Alpha Group announced today that on Friday November 7, 2008 it successfully launched its alternative trading system (ATS) offering trading and market data services for 10 Canadian securities.
Alpha Group noted that approximately 30 dealers were connected to the ATS and that these dealers traded 411,698 shares, representing about 10% of the overall volume traded in those securities across transparent marketplaces in Canada.
"It was a long and sometimes challenging journey to get to this milestone" noted Jos Schmitt CEO of Alpha Group, "but now that we have reached it and started to see the first results, the journey already fades away in everyone's minds. It is has to be noted that what allowed Alpha to go live within weeks of its original launch date, was the never before seen commitment and efforts of the Canadian dealer community, the major independent software vendors, the major data vendors and Alpha's own staff."
As of 4:10 p.m. today, after the market close, the daily volume and value traded on Alpha ATS across the 10 securities represented 1,698,828 shares corresponding to CAD 22,785,128 in value, representing respectively 36.24% in volume and 24.24% in value of all trades in these securities across all transparent marketplaces in Canada.
"Volume and value traded are key success indicators" added Jos Schmitt, "but what struck us most today was the liquidity on Alpha ATS. Throughout the day, Alpha ATS was often showing the greatest liquidity at equivalent or better bid and ask spreads than other market places, despite the fact that many dealers are still ramping up their capabilities to trade on Alpha. This gives us a glimpse about what is to come and tells us where investors will need to look for price discovery and efficient execution."