Let’s start at the beginning. Why did Nasdaq OMX decide to get into the options business, and why start a market from scratch?
Pennies were a big driver and we’ve lived through pennies in equities at Nasdaq OMX. We thought we would see the options play out on a similar script.
The other key was having the INET technology, our platform for equities. That platform had everything we needed to trade options as well. And with pennies, we felt market share could be up for grabs – plus throw in the growth in options volumes.
As for building from scratch, it’s a lot cleaner rather than doing a transition.
When you first started out planning the options exchange, what did Nasdaq OMX envision and what ultimately did you end up with?The end product is very much what we planned. When we decided to get...