American Stock Exchange Unveils New Equity Trading System That Can Trade All Equities Regardless Of Exchange - NETS Increases Universe Of Stocks And Provides Greater Speed of Execution At Best Possible Price

The American Stock Exchange (Amex) today announced the unveiling of its new proprietary trading system, NETS - short for New Equity Trading System, which can trade any equity-based product in the U.S., regardless of which exchange a company or product is listed.

Key attributes of the new system include:

• Ability to trade any equity-based product in the U.S.
• Speedier point-and-click functionality of all transactions with a guaranteed locked-in trade
• Automated tick-sensitive orders, and stop and stop limit order types

"By migrating to our NETS application, Amex customers will now have speedier executions at the best possible price for a larger universe of equities," said Ralph Rafaniello, executive vice president of Amex Market Operations. "Via straight-through processing of all transactions and a guaranteed locked-in trade, orders delivered to an Amex specialist will be guaranteed price and time priority, ensuring the proper execution price."

The new point-and-click system allows for the trading of all equities and the ability to trade the underlying stock in an option - regardless of which exchange it is listed on - via unlisted trading privileges. Working with partners OM and the Securities Industry Automation Corp. to build the new platform, NETS- roots were derived from the Amex's original Option Display Book system - AODB.

"After delivering the first AODB version and seeing it go live in 1996, we are now thrilled to experience a successful roll-out of the new equities trading platform," said Magnus Bocker, OM's chief operating officer. "Likewise, we are excited about being able to support the Amex with future NETS enhancements to add even more efficiency as well as competitiveness to the current equities trading model."

With the new system, specialists move from a keyboard-driven, point-of-sale transaction to the speedier point-and-click functionality. Efficiencies will be gained in the turnaround of customer orders, executions, cancels and cancel with replacement orders. Additionally, tick-sensitive orders and stop and stop limit order types will be automated. Amex specialists will receive visual alerts notifying them on a real-time basis of market conditions in the securities they are responsible to trade. These alerts will enable the Amex customer to receive the best possible execution and in the timeliest manner.

"We've gained significant efficiencies by streamlining the execution process and automating key components of the trading application thus making it easier for our specialists and customers to trade on the Amex," said Brian Halloran, vice president of Amex Market Operations.

NETS marks the first step in the overhaul of Amex's entire trading platform. Its goal of building next generation technology will provide customers with quicker and more efficient means of realizing the liquidity offered by Amex specialists and market makers. The Amex aims to enhance its existing auction market by implementing new technologies that are designed to automate order interaction and provide expedient executions, while maintaining superior price discovery and execution prices. The NETS rollout includes the integration of the Nasdaq equity trading system, at no cost to the Amex's customer base.

Specialist migration to the new system has begun, using a phased-in approach on an individual basis. NETS terminals are to be phased-in over the next nine months, with the target of Spring 2003 for complete integration.