(September 13 – 18:00 ET) –
“Eight to eight, Monday to Friday”
is no longer just a phone company
slogan. It also sets out the new
schedule of trading hours at
prominent alternative trading
system, Island ECN.

Island, which trades Nasdaq-
listed stocks, is one of the
pioneers in the ATS phenomenon
that have changed the rules for
the traditional stock exchanges.
This Wednesday, it will start
trading from 08:00 ET to 20:00 ET.
That is the most aggressive salvo
so far in the campaign for extended
trading hours.

Nasdaq has already agreed to
provide quotes until 18:30 ET each
day to accommodate the after-hours
trading plans of other brokers.
The NASD and NYSE have deferred
their own after-hours plans until
next year.

The move by Island is
significant because it not only
goes further than any of the other
after-hours trading brokers. It
also does a big business. Island
boasts that on September 10, it
traded 120 million shares, worth
US$5.2 billion. That accounts for
more than 12% of Nasdaq’s volume
that day, and is more than the
Toronto Stock Exchange trades in
an average day.

Island has also applied to be
recognized as an exchange by the
Securities and Exchange Commission.

These days all the big brokers
and traditional exchanges are
looking at ways of dealing with the
ATS phenomenon. Back in May, TD
Bank’s discount subsidiary,
TD Waterhouse, invested
US$25 million in Island. The
Canadian regulators are currently
considering proposals to integrate
them into the Canadian market too.


-IE Staff