As a leading, low-cost market maker dedicated to providing improved efficiency
and liquidity across multiple securities, asset classes and geographies, we aim
to provide critical market functionality and robust price competition, leading
to reduced trading costs and more efficient pricing in the securities and other
financial instruments in which we provide liquidity. This contribution to the
financial markets, and the scale and diversity of our market making activities,
provides added liquidity and transparency, which we believe are necessary and
valued components to the efficient functioning of market infrastructure and benefit
all market participants. We support transparent and efficient, technologically
advanced marketplaces, and advocate for legislation and regulation that promotes
fair and transparent access to markets.
Americas Equities
We trade approximately 6,000 Americas equity securities including, among others,
equity related futures and exchange traded funds, on eleven SEC registered exchanges
as well as other alternative trading systems, including the NYSE, the NASDAQ,
Direct Edge, NYSE Arca, BATS and IEX, the TSX in Canada, Bovespa in Brazil and
BMV in Mexico, and we connect to more than 20 private liquidity pools. In 2011,
we became a DMM in over 260 stocks on the floor of the NYSE and the NYSE MKT (formerly
NYSE Amex), and we are seeking to increase the number of listed NYSE stocks for
which we serve as a DMM.
As exchange traded funds, or “ETFs,” and other similar products have
proliferated both domestically and internationally, demand has increased for trading
the underlying assets or hedging such funds. Our technology has enabled us to
expand into providing liquidity to this growing area by making markets across
these assets in a variety of trading venues globally. We are authorized participants
and can create and/or redeem ETFs in Americas equities, EMEA equities and APAC
equities.
EMEA Equities
Similar to our strategy in the Americas, we utilize direct connections to all
of the registered exchanges in a particular jurisdiction including the LSE,
BATS Europe and NYSE Euronext, as well as any additional pools of liquidity
to which we can gain access either directly or through a broker. We are also
well positioned in European ETFs, as an authorized participant in many European
ETFs. In addition, after our acquisition of the ETF market making assets of
Nyenburgh, we provide two-sided liquidity to a significant number of counterparties
throughout Europe.
Global Commodities
W e were a leading participant and liquidity provider on both the CME and ICE
in trading crude oil, natural gas, heating oil, gasoline futures and precious
metals. We trade approximately 100 energy products and futures on the ICE, CME,
TOCOM and NYSE Liffe US. We also actively trade precious metals, including gold,
silver, platinum and palladium, as well as base metals such as aluminum and
copper.
Global Currencies
We were a leading participant in the major foreign exchange venues, including
Reuters, Currenex, Hotspot FX and EBS. Currency trading has historically utilized
intermediaries and large broker-dealers, and as a result, market making opportunities
in foreign exchange have been limited.
Options, Fixed Income and Other Securities
We trade these products on a variety of specialized exchanges and other trading
venues, including all of the U.S. options exchanges of which we are a member
(i.e., CBOE, ISE and NYSE Arca) and through the U.S. futures exchanges. We believe
that we can increase our volumes in certain of these products.