Equinix announced that Omega ATS, the low cost alternative trading system for Canadian exchange-listed equities and fixed income instruments, has chosen Equinix to optimize performance and connect to global services and trading partners. Canada’s fastest growing ATS has located in Equinix’s TR1 International Business Exchange (IBX) data center in Toronto.

The company will gain access to Equinix’s financial services ecosystem and directly connect to customers. Mike Bignell, president at Omega ATS, said: “Omega’s ethos is to create a more transparent, low-cost and efficient trading environment in Canada. By leveraging Platform Equinix, Omega will significantly increase the number of market participants who can directly connect to our platform, extending our services to a wider audience via the density of networks available to us.”

Equinix offers the most robust trading ecosystem in Canada, including ATSs, market data and risk management service providers, traders and banks. Companies within Equinix’s Toronto facility can now directly connect their servers to Omega’s point of presence.

Omega offers full transparency of over-the-counter (OTC) fixed-income instruments and is the only ATS to offer U.S. Securities listed in Canadian dollars. It will leverage Equinix’s data centers to offer easier access to more types of instruments to both retail and institutional investors.

John Knuff, general manager, global financial services at Equinix, said: “The Canadian market is becoming more competitive and innovative, and alternative trading systems such as Omega ATS are gaining market share. Sell-side participants wanting to trade with these newer entrants need to gain access to all of them as well as their customers, relevant data vendors and technology providers.”