US Treasury futures exchange to launch in June

Electronic Liquidity Exchange (ELX), a bank-backed alternative exchange for US Treasury futures, has set its launch date for June this year, subject to approval by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
By None

Electronic Liquidity Exchange (ELX), a bank-backed alternative exchange for US Treasury futures, has set its launch date for June this year, subject to approval by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). ELX plans to start testing its high-speed electronic system in May.

The introduction of a new trading venue for futures is expected to challenge the dominance of the CME Group in the US.

ELX will run on interdealer broker BGC Partners’ eSpeed electronic trading platform. According to ELX, this is a well-established platform for trading multiple assets, including US Treasury cash markets and European government bonds. Current users of the eSpeed application will have direct access to futures trading on ELX. Clearing and delivery services for the platform will be provided by the Options Clearing Corporation.

“ELX is poised in the next few months to deliver a high-velocity, cost-effective electronic platform with a modern rule set that will benefit all market participants,” said Neal Wolkoff, CEO of ELX, in a statement. “This combination offers a highly competitive alternative for today’s technology-empowered market participants seeking to access a broad range of exchanges and pools of liquidity.”

The founding members of ELX include Barclays Capital, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, BGC Partners, Getco, J.P. Morgan Chase, Peak6 and RBS.

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