First established in 2005, Direct Edge is an electronic communication network commanding a very large market share on the U.S stock exchange market with a capability of trading up to 2 billion shares on a daily basis.
Prior to this, the firm was known as Attain whose establishment dates back to 1998 and at which time, it operated on the EDGA ECN, ISE Stock Exchange and EDGX ECN platforms. Later, ISE SE was dropped leaving the firm which 2trading platforms. The network operates on 2 separate entities as EDGA and EDGX. The EDGA platform both avails and receives liquidity for stock exchange whereas the EDGX platform is responsible for charging liquidity consumers and refunds the providers. In simpler terms, EDGA is charged with the provision as well as the subsequent return of investment capital whereas EDGX is charged with taxing liquidity takers and rebating liquidity providers. In 2010, the firm converted to a fully-fledged stock exchange with EDGA and EDGX operating as independent bodies providing various stock exchange services.
The company has its headquarters in Jersey City and through its dual operational platforms it provides stock brokers and dealers with great flexibility necessary for optimizing trade, an enhanced platform for quick trading, and enhanced trading impact among other things. The firm specializes in the provision of market data, routing, trading and connectivity services.
Currently, the firm comes in third position to hold about 10% of the equities on the United States trading platform just behind NASDAQ which is the second largest stock exchange trader in United States; the New York Stock Exchange holds the first position.
One of the major distinctions of DirectEdge.com is its ability to integrate and make use of both displayed and dark liquidity. Notably, it is the first firm on the market to have started the facilitation of dark liquidity on the entire stock exchange market. As such the firm operates a free-free EDGA model. What this means is that with the EDGA platform, clients can access and/or supply liquidity free of charge. On the other hand, the EDGX platform clients are expected to pay some form of fees to take liquidity while the liquidity providers are offered rebates.
