American Stock Exchange Raises the Stakes On Auto-Execution for Options QQQ Up to 1,000 Contracts

The American Stock Exchange (Amex) today announced an increase in the size limit of customer orders eligible for its auto-execution system in the Nasdaq-100 Tracking Stock, the QQQ. Effective immediately, orders of up to 1,000 contracts in the QQQ options can be routed to the Amex's auto-execution system. This follows the Amex's April 4 move to increase auto-fill orders up to 250 contracts for options on stocks for Ariba (ARBA), General Electric (GE), Intel (INTC), Microsoft (MSFT), Motorola (MOT), QLogic Corp. (QLGC), Qualcomm (QCOM) and Texas Instruments (TXN). Contracts on Brocade (BRCD) were increased to 200.

"The American Stock Exchange recognizes the need to execute options orders in increasingly larger blocks of trades," said Michael Bickford, senior vice president for options at the Amex. "It's a coup for smaller investors, who now have the ability to trade options in significantly larger amounts, combined with the speed and reliability of Amex's auto-execution system."