US trading venues BATS Exchange and Direct Edge put further competitive pressure on their traditional exchange rivals, Nasdaq OMX and NYSE Euronext, this week by announcing fee cuts on the same day.
From 1 April, BATS will offer a rebate of $0.0001 per share for removing liquidity in stocks priced below $5, and reduce the price of its BATS + NYSE order type from $0.0019 to $0.0017. BATS will also reduce its standard route rate to other markets by $0.0003 to $0.0026.
According to BATS CEO Joe Ratterman, this is the exchange’s first major price change since January last year.
Direct Edge will also make adjustments to its fee structure from the beginning of next month. The venue’s rebate for tape B securities on its EDGX order book will decrease to $0.0030 from $0.0035 while its routing rate for securities under $1 on both the EDGX and EDGA order books will reduce to 0.29% of the dollar value, compared to the previous 0.03%. In addition, Direct Edge’s EDGA + Nasdaq order type charge will reduce by $0.0003 to $0.0026, with additional discounts for market participants who execute over 20,000,000 shares on a daily basis.
BATS Exchange and Direct Edge are currently the two closest competitors to Nasdaq OMX ad NYSE Euronext. BATS Exchange gained exchange status last November, while Direct Edge hopes to have exchange status for its EDGA and EDGX order books by Q4 this year.