This marks only the second time in our 21-year history that we've embarked on an initiative of this magnitude. Our original trading platform, X_TRADER®, was introduced in 1994 and has been our flagship—and only—offering ever since. X_TRADER has been time-tested and lauded with awards for more than two decades, and it still remains one of the most-used systems for professional derivatives traders worldwide.

But technology and market needs have changed, driving us to rethink how we build and deliver software to our customers. Businesses across nearly every industry are embracing the software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery model. While the professional financial services industry has been slower than most to do so, we believe that time has come.

We built TT upon a SaaS framework, empowering us and our distribution partners to do things never before possible with other platforms. Thanks to this approach, the new TT platform requires no client-side software. FCMs can permission new traders in minutes through web-based tools, from anywhere on any device. And our users can begin trading in just minutes after creating a TT account and logging in.

Once traders log in, they'll find a familiar yet sleeker interface with more flexibility and power than ever before. They'll be able to quickly create workspaces using configurable widgets and intuitive search functionality, then save the workspaces to be available from any computer, on any operating system. They'll also be able to view and trade the markets from Android and iOS devices through TT Mobile, a robust app designed specifically for the demands of professional traders. And users will recognize our popular trading tools including MD Trader®, Autospreader®, Autotrader™ and ADL® (Algo Design Lab), which have significant flexibility and performance enhancements.

Speaking of performance enhancements, one of TT's most noteworthy qualities has always been speed. This platform sets a new bar. Lab tests show it performs more than two times faster than our 7.x technology. By leveraging the latest hardware and software acceleration technologies, all orders routed on our global, redundant, co-located infrastructure achieve levels of performance and reliability unlike anything before. We'll even go so far as to provide latency reporting so you can see how your server-based strategies are performing—we think you'll like what you see.

Along with speed, TT features exceptional usability—not only for traders, but for risk managers. Flexible and relational user and account hierarchies make it extremely easy for clearing firms to administer accounts and manage risk. And because TT is multi-broker by design, buy-side trading firms can easily manage their own risk independently—allowing risk management in the new platform to adapt to our customers’ businesses, and not the other way around.

Richard Mackey, EVP of strategic initiatives at Rosenthal Collins Group, LLC told us, "As long time customers of TT, we are excited about the new platform and like what we’ve seen so far. The new platform provides more robust risk controls at the enterprise and individual trader levels, which is important functionality for us as an FCM."

The early results are in…
Since last summer, the platform has been in the hands of early-stage users. And just last month, the European Energy Exchange (EEX) migrated the bulk of its trading community to the new TT screen—no small feat considering this migration was completed in less than a month. The ease with which EEX were able to migrate these users speaks to the flexibility in our enhanced user and risk management software and is a testament to the scalability of our platform.

The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Steffen Kohler, COO of EEX, told us, "We are very pleased with the new TT platform. It provides our traders with a more powerful set of features, allowing them to engage with the market and customize their trading strategies like never before. TT was very responsive during our migration to the new platform, which is now supporting hundreds of our traders."

So today, we're excited to make TT commercially available to the masses. Our FCM partners are ramping up to begin onboarding users.