TMX Group Inc. today announced that it is advancing its technology roadmap with the planned production implementation of the company’s next generation equity trading technology, which is based on hardware acceleration. Hardware acceleration is a general term that refers to the off-loading of processing work from server CPUs onto specialized hardware.
The next generation trading technology, which is called TMX Quantum XATM, will provide TMX Group equity trading participants with dramatically enhanced speed and capacity as well as more efficient order processing. It is expected that there will be a twenty-fold reduction in median latency to sub-100 microseconds on order executions. The new trading system is designed to be capable of handling 200,000 orders per second. To augment these new capabilities, 10 Gb communication access will be made available for the first time to Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange and TMX Select customers.
TMX Quantum XA is the product of two years of research and development (R&D). The R&D phase included the development of a fully-functioning prototype that encompasses the complete functionality of the current Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange and TMX Select marketplaces.
“We are very excited about the results of our prototype and about the significant benefits that TMX Quantum XA will provide,” said Brenda Hoffman, Chief Information Officer, Group Head of Technology, TMX Group.
“TMX Group is providing cutting-edge service to our trading customers with TMX Quantum XA,” added Kevan Cowan, President, TSX Markets and Group Head of Equities, TMX Group. “We are confident that this leap forward in our equity trading technology will help our customers succeed in the rapidly-evolving global marketplace.”
TMX Quantum XA will initially be implemented on TMX Select in Q1 2013. Implementation on Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange will follow, beginning at the end of 2013. The company expects to incur incremental annual operating expenses of approximately $4 million to support this initiative.