US-based agency brokerage Capital Institutional Services (CAPIS) has signed a sponsorship agreement with alternative trading system (ATS) BIDS Trading to give clients increased opportunities to trade blocks.
The deal allows CAPIS to provide its customers with access to the BIDS block trading facility and the New York Block Exchange, a joint venture with exchange group NYSE Euronext that allows orders to anonymously access displayed liquidity, reserve orders and hidden interest on the NYSE order book.
BIDS ATS is primarily designed for the execution of block orders and helps traders to control market impact by imposing their own minimum order sizes and giving them the ability to filter out counterparties based on past trading behaviour. The dark pool also operates a sponsored access model, which enables buy-side firms to select the broker they want to support their trading activity on the platform.
“Our goal in working with BIDS Trading was to offer additional value-added service for our clients,” said Kristi Wetherington, president and CEO of CAPIS. “We feel access to BIDS Trading’s non-displayed liquidity pool combined with our own quality trading solutions is essential in building relationships with clients who are looking for hidden liquidity and marketplace anonymity.”
“Our goal is to encourage the broadest possible market participation and we are thrilled that CAPIS’ clients can now source unique block liquidity in the BIDS ATS. In May, 5.3 billion shares flowed through our system daily, with average daily matched volumes surpassing 49 million shares,” added Tim Mahoney, CEO, BIDS Trading.