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 .