IBM Corp is to provide the infrastructure for a new share and bond trading system that will enable buyers and sellers to specify trading prices and sizes of trades while retaining their anonymity. IBM’s contribution is to allow the system to be hosted on the IBM Global Network: it was actually developed by Denver, Colorado-based OptiMark Technologies Inc, and Dow Jones & Co, New York, which is among those funding the project. The Pacific Stock Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange have agreed to be the first exchanges to make the system available. The system will be offered first in the equity markets and then in related options markets, the partners said. According to Reuter, OptiMark intends to offer the system non-exclusively as an integrated transaction facility for all exchanges, and to distribute the service through existing vendors. The new trading system also will be accessible over the IBM Global Net.
