Lightspeed Connects to PDQ's ATS Trading Venue

Trading platform provider PDQ Enterprises has announced it is connecting to market-access provider Lightspeed Financial's Trader platform, providing Lightspeed clients access to PDQ's electronic algorithmic crowd service that includes both its first-to-respond or first-to-match engine and its auction model, together called ATS.

PDQ says the anonymous equities trading venue designed to simulate an open outcry pit, helps firms discover contra-side liquidity and assemble block interest from multiple firms through market queries. ATS uses proprietary trading procedures, rather than an order book, to manage order flow. The procedures mandate 20-milliseconds for each order, during which ATS' algorithms create a "mini book" of responses, and prioritizes them on a price-time basis.

"I believe our integration with the Lightspeed Trader platform is a key validation of our model that pauses orders for a fraction of a second, as well as the growing demand for alternative trading venues that will help create a more efficient market structure - something our new auction model clearly provides," says Keith Ross, PDQ Enterprises' CEO.