Direct Edge Surpasses BATS as 3rd Largest Equities Marketplace in Both Matched and Handled Market Share

Records Across the Board, Including 11.2 Percent Matched Market Share


JERSEY CITY, N.J., March 17, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Direct Edge achieved a matched market share of 11.2% yesterday, surpassing BATS in both matched and handled market share for the first time since BATS became an exchange. Direct Edge set numerous single-day records yesterday, including handled market share, with 19.3% of all U.S. equity trading volume. Direct Edge handled 2.4 billion shares and matched 1.4 billion shares on its trading platforms yesterday, both records as well.

"People will naturally focus on the fact that our matched market share was higher than BATS's, but we are just as excited about handling 2.4 billion shares. We have consistently shown an ability to convert routed order flow into matched order flow through our innovative products, so a growing handled market share bodes well for us," said William O'Brien, Chief Executive Officer of Direct Edge. "Of course, we realize that tomorrow morning we start off at zero shares executed for the day, which is why we always thank our customers for their support."

EDGA, the smaller of Direct Edge's two high-volume platforms, handled over 1 billion shares for the first time yesterday. EDGA offers a "free/free" pricing model -- free to post liquidity and free to take liquidity.

About Direct Edge

Direct Edge offers the next generation of displayed markets. With U.S. cash equities volume routinely exceeding 1.5 billion shares per day, Direct Edge uses multiple ECN and exchange platforms and unique order types to match complementary forms of liquidity based on sensitivity to transaction cost, fill rate, fill speed, and contra-side sophistication, while maintaining high execution quality and low latencies. Headquartered in Jersey City, N.J., Direct Edge is owned by a consortium that includes the International Securities Exchange, Knight Capital Group, Inc., Citadel Derivatives Group, The Goldman Sachs Group, and J.P. Morgan. More information about Direct Edge is available at http://www.directedge.com. Everybody Needs Some Edge.

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