SBI Securities Co., Japan's largest online broker, has upgraded its technology in anticipation of faster trading speeds in the world's second-biggest equity market.
SBI purchased a high-speed data feed this month from MarketPrizm, said Yoshitaka Kitao, president and chief executive officer of Tokyo-based parent company, SBI Holdings Inc. This will let SBI customers get pricing information and execute trades faster on both the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the venue run by sister company SBI Japannext.
Japan Exchange Group Inc., formed this year by the merger of the country's biggest stock and derivative markets, is cutting the minimum price increment for 100 of its biggest stocks next month. A similar shift in the U.S. more than a decade ago reduced profits for human traders, fueling the rise of high-frequency trading firms whose automated systems made money despite the narrowed gap between prices to buy and sell. Kitao said SBI is preparing for more high-speed trading.
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