Pure Trading third again, top dog announces fees 2009-10-21 20:11 ET - Street Wire by Stockwatch Business Reporter Pure Trading was the third most active of Canada's alternative trading systems in the shortened week ended Oct. 16, 2009, with an average of 14.7 million shares a day. The most active was Alpha ATS, which averaged 137.6 million shares per day. In second came Chi-X Canada with 27.8 million and in last place was Omega ATS with an average of 345,866 shares. Combining their volumes, the ATSs accounted for 18.7 per cent of the Canadian market, including both the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and the TSX Venture Exchange. Top dog of the ATSs, Alpha, posted record average daily volume for the week. It will, on Jan. 1, 2010, start charging professional investors for market data of TSX-listed securities, now that it has 20 per cent of TSX-listed trading. The ATS will not charge pros for real-time TSX Venture Exchange market data because on the junior exchange its market share is beneath the magic 20-per-cent mark, which is the self-selected "trigger point" at which the ATS wants money. On Jan. 1, 2010, professional users, which includes brokers and most people who use the data at work, will have to pay Alpha $48 a month for its full book market data of TSX-listed securities. The same pro will also have to pay the TMX Group its monthly rate of $88; Pure Trading its $30; Omega its $12.60; and Chi-X nothing -- if he wants to see the entire Canadian market. Full book data costs cover top-of-book real time data (Level 1) and full depth of book real time data (Level 1 and Level 2 combined). In Alpha's October newsletter, Jos Schmitt, Alpha's chief executive officer, suggests that Alpha's popularity has contributed to the TMX Group dropping its rates. "By achieving a substantial market share before charging for market data, Alpha represents an attractive alternative to existing sources of market data and this fosters competition. TMX's recent announcement to reduce its market data fees acknowledges this statement as we have seen it with trading fees after the launch of Alpha," Mr. Schmitt writes. He hopes "more data fee reductions will follow in order to have fees translate the true economic value of each market place's market data." The ATS may have helped lower TMX Group fees, but the CEO's prepared words gloss over the arithmetic: pros will pay much more per month if they want all the data for the Toronto Stock Exchange, including Alpha's. For example, when the TMX Group decreases full depth of book fees to $88 from $93, a pro user will indeed save $5 but he will then have to pay $48 for full depth of book fees from Alpha, for a net increase of $45 a month. Data industry cynics say "pro" simply means pay more. Non-pros, often called retail investors, will not have to pay Alpha for real time on either exchange, yet. Elsewhere, Chi-X, the only ATS remaining that offers free market data, has partnered with Intelligent Financial Systems Ltd., a software company in England, to add historical data for Chi-X users. The historical data dates back to Aug. 6, 2009. Dan Kessous, Chi-X's chief operating officer, says the data, which is available by FTP at the software company's website, will help users better understand trading patterns and anticipate future trading opportunities. |
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Very imformative thank you!! Keep 'em coming things are changing so fast in this industry. Posted by
goLEEgo
@ 2009-10-21 23:05
There is an error above as Omega's market data is only $2.85. Check their website. http://omegaats.com/fees Thanks, Brian Posted by
Brian Dennis
@ 2009-10-22 09:54
$2.85 is for top of book, not full depth of book. Posted by
Johnny Walker
@ 2009-10-22 11:38
Actually their website says there is a" fee holiday" for full depth of book...............that sounds like free to me..... Posted by
Brian Dennis
@ 2009-10-22 14:50
Things are changing fast alright. Is this proliferation of trading systems of any benefit to the average Joe who trades
for himself? Posted by
Trammer
@ 2009-10-31 01:50
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