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Liquidnet Launches Canadian Equity Trading

Liquidnet, Inc.
2006-10-31 13:55 1778

First Week of Successful Trading Marks the Dawn of a New Institutional

Marketplace for Canadian Equities

TORONTO, Oct. 31 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Liquidnet, the #1 electronic

marketplace for institutional-only block trading, announced today its launch

of Canadian equity trading, which commenced on October 24. Canadian buy-side

institutions joined with Liquidnet's global Membership of nearly 400 firms to

form a new global institutional marketplace for Canadian equity trading.

"The block-dominated nature of the Canadian marketplace is particularly

well suited for the Liquidnet model of peer-to-peer large-block trading,"

said Robert Young, Managing Director of Liquidnet Canada Inc. "During

Members' first four days of trading, the average execution size was more than

80,000 shares, and the highest volume on any one day was more than 2 million

shares. Our early success marks the formation of a new marketplace for

Canadian equities that is built exclusively for the needs of the buy-side

trader."

"Liquidnet's launch of Canadian equity trading has changed the way

Canadian equities are traded on a global scale," said Seth Merrin, CEO of

Liquidnet. "Nearly half of all equity stock in Canadian-based public

companies is held by asset managers based outside of Canada. Many of these

firms are already Liquidnet Members. It was remarkable to see them connect

and trade Canadian equities in Liquidnet."

Including Canada, Liquidnet supports trading in 17 equity markets

globally and has nearly 400 live Member firms who collectively manage more

than $12 trillion (CAN) in equity assets under management. Since launching

Canadian equity trading, Liquidnet's exclusive liquidity pool of Canadian

equities averaged 108 million available shares per day.

About Liquidnet

Liquidnet is the #1 electronic marketplace for block trading. Founded in

the United States in 2001, Liquidnet was built to solve the inefficiencies

that currently affect the institutional trading industry. By providing an

electronic marketplace where money management institutions can trade large

blocks of equities directly and anonymously, Liquidnet offers its Member

firms significant price improvement with little to no market impact. The

Liquidnet system was designed to bring liquidity to the trader, reversing the

current paradigm of searching for liquidity. Liquidnet launched its European

operations in 2002 and its Canadian operations in 2005.

Liquidnet, Inc. is a registered U.S. broker/dealer, headquartered in New

York City and a member of NASD/SIPC. Headquartered in London, Liquidnet

Europe Limited is regulated by the U.K. Financial Services Authority and is a

member of the London Stock Exchange. Liquidnet Canada Inc. is regulated by

the Ontario Securities Commission and is a member of IDA/CIPF. Additional

company and product information is available online at

http://www.liquidnet.com .

Source: Liquidnet, Inc.
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