Last Thursday, BATS Trading, an electronic communication network (ECN), promoted Joe Ratterman to president and chief executive. Mr. Ratterman replaces Dave Cummings, BATS founder, as Cummings makes the transition back to an active role at automated trading model designer Tradebot Systems.
Mr. Ratterman, 41 years old, was previously executive vice president and chief operating officer and has been with BATS since its incorporation in June 2005.
BATS is in the process of filing an application with the securities and exchange commission to become a stock exchange, although this application has not yet been filed.
“As we move towards exchange status, it is the right time for me to step back and pass the baton to Joe, who has been a driving force in leading BATS’ exchange initiative,” says Mr. Cummings.
According to BATS the move to exchange status would provide advantages on two main fronts. Firstly, it would allow BATS to have a protected quote. “As an ECN our quote is currently not protected and we use the national stock exchange to get a consolidated quote,” explains a BATS spokesman. Secondly, “there are potentially huge savings on the clearing front as BATS would become ‘self-clearing’ as an exchange. Furthermore there is the advantage (and prestige) of being on the same regulatory plane as Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange,” continues the source.
On Wednesday BATS traded more than 401 million shares, about 12% of Nasdaq-listed market share, and is averaging about 385 million shares a day over the past seven trading sessions, according to the BATS representative.