NYSE electronic trading platform edges closer to launch

The NYSE's expanded Direct+ electronic trading platform will be ready for launch in "a matter of months," pending SEC approval, John Thain, exchange CEO, said today at the SEC's market structure hearing in New York. The NYSE will file the plan with the SEC in the next few weeks, Mr. Thain said. The plan would include eliminating restrictions on the number of shares that can be automatically traded and holding orders for 30 seconds before execution. He said the changes were driven by demands from institutional investors to create a hybrid exchange that would allow both automatic execution and floor-based auction trading.