Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) is pleased to announce today that it launched a major upgrade to its trading engine for the derivatives market, Quest-DT, yesterday.
The upgraded engine will add capacity and capabilities to support new order types and enhanced options trading strategies as well as serve increased demand from algorithmic and high-velocity traders. This upgrade is also an essential pre-requisite to the launch of the new derivatives clearing system (SGXClear) planned for end-2009.
“We are pleased to launch this upgrade to Quest-DT to facilitate wider participation in our derivatives business and cater to the needs of algorithmic and high-velocity traders. Together with our Proximity Hosting Service, the increased trading functionalities will allow us to better serve the demands of our customers. We will continue to build on our Asian Gateway strategy of providing a one-stop, pan-Asian equity derivatives product suite,” said Gan Seow Ann, senior executive vice president and head of Markets at SGX.
SGX launched its Proximity Hosting Service in May 2008 to provide traders with ultra low latency access to its securities and derivatives markets – making it the first exchange in Asia to offer sub-millisecond access to its trading engines. This service allows SGX Members and their customers access to SGX’s trading engines more than four times faster than the normal speed. Within three months of the service going live in August 2008, SGX has already achieved its 12-month target in terms of number of subscribers.
SGX’s derivatives revenue increased 33.6% to $156.3 million in its last financial year ended 30 June 2008. This trend has continued into the first quarter ended 30 September 2008, with derivatives revenue increasing 23.6% to $46.1 million compared to the first quarter of the previous financial year. SGX’s derivatives market also set record volumes in the July-September 2008 quarter, as well as the month of October 2008.
