PHILADELPHIA – Nov. 15, 2006 – The Philadelphia Stock
Exchange (PHLX) announced today that it has launched its new, all
electronic Reg. NMS compliant equity trading system, PHLX XLE. PHLX
XLE leverages the features of PHLX XL, the Exchange’s electronic
options trading platform to create an entirely new compliant equity
market model for the Exchange. The new system is marked by its speed
of execution, aggressive pricing model and new trading rules that
are advantageous to all equity trading sectors.
Meyer “Sandy” Frucher, chairman and CEO of the PHLX,
said, “The transition to XLE is the most important evolution
of our equity market to date. XLE will bring our marketplace one
step closer to the market of the future - fully electronic, with
multiple product classes to trade from virtually anywhere, by any
investor, in nearly every time zone possible. Our vision is to offer
the markets that breadth and depth of access with one connection,
to thousands of products, at a fraction of the cost to trade that
you would find in other market centers.”
XLE is a completely anonymous, open access system with a central
limit order book that operates on the principle of price-time priority
for members and sponsored participants. It supports a variety of
complementary business models, such as direct market access (DMA),
internalization, market-making, and institutional brokerage on one
platform. XLE will accept round, mixed and odd lot orders and will
operate three sessions, Pre, Core, and Post, to be open from 8:00
a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (Eastern Time).
The XLE rollout will be accomplished as a hard cutover with a phased
rollout. The current PACE system with its floor based specialist
model has been shut down, and the new remote open access XLE platform
is now active and will be rolled out over approximately a four-week
implementation period. At the end of that period, XLE will be trading
all NMS securities, including a number of ETFs. Further details
concerning the detailed rollout are posted on the PHLX website www.PHLX.com.
Frucher added that this is only the first step of the PHLX equities
re-launch. PHLX will also offer co-location and access to its own
high-speed fiber network early next year. Other planned enhancements
include the development of a trade reporting facility and functionality
to support a variety of business models.
“Historically, the traders at the Philadelphia Stock Exchange
have been innovators in the securities markets as a necessity to
keep this marketplace vibrant. Moving to a fully electronic equity
marketplace is another evolution that will help position us for
growth within the capital markets, but rooted in Pennsylvania,”
said Frucher.
The Philadelphia Stock Exchange was founded in 1790. The PHLX trades
1,935 stocks, 2,287 equity options, 16 sector index options and
currency options. For more information about the PHLX and its products,
visit www.phlx.com.
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