The AX Trading Network (The AX), the new electronic trading community announced today that it has surpassed the 1,000 auctions mark, representing over 100 million shares of available liquidity on The AX Trading Network (The AX). Nearly 300 unique auctions were posted on The AX in April, a 37% improvement over March. Since launch, completed auctions had an average cross size of over 43,000 shares. The announcement comes on the heels of AX’s announcements of scheduled auctions and an expansion in trading hours.
"We could not be more pleased with the adoption of The AX by the institutional trading community," said CEO Kevin M. Callahan. "Six months ago, the notion of 'calling your own auction' in a stock did not exist and today we are closing in on nearly 1,000 AX members and we have just surpassed the 1,000 auctions mark."
The AX is the new electronic trading community that allows traders to connect and trade in a whole new way. The AX runs on a completely different model from a traditional stock exchange. On The AX, traders can call their own "auctions" in any stock at any time and they can determine what information they want to share about the auction (if any) and whom to invite to the auction. On The AX, large buyers and sellers can come together without revealing their trading intentions to one another until after a trade is consummated.
All auctions on The AX are initiated by a firm order of at least 25,000 shares that is routed to The AX Alternative Trading System (ATS). The order remains committed in the auction during the five minute auction countdown. Participants can submit orders to participate in the AX auction (10,000 share minimum) and their orders are completely dark order types; they do not trigger any messages or indicators to the Initiator or any other participant. The AX auction is run as what is known as a "sealed-bid" auction. The AX allows real buyers and sellers to meet in a protected environment that represents real orders and real liquidity.
In addition to offering the ability to call an auction at any time during AX trading hours (8 AM ET to 5 PM ET), AX recently announced the ability to schedule an AX auction in advance in order to give potential participants more time to gauge their interest in participating in the auction and at what side, size and price. AX believes the scheduled auction is more useful for especially large or illiquid trading situations.
AX also announced that it now has more than 900 members of The AX Trading Network. These members represent over 250 buyside institutions, approximately 175 long-only institutions and 75 hedge funds. In terms of industry assets under management (AUM), this represents over 60% of the long-only community and over 25% of the hedge fund community.
"We are all about empowering the institutional trading community and offering them a true alternative," said Peter Jenkins, President. "We continue to work with our members and solicit their feedback and we continue to build this new electronic trading community."