US brokerage firm Interactive Brokers (IB) is now able to offer financial institutions linkage capabilities to all five US options exchanges.
The American Stock Exchange was the last exchange to sign up to the firm's interim linkage programme. It joins the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the International Securities Exchange, the Pacific Exchange and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. This morning options on Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) became available through the Amex link. Wagner Scott Bear Specialists acted as specialist for BRCM, to whom Interactive Brokers provided the technology to route linkage orders.
The interim linkage programme is designed to help ensure that options orders are executed at the best possible price, regardless of whether that price is quoted on the exchange from which the order was originally routed.
In autumn 1999, the US Securities & Exchange Commission directed the options exchanges to electronically link their markets.