(December 8 – 09:10 ET) – The electronic evolution in retail stock trading may help save the Toronto Stock Exchange, says its new chief, Barb Stymiest.
Stymiest is out pounding the table for the TSE. She’s keen to convince the street that the TSE will survive the evolution in equity trading. On Tuesday, she gave a luncheon speech at the Canadian Investor Relations Institute, hailing the benefits of the electronic trading revolution for the TSE.
“For the first time in years” retail trading is up and institutional trading is down. “Smaller trades are the most profitable part of our business,” she said.
On that basis, she was keen to note that 200,000 Canadians were investing on-line last year, and that is expected to grow to one million in five years.
One of the consequences of this move is more trading and heavier share turnover. Stymiest says “various trading statistics suggest that the average hold period for retail investors is declining.” While this is good for the volume-hungry TSE it is also adding extra volatility to the Canadian market.
-IE Staff