US equities block trading venue BIDS Trading’s average daily volume in April 2010 was 45 million shares, 126% higher than the same month last year and a 78% increase on March 2010’s volume.
The figures include all volume traded on the BIDS alternative trading system and the New York Block Exchange (NYBX), its joint-venture block trading initiative with the New York Stock Exchange. NYBX volume is single-counted, while BIDS volume is double-counted to include both sides of the transaction.
BIDS attributes its higher volumes in part to its growing buy-side client base. The platform said it has been attracting new buy-side firms with its BIDS Trader interface software, which gives traders access to sell-side algorithmic flow aggregated into blocks on BIDS. The firm claims this liquidity is not available in other dark pools.
“BIDS Trader drastically improves the trading experience within BIDS,” said Tim Mahoney, CEO of BIDS Trading, in a statement. “It shifts the power to the buy-side trader, providing him with the tools he needs to meet his individual trading goals and objectives. Going forward, we are focused on broadly distributing BIDS Trader, and addressing the evolving needs of today’s institutional investor.”
Another differentiator, according to BIDS, is its sponsored access model. This allows the buy-side to trade on the platform but direct all of their commission dollars to the broker(s) of their choice.