting facility, as its new CEO takes the helm.

BATS Global Markets has reported a spike in trading volumes in its US options and equities markets, along with BATS Chi-X Europe and its trade reporting facility, as its new CEO takes the helm.

Chris Concannon, who joined BATS as president in December 2014, assumed the chief executive role on 31 March, as long-serving Joe Ratterman became chairman.

During March, BATS’ option market recorded a 9.4% market share, more than doubling from a year ago when it had 4.1%.

Its previous monthly record was 8.8% set in January earlier this year.

The exchange operator’s US equities market share also rose slightly from 19.9% in March 2014 to 20.8% this year. European trading venue Chi-X also rose in activity, with average daily notional value traded €12.9 billion, up 45.6% from the previous year. 

BATS Chi-X Europe’s trade reporting facility reported its most successful month with with more than €471.1 billion reported in total during March, an average of €21.4 billion each trading day.

Concannon has taken over amid a significant growth period for the exchange group, with rising volumes across the board and a number of successful acquisitions.

BATS took over FX market Hotspot on 13 March and also announced during the month that it would launch a London-based matching engine for this market later this year. 

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