The platform has begun offering non-displayed trading of Asian securities, initially covering Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan, letting participants trade large blocks of shares anonymously.

However, according to The Trade, Australian stocks are not part of the initial offering after the ASX - in the midst of a proposed merger with SGX - cut the necessary market data feed.

An ASX spokesman told The Trade that the move came after it discovered Chi-East had been using its data "in an unauthorised fashion" through vendors months previously. The exchange asked for this to end but is willing to discuss Chi-East's data requirements, says the spokesman.

Meanwhile, sell-side brokers Instinet, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Nomura and UBS have all committed to the platform while post-trade price and volume transparency will be provided through public data providers such as Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, Sungard and Fidessa.

Ned Phillips, CEO, Chi-East, says: "As Asia's first independent liquidity aggregator, we look forward to offering participants and their clients deeper liquidity and the opportunity to minimise market impact. We believe we will complement the existing marketplace and support a more dynamic trading environment in Asia."