Having gained the appropriate regulatory clearance, Instinet I-X Limited will launch and operate ICX, a high-performance, fully anonymous and low-cost continuous alternative trading system (ATS) for equities listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The new platform, in which Instinet intends to offer equity stakes to strategic liquidity partners, will begin operation in Q4 2007.
Supporting a wide array of advanced order types and based on strict price-time priority, ICX will aim to provide trading efficiency and cost savings to investors and ultimately help spur market growth in Canada, Instinet I-X Limited said.
The system, which is based on the same underlying technology that powers Instinet CBX in the US, Chi-X in Europe and JapanCrossing in Asia, has an internal latency of less than one millisecond.
By capitalization, the Canadian equities market is the sixth largest in the world, making it an extremely attractive market for investors around the globe, said Michael Plunkett, president of North America at Instinet. Consequently, with ICX we intend to draw upon Instinet’s deep-rooted experience in developing and operating ATS platforms to provide a new market model, which should lead to greater price discovery, increased liquidity and improved investor performance.
