BATS Pricing | BATS Multilateral Trading Facilities | MTFs

More access to tight spreads with BATS

We are delighted to offer you tighter spreads when spread betting on shares.

From 1 March 2010, you will have access to the best prices from Europe’s top three Multilateral Trading Facilities (MTFs), now including BATS. MTFs essentially function as an alternative to stock exchanges for share dealing, often providing better prices than the primary exchanges and accounting for up to 40% of a stock’s overall liquidity.

The fast-growing BATS MTF has recently overtaken Turquoise to take second place behind Chi-X, and can now boast an 8.4% market share in FTSE 100 equities. Tight spreads derived from Chi-X and Turquoise prices were already accessible to you via IG Index’s unique Multi-Venue Technology, and now we can also offer BATS pricing on leading UK and European stocks.

What are the benefits?

Put simply, our Multi-Venue Technology enables you to enjoy the tightest spreads on shares.

The technology works behind the scenes, exploring all the major primary European exchanges such as the London Stock Exchange and Euronext, plus the leading MTFs, in search of the narrowest market spread available on each stock. Our pricing is then derived from the best bid and offer prices to be found in the underlying market.

The addition of BATS enables us to broaden our search, now including the three MTFs that accounted for almost 39% of FTSE 100 liquidity in January 2010 [1], and so bring you greater access to the most beneficial prices and the tightest spreads.

Shares spread betting

To find out more about Multi-Venue Technology and the range of other benefits available when you bet on shares, visit our Shares Spread Betting page.

Updated: 01/03/10

[1] Source: Chi-X Market Report