Omega ATS Eliminates Subscriber Fees

TORONTO, May 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Omega ATS, the low cost alternative trading system for Canadian exchange-listed equities and fixed income instruments, today announced  changes to its standard pricing and subscriber model.  As of May 2, 2011, Omega ATS no longer charges its monthly $350 CDN subscriber fee allowing all subscribers to maintain their Omega subscription for free. Omega has also increased the number of free access ports to 10 per month (from 1 currently) for all subscribers. The changes eliminate port access fees for more than 81% of current Omega subscribers.

President of Omega ATS, Mike Bignell, comments: "Our new fee structure has been designed to ensure that smaller players no longer subsidise the largest market participants. Under the new plan, the vast majority of our clients will see a significant reduction in fees. Our new fee structure enables us to continue to live up to our ethos of creating a level playing field for all, and we remain committed to offering a lower-cost alternative in order to make the Canadian trading landscape more transparent and efficient."

Omega has also announced a new pricing schedule for TSX Venture securities:

• For all TSXV securities where the price per share is below $1.00, the fee will be $0.0008 per share charged to the active side. Passive executed orders will receive a rebate of $0.0006 per share. Where the price per share is $1.00 or more the fee will be $0.0020 per share charged to the active side. In this case, passive executed orders will receive a rebate of $0.0016 per share.  

• For all fixed income and listed debenture transactions, the fee remains $0.05 per $1000 of face value charged to the active side. No fee will be charged, or rebate paid, for passive orders that execute with the exception of shares listed on the TSXV. In addition, there will be no fee charged for orders placed in Omega ATS that do not execute. Internal crosses will also continue to be subject to an indefinite fee holiday and will not pay any rebates.

• For all TSX and foreign equities where the trade price per share is $1.00 or more, the fee will continue to be $0.0007 per share charged to the active or 'take' side. Where the trade price per share is below $1.00, the fee will be $0.0002 per share charged to the active side.

• Fees for market data will be charged at $2.85 per month per user for Level 1 real-time data while full depth-of-book Level 2 real-time data is also subject to an indefinite fee holiday.

About Omega ATS

Omega ATS is an alternative trading system for Canadian exchange-listed equities and fixed income instruments. It provides a fast, price/time priority trading platform where dealers and their clients can trade at the CBBO (Canadian Best Bid and Offer) at extremely competitive rates.  It has more than 70 subscriber firms including Canada's five largest dealers. The system is designed to maximize internal order processing speed – minimizing the time between when an order is received and an acknowledgement is sent. The company rewards liquidity providers with time priority over other marketplaces and is committed to keeping its marketplace fees as low as possible. For more information, please visit www.omegaats.com.

SOURCE Omega ATS