European Trading Venue of the Year

Chi-X has seemed almost unstoppable this past year and its award comes as little surprise. Launched in 2007, 2008 has really been a story of growth, as the judges recognise with this citation. In the closing weeks of 2008 Chi-X Europe gained a 22.36% market share in the trading of FTSE 100 stocks, 14.29% in FTSE 250 stocks, and 16.12% in CAC 40 stocks.

Chi-X’s mission is to satisfy market demand for cheaper and more efficient trading. Price is important for fund managers and in August 2008 the average price improvement of trading UK stocks through Chi-X was 3.27bps. Total savings in August were just under €22m for price improvement. The impact of its low trading costs is evident in the significant change that the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse  recently made to their pricing structures. Nevertheless, Chi-X remains cheaper, the firm says.

Click the screen for a video of the award presentation.

Also shortlisted ... 

Bclear (Special Commendation)
Bclear, which is run by the stock exchange group Liffe-NYSE Euronext, was developed in response to the burgeoning over-the-counter (OTC) market for equity derivatives in Europe. As the market grew, so did the risks and Bclear was built to reduce these risks by offering exchange-based clearing for derivatives that had been traded away from exchanges. A notional value of €1.8 trillion has been processed between January and October 2008 via Bclear.

Aside from being a successful product in its own right, Bclear also embodies the new spirit of product innovation that exchanges are now fostering as the market becomes increasingly competitive in terms of execution venues.

ITG
ITG launched Posit Alert into its suite of crossing products, called Posit, in Februrary. It is designed to increase block trading opportunities in Posit and provide other advantages, such as a diverse liquidity pool and automated participation in crossing lists or single stocks.

Judges liked the functionality of Posit Alert and its relevance in helping clients to access increasingly hard to seek liquidity, earning ITG the citation.