Trading Options Offered by ATSs
The range of operational models, services and order types provided by ATSs is broad and continues to evolve. While they were historically characterized as either call or auction markets, ATSs also include matching or market making systems, crossing networks, dark pools or some combination of these, with overlapping services and various enhancements and distinguishing features.
Some of the main operational characteristics of ATSs can be described as follows4:
■ Auction markets allow buyers to enter competitive bids and sellers to enter competitive offers at the same time. A stock is generally traded at the highest price a buyer is willing to pay and the lowest price at which a seller is willing to sell the same number of shares. Typically, matching bids and offers are paired and orders are executed.
■ Call markets are markets where bid and ask orders are aggregated and all transactions take place together, usually at predetermined time intervals. The marketplace generally determines the market clearing price based on the number of bid and ask orders.
■ Crossing systems or crossing networks facilitate electronic trades between buyers and sellers who quote their prices on other trading systems. Crossing systems do not discover prices and may allow large orders to be entered and executed at predetermined time intervals throughout the day.
■ Dark pools are trading systems that accept buy or sell orders without pre-trade transparency (disclosure of the details of the trade, specifically price and quantity).
■ Market maker systems are quote-driven trading systems on which providers of liquidity continuously quote binding bid and ask prices. Trades are generally executed as soon as the bid and ask are matched.
Most ATSs have developed niches in the Canadian securities market and offer a myriad of order types, diverse trading environments, and innovative services. Summaries of the different ATSs operational in Canada are included at Appendix B along with the types of services they provide.