All Toronto Stock Exchange Participating Organizations Select Gateway-Compatible Trading Devices

In August 1999, the Toronto Stock Exchange announced it was not pursuing the trading station business. At that time, Participating Organizations were notified that they would have approximately a year to select a supplier to provide them with a trading terminal that would allow them to enter trades and access the TSE in a simple manner, through the TSE's gateway. The TSE is pleased to report that all Participating Organizations have now selected their suppliers and the process of transitioning to the new trading network with customers who are ready is well underway. Most of the trading is already flowing through the gateway and this transition is expected to be completed by the end of September.

"We couldn't have achieved this step without the co-operation of the Participating Organizations and the vendor community," said Adam Conyers, Senior Vice-President, Equity Markets with the TSE. "It has been a great collaborative effort and an important step in developing industry solutions to industry issues."

It is also the latest in a series of steps, initiated by the TSE, to improve the market. These steps include: Last year the TSE expanded the after market crossing session to create the last sale trading session, increasing volume traded by 40% in that session. Earlier this summer the TSE signed an agreement with Ashton Technology Group Canada to provide an electronic Volume-Weighted Average Price (eVWAP) trading system. The TSE is also in the process of simplifying the trading algorithm so it can move closer to pure price/time priority. With this change in place, the TSE plans to introduce anonymity to the continuous market, which will help reduce market impact costs of large trades.

The year 2000 has seen a phenomenal growth in trading on the TSE from 69,000 to over 135,000 transactions a day -- an increase of 94%. The year's trading value has topped $630 billion, already $100 billion more than what was traded on the TSE in 1999.