"It's fitting that the Members of Congress who long championed the benefits of decimalization can personally participate in the first decimal-based trades. Today's breakthrough would not have been possible without their commitment and leadership. Consequently, investors will no longer have to settle for industry-established increments that limit their ability to obtain the best possible price," said Mr. Andresen.
House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley, House Commerce Finance Subcommittee Chairman Michael Oxley, House Commerce Committee Member Vito Fossella, and House Commerce Telecommunications Ranking Member Edward Markey are scheduled to participate in a demonstration of how decimal trading will work on Island, beginning on July 3, consistent with the U.S. Congress' mandate. Each Member will place his own trade through Island, and observe as his specific order appears instantaneously on the Island BookViewer.
"When the U.S. Congress told our markets to be decimal ready by July 3, we took that deadline very seriously. As a result, Island is proud to lead the way toward greater competition between markets and better prices for the investor. In fact, just since our original announcement in April, we've already seen some of the traditional markets take steps to advance the rollout of their decimal-based trading systems," said Mr. Andresen.
To further enhance the benefits of its decimalization program, Island will also offer investors an improved means for displaying their orders, and thereby deliver to them the best possible executions. "Just as Island harnessed its technology and spirit of innovation to usher in decimal-based trading, we will continue to develop new services for our subscribers to strengthen our market and provide greater overall efficiency for the investor," said Mr. Andresen.
Island was founded approximately three years ago with the intent of providing all market participants - from individual investors to large financial institutions - with the ability to execute transactions on a level playing field, at an extremely low cost without the presence of intermediaries or dealers. During the first quarter 2000, Island's trading volume exceeded 12 billion shares, which accounted for a total dollar volume of more than $806 billion. Visit Island at www.island.com.
