The Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has put the revision of its trading rules for futures contracts on hold, to allow further feedback from market participants.
The changes, intended to expand the market's liquidity and which included the introduction of a market maker scheme, had been planned for Q4 2011 but this date is on hold pending market feedback. The TSE has said it will seek public comment regarding the revisions until 16 June.
The revisions are to be implemented in tandem with the migration of futures trading to the Tdex+ electronic trading system, which currently handles only options trading. The Tdex+ system is based on the Liffe Connect platform used by NYSE Liffe, a subsidiary of exchange group NYSE Euronext.
The TSE hopes to expand the liquidity of the futures market through the technology upgrade, which it expects to bring about a dramatic improvement in latency of order processing compared with current system.
The upgrade is the final part of an overhaul of TSE's systems which included the introduction of Arrowhead in January 2010, a platform perceived as having revolutionised the equities market.
The TSE is under increasing competitive pressure from proprietary trading systems, such as Chi-X Japan, which are gaining market share incrementally.