hi there, lets start a discussion on the pros/cons of various ECNs. Long time ago, I was always using Island, so just migrated to NASDAQ after the acquisition and always been using NASDAQ from there. I am not familiar with other ECNs but think that I should consider all of them to optimize my trades and understanding of the market. How are the fees of the various ECNs? their liquidities/fills? speeds? etc? Does anyone have a brief idea of the ECN market shares?
This is a constantly evolving world. Nasdaq more or less became a big version of Island once they bought them; since then, new entrants such as BATS and EDGE have been very influential. Both rates and market shares change almost monthly. A good resource for following the ECN landscape is tradersmagazine.com; here's one recent article that discusses many of the issues you raise: http://www.tradersmagazine.com/news/bx-pricing-dark-pools-104296-1.html
i think this is an interesting topic, i too am looking for more infomation on different ecns and their fees. i will try and do some digging and hopefully can contribute to this thread soon.
I've recently started at a Canadian prop firm and I'm interested in this question. From what I've determined by browsing around here, lots of traders are now using EDGX to hit orders and I don't understand why they don't use EDGA with routing options. EDGA is free to take and provide and I have been having success with fills. But then I am trading the Qs and other high liquidity ETFs. Is this the difference? Are traders using EDGX because they are trading thinner stocks?
This is what I use. If anyone has any updates, please feel free to post. http://lightspeed.com/Lightspeed_Fee_Schedule.pdf