ATS Version 7 woes: CSE passes the buck to MIT

The Colombo Stock Brokers Association (CSBA) on Tuesday highlighted to the Colombo Stock Exchange what was an exhaustive list of woes following the introduction of Automated Trading Version 7, with the CSE passing the buck to solutions provider MillenniumIT.

The meeting, first since the introduction of the new version a fortnight ago, was convened by CSE to iron out various concerns from both investor and broker sides. Whilst CSE officials had assured some issues could be rectified by late March, it had informed brokers to take up grievances with MIT, which is now owned by world famous London Stock Exchange.

Sources claimed that a more responsible move would have been for the CSE to accept the CSBA’s written submissions and take it up directly with MIT than passing the buck.

Though trialled many times via mock sessions and improved with stakeholder inputs, the ATS Version 7 since introduction had been blamed for causing confusion among brokers and investors, especially those doing online trading.  This had led to low turnover on some days, in addition to causing frictions between brokers and investors.

Others said the new version is far superior and since introduction needs extra time for all to become familiar with.









Customisation of the ticker is limited. In the existing version, individual users can customize their screens: ticker rows, history rows, ticker mode, etc.

The ticker does not indicate the intra-day change in price but the change between the current and the last traded price.

The ticker does not indicate the intra-day change.

The instruments have to be added to the ticker on a daily basis.

There is a huge delay in the ticker.

Order book

Order book depth displays only 10 price points. This is not adequate. Order book (market depth) cannot be viewed by double clicking as in the previous version.

When you have many company codes opened in the order book where you are looking for prices, the prices do not pop up quickly. There is a delay of about two to three seconds.

There is no quick order book watch.

Whenever stock is changed in the order entry window, default buy window appears.

The order books don’t indicate the buying or selling volumes during the pre-open.

Cannot add VWAP (Volume Weighted Average price) on order book.

Order placement

Drop down list gets removed if the computer restarts or a user gets disconnected and logs in again.

The buy/sell windows take a long time to generate.

The orders should appear in a sequential order according to the type of order (normal order or custodian order).

The order entry panel should have a clear screen command button.

Orders placed for the same client cannot be viewed in the order placement tab unless a share is indicated (this facility was available in the previous version).

Once done amending an order, you cannot place a new order using the same Buy / Sell window (as was done in the previous version) but need to close that window and open a fresh window even though it is for the same client and retype all details including CDS account number which is very time consuming.

Order entry panel should be more user-friendly (space for the client ID field can be reduced and included for the display of the client name which the current given length is not sufficient).

When balance inquiry page is opened from the order placing screen, the client ID in order placing screen (buy or sell window) should automatically moved to client ID field in balance inquiry screen.

When amending an order (qty) the disclosed quantity does not get adjusted automatically.

When a GTC order is entered number of days by default is set for one day, whereas in the older system it was for five days.

Order blotter

The blotter should be able to generate the client’s name (this was there in previous version).

Order count not available in order blotter/my trader.

Orders cannot be filtered by customers. More enhancements are required.

Market watch

Statistics: The previous version was far more effective and should be migrated to this system.

Stock code search option is not functioning.

Blink updates: These are not available in this system although it is a very useful feature.

Instruments list is not available in the market watch when the market is in pre-open status.

Block Trades and Normal trades should be incorporated together. This can cause misjudgement as the volumes will be separate for one stock under the block and normal trade. E.g. calculating the average price for a stock.

The turnover of a share on the market watch does not include the value of block trades.

No column for average price.

Details and summery of executed transactions for the day cannot be viewed in the manager terminal or other terminals.

Announcements window

This window should popup only when there is a new announcement to be displayed.

General

Market status is not displayed on the screen. The user cannot therefore see if the market is open, closed, halted, etc.

If odd lots are allowed to trade on the same system, the minimum charges should be waived off.

Profiles do not open the way it has been saved.

When you add fields to the “recent transactions” on the order entry panel, it doesn’t appear when you re-log to the system though you have saved the profile.

When you re-size the fields in the market watch and save, it doesn’t open in the manner saved.

ATS crashes several times a day

The individual turnover and executed order amount must be indicated in the main screen of each trader login.

Odd lot minimum charge of Rs. 5 for CDS fees should be removed.

Transaction text file (ats2_ttr.txt) sent by CSE at end of the day does not include contract numbers of cancelled contracts for the day.

Value in “order_id” column of transaction text file (ats2_ttr.txt) is invalid; all the recodes carry the value “0000”.