The new functionality will allow clients to trade in lots of 100,000 and 100,000 increments, as well as enabling them to trade on fractional (¼) pips. In a notice sent to clients, Icap says: “The EBS Smalls with ¼ Pips Pilot has been designed to offer EBS market participants the choice to use small amounts and fractional pips, thereby increasing the opportunities to trade with added flexibility and precision on EBS.”
It adds: “Small amounts may be especially useful when traders seek to: Trade small amounts (< 1 million); square intraday positions – in real time; square end-of-day positions; offset against futures markets and take advantage of increased trading opportunities.”
The initial pilot will cover USD/CHF, EUR/CHF and EUR/JPY. Icap says it intends to add EUR/USD and USD/JPY to the pilot in mid-January 2010 following feedback on the initial scheme.