Alternative trading venue Chi-X Australia today traded in excess of AU$1 billion for the first time, as it maintains a consistent share of local equities trading.
Trading for Thursday reached AU$1.065 billion on the venue, with 227,902,033 shares traded, according to figures from Chi-X Australia.
The venue’s October 2011 launch was the dawn of competition in equities trading in Australia and the venue is the only competitor to incumbent exchange the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
Recent monthly volume reports have shown Chi-X Australia has grown to a stable market share level of around 13% of Australian equities trading.
In April, the ASX market share of ASX 200 company volumes was 85.44% (US$58.7 billion), which was down marginally from 85.6% in March. That business was captured by Chi-X Australia, whose market share rose to 13.53% (US$9.29 billion) from 13.19%.
At the end of March, the extended period of grace granted by national markets regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, to brokers to facilitate flow to both ASX and Chi-X Australia ended. Chi-X Australia has also stated that retail flow accounts for more than 31% of the venue’s aggressive orders.
Speaking to theTRADEnews.com last month, John Fildes, CEO of Chi-X Australia, said new products and patience was key to growing market share on the platform, and signalled future changes to Australia’s clearing environment as a major factor in driving further competition in equities trading.
“We compete with ASX in only a small area and there is ample room for us to look at new products and services where we can differentiate and better serve our participants,” he said. “We strongly believe that it should not cost 65 times what it costs in the US to clear a trade.”