Global broker Goldman Sachs has reported a 12-fold increase in the average daily value traded in its SIGMA X internal crossing engine in Hong Kong over the past two months. The firm said the Hong Kong trading boost outpaces the initial growth of the platform in other markets, including Japan.
Goldman Sachs launched SIGMA X in Hong Kong on 2 March as a fully licensed alternative trading system for shares listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
“The fast adoption of SIGMA X in Hong Kong demonstrates the market’s sophistication and investors’ strong appetite for alternative trading systems,” said Shuya Kekke, managing director and head of Goldman Sachs Electronic Trading (GSET) in Asia, in a statement.
“We are seeing diversity not only in the types of clients participating, but also in the way they are interacting with SIGMA X,” Kekke added. “Clients are increasingly providing liquidity directly on the SIGMA X order book and experiencing high cross rates with other participants.”
SIGMA X contains liquidity from a variety of sources, including hedge funds, institutions, broker dealers and flow from Goldman Sachs’ trading desks.
Goldman claims SIGMA X is the largest non-displayed liquidity pool in the US by equity shares traded daily, based on April 2009 figures from broking house Rosenblatt Securities. The platform trades more than 300 million shares a day with a notional value of $5 billion.
The firm said this makes SIGMA X the sixth-largest US market centre by share volume behind the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Arca, Nasdaq, Direct Edge and BATS Exchange.
Clients can access SIGMA X Hong Kong via Goldman Sachs’ REDIPlus execution management system, third-party trading systems or any system that supports FIX.