Competition in the exchange-trading space for European cash equities is set to get more intense with the forthcoming launch of new platforms by Nyse Euronext and Pipeline Financial.
Nyse Euronext is to become the fifth mulilateral trading facility to enter the European market with the launch Monday of Nyse Arca Europe. The platform - which will compete with traditional incumbents and other new entrants such as Chi-X, Turquoise and Bats - is to launch with trading on 377 blue chips in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The UK and Ireland will be phased in over the next three weeks.
Separately, US block execution broking specialist Pipeline Financial, says it is in the final process of receiving regulatory approval from the Financial Services Authority to commence trading operations across Europe.
The firm says traders will have access to liquidity across 14 European markets covering over 6,000 stocks including all the main European indices as well as a range of ETFs and GDRs. The initial launch countries include the UK, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Belgium and Italy.
In the US, Pipeline traders enjoy a 26% block hit rate with an average trade size of 50,000 shares.
Pipeline will actively market the platform direct to buy side firms struggling to source liquidity in a volatile, fragmenting market.
Tony Whalley, head of dealing at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership comments: "Accessing liquidity is becoming increasingly difficult in the current volatile market conditions. As a result, we are turning to alternative venues such as Pipeline to ensure we achieve best execution."