BIDS Trading, a U.S.-based alternative trading system (ATS) formed by a consortium of twelve brokerage firms, has announced that it executed more than 20 million shares* in daily volume twice last week. The BIDS ATS is a block-crossing venue, which provides traders with an anonymous liquidity source.
“This is a significant milestone for us, and one that we are pleased to reach in such a short amount of time,” says Tim Mahoney, chief executive officer, BIDS Trading. “With overwhelming industry support right out of the gate, we are optimistic that BIDS will resolve current market inefficiencies impeding block trading and create the deepest liquidity pool possible.”
According to BIDS, market participants using their ATS can trade large blocks of equities without revealing their order. Information disclosure is controlled by the trader via customisable trading tools, and orders can be auto-executed or negotiated. Users can also set their minimum block size to help protect their order, and filter out counterparties based on past trading behavior.
The BIDS ATS is open to sell-side firms and their sponsored buy-side clients, algorithms, hedge funds, and program traders.
The founding members of BIDS are Bank of America, Bear Stearns, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Knight Capital Group, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and UBS.
*Figures are double-counted, to include both sides of the transaction.