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The American Stock Exchange (Amex) today announced that it will launch its new state-of-the-art trading platform AEMI - Auction and Electronic Market Integration - on November 6. The AEMI pilot follows several weeks of successful testing on the trading floor and with outside firms.
"The American Stock Exchange takes great pride in AEMI, which will provide immediate and automated execution of electronic orders in full compliance with Regulation NMS. AEMI will also support brokered orders and the best qualities of the auction market when conditions warrant human interaction," said Neal Wolkoff, Amex Chairman & CEO. "We have achieved a milestone and we are looking forward to capturing greater market share and adding products on our new trading platform."
On November 6, the Amex will begin trading two Amex-listed securities: TARGETS with a maturity payment based on the market price of ADRs representing the ordinary shares of Nokia Corporation (SYMBOL: TGZ) and 8.40% ELKS based upon the Common Stock of Texas Instruments Inc. (SYMBOL: EET). Kellogg Capital Group will be the specialist for TGZ and EET.
The Amex expects to add products rapidly throughout the next three months with anticipation of a full roll-out of Amex products before the implementation of Regulation NMS rules on February 5, 2007, the timetable released by the Securities and Exchange Commission for SRO compliance. "We have worked incredibly hard to reach this day and I am confident that AEMI will transform Amex's technology," said Antoine Shagoury, Chief Information Officer. "The Amex is on the path to becoming an even more competitive and versatile marketplace."
The AEMI trading platform has been in development since April 2004. The system will contain functionality for both pre- and post-Regulation NMS compliance. This initial rollout will allow AEMI to launch pre-Reg. NMS and will ensure a smooth migration of Reg. NMS functionality by February 2007. AEMI will trade equities and ETFs at the outset but it has been designed to trade multiple instruments.
Amex's new market structure will offer market participants a greatly expanded range of automated transaction services for equities and exchange traded funds and will combine the speed of an electronic market with the dedicated liquidity of an auction market for times of order imbalances, complex trades, or when natural liquidity cannot be found. The Exchange believes that the fusion of automated execution and the auction market will meet the future needs of Amex customers - the investing public, institutional traders, liquidity providers and the Exchange's listed companies - and will enhance the Amex's competitiveness.
About American Stock Exchange
The American Stock Exchange® (Amex®) offers trading across a full range of equities, options and exchange traded funds (ETFs), including structured products and HOLDRSSM. In addition to its role as a national equities market, the Amex is the pioneer of the ETF, responsible for bringing the first domestic product to market in 1993. Leading the industry in ETF listings, the Amex lists 196 ETFs to date. The Amex is also one of the largest options exchanges in the U.S., trading options on broad-based and sector indexes as well as domestic and foreign stocks. For more information, please visit www.amex.com
