Chi-X Europe, a pan-European multilateral trading facility (MTF), reported large increases in the volume and value of trades on its platform during Q3 2008. It also plans to increase the number of UK stocks traded on its execution platform.
Some 26.3 million trades were executed on Chi-X in the quarter, an increase of 109% on Q2 2008. Share volume increased 91% to 26.6 billion, and turnover rose 86% to EUR 246.3 billion. The platform also reported that it achieved an average price improvement of 3.19 basis points, up from 2.61 bps in August.
The firm’s progress has allowed it to climb up the ranks of Europe’s exchanges. “If you compare our numbers with the Federation of European Securities Exchanges’ data, we are now the fourth-largest exchange by turnover in Europe, behind Deutsche Börse, London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Euronext,” Peter Randall, CEO of Chi-X Europe, told theTRADEnews.com. “It’s encouraging; it’s more than we expected and it is testimony to the customers’ desire for cheaper, faster platforms.”
The MTF captured 22.36% of trading in the UK’s FTSE 100 index on 20 August. On the same day, it also grabbed 18.42% of the Dutch AEX 25, 16.12% of the French CAC 40, 15.44% of the German DAX 30, and 14.29% of the UK FTSE 250.
“These results are modestly encouraging,” said Randall. “We regularly have a market share of more than 20% of LSE-traded stocks, and we are starting to become price-setters in a number of issues listed on the LSE, such as Royal Dutch Shell.”
He added, “France, Germany and Holland are all markets where we have achieved double-digit market shares and we have also been encouraged by our Scandinavian market share. This indicates that there is a demand for both a new clearing counterparty model and for competition to the incumbent stock exchanges.”
Chi-X is planning to introduce 10 new UK stocks to its list of traded instruments on 10 October. These are: F&C Eurotrust, Gem Diamonds, Goldman Sachs Dynamic Opportunities in GBP, USD and EUR, Greggs, Halma, Hardy Oil and Gas, Hargreaves Lansdown and Spice.
The company has also revised the tick sizes for BP Group and Vodafone. The stocks have been trading at 0.125 and 0.025 respectively, finer than on their primary market, the LSE. These have now been revised to 0.250 and 0.050 respectively, in line with the LSE, as market participants felt this was the optimum level for the stocks.