Top US equity exchanges grow market share in February

The top three US equity exchange operators all expanded their share of trading in February, which was the first month BATS Global Markets has operated the two order books it acquired from Direct Edge.

The top three US equity exchange operators all expanded their share of trading in February, which was the first month BATS Global Markets has operated the two order books it acquired from Direct Edge.

Value traded figures for the shortest month of the year dipped to US$4.77 trillion from $5.05 trillion in January, with close to seven billion shares traded, according to data from Thomson Reuters Equity Market Share Reporter.

The New York Stock Exchange regained ground lost in January, trading 24.29% of US equities in February with US$1,158.65 billion in value traded, up from 23.73% market share for the prior month.

BATS witnessed mild growth in market share, climbing to 21.61% with US$1,031.27 billion in value traded, from 21.58% in January, but still below a pre-merger December high for its order books of 21.85%. The deal was officially closed on 3 February, which will see the transition of the two Direct Edge order books to BATS technology in the coming months.

Speaking of the first month of trading, Joe Ratterman, CEO of BATS, said the firm was pleased with February performance.

“We’ve made significant progress on the integration this month with the announcement of our data centre strategy and integration timeline, and we will remain laser-focused on achieving a seamless integration process for our customers in the months ahead,” he said.

Nasdaq, now the third largest exchange by market share, continued its recent ascent in market share in February, trading 19% of US equities with US$906.6 billion in value traded, up from 17.97% in January and 17.21% in December.

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