There’s one less Alternative Trading System/dark pool on Wall Street today.
Bulge bracket broker and bank Citi has shuttered its CitiCross ATS.
“We have decided to shut down the CitiCross ATS as part of a strategic review of our Equities Business,” read a statement sent to Traders Magazine. “We continue to invest in talent and technology to drive wallet share growth in Global Equities.”
Nearly 25 million shares were matched in CitiCross during the week of April 15, the latest data available from FINRA, making it near the bottom of the dark pool league tables – 23rd out of 32 pools.
Citi is still in he dark pool business though as its other crossing network, CitiBLOC, which focuses on larger block trades, remains in operation. Finra’s latest stats have this pool matching 6.4 million shares.
So, why close a dark pool when the buy-side continues to look for large anonymous liquidity away from the exchanges?
“Running an efficient, compliant venue isn’t cheap or easy, at least in comparison to a few years ago,” said one industry executive. “Given the competitive landscape, there’s also the question of differentiation, as most dark pools offer essentially the same value proposition. I think you’re going to see potentially more of this from the bulge bracket firms.”
