Chi-X Europe, the pan-European multilateral trading facility (MTF) owned by agency brokerage Instinet, has revealed its timeline for migrating to the uniform stock symbology agreed on by a group of European trading platforms.
Trading participants and data vendors will be able to engage in order entry and market data testing for the new stock codes on Chi-X from today, and full adoption of the symbology is scheduled for 11 May. From this date, the new codes will run in parallel with the current symbology, before a full switchover on 30 October 2009.
Meanwhile, broker-backed MTF Turquoise has delayed its migration to uniform stock codes from the end of this month until June.
The uniform symbology initiative between MTFs was first announced last October and includes Nasdaq OMX Europe and BATS Europe, as well as Chi-X and Turquoise. Nasdaq OMX Europe and BATS Europe have already migrated to the new codes.
When it has been implemented across venues, the common symbology is expected to lower costs by removing back office inefficiencies and allow smart order routers to access multiple venues more easily. It is also seen as the first step to a consolidated tape for European securities, an aspect the MTFs have also clubbed together to tackle.