The Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has reaffirmed plans to launch its Arrowhead trading system for stocks and corporate bonds on 4 January 2010, and has provided new details about the system’s speed, performance and data distribution capabilities.
According to TSE’s test data, Arrowhead’s order response time will be five milliseconds following the acceleration of order acceptance notices. The exchange had previously announced that the system’s response times would be 10 milliseconds or less.
The exchange has also cut market data dissemination to three milliseconds, and plans to expand the content of the data it distributes to users. For example, the number of quotes disseminated will increase from five to eight above and below the central price. Complete order book data will also be provided in real time through a new service called FLEX Full.
TSE added that Arrowhead’s capacity can be expanded in approximately one week when needs surpass the current capacity. Capacity will be scaled to handle twice the number of orders seen during peak times.
As previously announced, trading information such as orders, executions and order books will be stored on synchronised three-node data servers.
Once Arrowhead is launched, TSE will revise several of its trading rules, which will include partial revision of tick sizes, price limits and special quote parameters.
TSE had originally planned to launch Arrowhead in the second half of 2009, but announced in November 2008 that it would postpone the launch to allow a six-month testing period, which began in May, and allow the exchange and its participants to take advantage of four consecutive days of public holidays at the year-end and new-year to conduct final system transition and confirmation tests.
While TSE has reaffirmed its plans to launch on 4 January, it will make the final decision about the launch date on 2 January after the transition testing is complete.