This February, electronic agency broker ITG announced that it would be opening its Posit Now ATS in Europe, becoming the latest in a growing list of alternative execution venues to open its doors in London over the past year.
Posit Now is a continuous crossing system for cash equities that will enable users to look for matches whenever they feel like it, instead of having to wait for one of the eight scheduled daily matches on Posit Match to occur.
Matching orders are crossed at the midpoint price, offering users a 50% saving on the market’s bid-offer spread. The new system will cover all 9,000 stocks across 15 countries available on Posit Match.
"The two systems are complementary," says Alasdair Haynes, CEO of ITG in Europe. "The market structure has changed considerably over the last nine years since we launched Posit Match in Europe. The system works well for small, less liquid stocks where it’s difficult for people to use algorithms but people now have a greater need to trade much more frequently and more quickly. For larger and mid-cap stocks the opportunity cost of having to wait for the scheduled cross was becoming too high for many clients.