US trading platform BATS’ newly acquired exchange status will help it garner a 15% matched share of the US equities market by year-end, according to Randy Williams, BATS’ vice president of sales and communications. The platform achieved an all-time-high market share of 11.11% on 14 August.
BATS today received approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission to convert from an electronic communications network (ECN) to a full exchange. BATS is aiming to complete the transition within 60 days and is urging brokers to complete membership agreements immediately.
“We expect to reach 15% US matched market share between now and the need of the year. It’s an ambitious target but we think we can get there,” Williams told theTRADEnews.com. “The agreement makes a big difference. We have been gaining market share regardless but this is going to play a big role.”
BATS expects the shift to generate market share because as an ECN, it has to distribute quotes through one of two US exchanges – ISE or NSX. As an exchange, BATS will be able to distribute quotes to the market directly, reducing latency. “We will be in direct control of getting our quote out to the market and we think that is going to bring us some additional market share between now and the end of the year,” Williams said.
The firm hopes the change of status will allow it to compete directly with its biggest rivals for flow. “The reality is that we are not on the same plane as New York and Nasdaq when it comes to being able to get people to trade on our market,” Williams said. “Now we will be on an even playing field. When you consider the fact that we have taken almost 11 percentage points of market share in two-and-a-half years of existence as an ECN, we think it bodes very well for us.”