Goldman, Nasdaq, BoA Invest in US Start-up Institutional Trading Venue

Goldman Sachs, Nasdaq Ventures and Band of America Merrill Lynch have invested $14 million in US start-up alternative trading system (ATS), PureStream Trading Technologies. The funding will support the upcoming launch of the ATS in the US, which aims to re-engineer the price and liquidity discovery process for institutional traders using open-ended liquidity transfer rates, such as those found in data networks. According to a story in The Trade news, the trading venue is expected to launch in the second quarter of this year – subject to regulatory approvals – and will enable institutional investors to execute up to 40 times faster without price impact on their portfolio implementations. Users of the ATS can discover prices referencing market trade reports from the consolidated tape instead of purely from the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO) quote. It also uses percentage rate-based order types to govern open-ended matches. The PureStream ATS test facility is open for broker-dealers to start the integration process in preparation for launch.