When did BIDS Trading officially launch?

Q2 2007.

Who are BIDS Trading’s owners?

BIDS Trading is a subsidiary of BIDS Holdings L.P., which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe). The BIDS ATS is not a registered national securities exchange or a facility thereof. The BIDS ATS is an independently managed and operated trading venue, separate from and not integrated with the Cboe U.S. securities exchanges.

How do I access the BIDS ATS?

Contact us at sales@bidstrading.com or 1.877.566.2437.

Who can trade on the BIDS ATS?

BIDS Trading is open to both buy-side and sell-side firms.

Do I need a sponsor?

Yes. BIDS Trading supports a broker-sponsored access model. Sponsorship is available to qualifying broker-dealers, subject to basic credit and regulatory considerations.

What are your fees?

As BIDS Trading supports a broker-sponsored access model, buy-side clients that want access to the BIDS ATS would negotiate their commission rate with the broker or brokers that they choose.

BIDS Trading is currently offering volume-based discounts and we believe that retaining flexibility in pricing will be a key component to our success.

What types of stocks trade on the BIDS ATS?

US equities, excluding OTCBB and Pinksheets. The BIDS ATS supports most Amex, Arca, Nasdaq, NYSE-listed symbols.

What are your trading hours?

The BIDS ATS is open from 9:30am until 4:00pm ET.

What are the different order types?

Two types of orders can be entered on the BIDS ATS: Conditional and Firm orders.

• Firm orders allow users to access liquidity within the BIDS Trading book for immediate execution.
• Conditional orders allow users to search for liquidity in multiple venues. If volume becomes available within BIDS Trading, the order is automatically be invited to trade, allowing duplicate orders in other venues to be cancelled so the same order is not filled more than once.

What kind of anti-gaming tools are provided?

BIDS Trading allows users to set their own minimum volume requirements for orders, which could prevent a trader from being pinged for order information. BIDS Trading also offers Filters to screen out parties that may be fishing for data or back away from a trade.

How does matching happen in BIDS Trading? How is the trade price discovered?

The BIDS ATS supports auto-matching as the method for matching orders.

What is the size of a block? Is there a minimum volume requirement?

The size of a block (or minimum size requirement) is defined by each trader, on an order-by-order basis.

The minimum size requirement provides the most basic level of protection in the BIDS ATS. Since each trader determines the size of a block, no counterparty with a size less than the specified minimum receives any information about their order.

What is a BIDS Scorecard℠?

To give traders more control over their trades, the BIDS ATS maintains a scorecard for each trader by tracking trading behavior in different areas. While traders never see their counterparty’s scores, they can then filter out users with certain behaviors. Although a trader’s scorecard is never revealed to other users, traders can apply a BIDS Filter℠ to their order, to filter out traders whose trading behavior does not meet their requirements. Traders can customize three different filter templates (Normal, Conservative, and Aggressive).