Trading platform shift to boost SmartPool performance

SmartPool, the non-displayed multilateral trading facility (MTF) operated by exchange group NYSE Euronext, has migrated to the Universal Trading Platform (UTP), the group’s shared matching technology and connectivity point.
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SmartPool, the non-displayed multilateral trading facility (MTF) operated by exchange group NYSE Euronext, has migrated to the Universal Trading Platform (UTP), the group’s shared matching technology and connectivity point.

SmartPool’s connection completes the migration of all NYSE Euronext’s European equity trading venues to the UTP. All the group’s clients can now access its French, Portuguese, Belgian and Dutch exchanges, the NYSE Arca Europe displayed MTF and SmartPool through a single link.

According to Lee Hodgkinson, CEO, SmartPool, joining the UTP will broaden the dark pools member base and improve the platform’s technical performance.

“The UTP platform is a vast improvement on the legacy platform in terms of scalability, throughput, capacity and low latency,” Hodgkinson told theTRADEnews.com. “More importantly, it will give SmartPool access to 220 European broker-dealers who are already on the network and allows us to diversify the flow we have on the platform.”

Hodgkinson added that work to educate continental brokers on the value of alternative venues and dark trading would continue, and expects to announce more direct members to the platform within the coming weeks.

SmartPool was launched by NYSE Euronext in February in conjunction with investment banks J.P. Morgan, HSBC and BNP Paribas. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, CA Cheuvreux and a third unnamed firm joined the platform on 10 November.

According to figures from data vendor Thomson Reuters, SmartPool’s trading turnover so far this month is €154.8 million up from €27.54 million in October.

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