Market Regulation Services Inc. today fined a former trader with Dundee Securities Corp. $30,000 violating trading principles.

Ian Douglas was sanctioned for having demonstrated a pattern of order entry in the pre-opening on the Toronto Stock Exchange that breached the just and equitable principles of trade.

RS said that, through his trading strategy, Douglas positioned himself for a guaranteed fill in the opening trading session without having to declare himself as a bona fide buyer, seller and in some instances, even as a bona fide participant in the opening.

At an uncontested hearing which Douglas did not to attend, the RS anel heard that prior to 9:28 a.m. on 52 days between July 2003 and December 2003, Douglas entered anonymous non-client orders on both sides of the market, which had the potential of trading against each other. Between 9:28 a.m. and the opening of the market, Douglas would usually cancel or change one of the orders and then receive a fill for the remaining order. In some cases, he cancelled both orders. On some days, Douglas’s order entry strategy also affected both the indicated and actual Calculated Opening Price, or COP.

“This manner of order entry is harmful to the integrity of the market,” said Maureen Jensen, vp, market regulation, eastern region at RS. “He did it to avoid the TSX trading mechanism that allocates which orders will receive a complete fill at the opening of trading. The mechanism is also designed to prevent market professionals from ‘scooping’ the opening by entering an order just before the start of trading and receiving a disproportionate amount of stock.”

In addition to the fine, Douglas was ordered to pay $15,000 in costs.

Three other employees from Dundee Securities. were previously disciplined in related matters. Ricardo Mashregi, a Dundee registered trader, also engaged in this type of pre-opening activity for 248 days between October 2003 and February 2005. On Oct. 14, 2005, Mashregi was fined a total of $60,000.

Mark Ellis and Keith Leslie Leonard, both trading supervisors at Dundee Securities Corp. who were responsible for overseeing and supervising the activity of traders at Dundee Securities to ensure compliance with the trading rules, were each fined a total of $21,000 on Oct. 19, 2005 for failing to fully comply with their trading supervision obligations.