Waterhouse joins after-hours trading club
By Reuters
Special to CNET News.com
August 19, 1999, 2:50 p.m. PT
NEW YORK--TD Waterhouse is joining other online brokerages in a drive to allow retail investors to trade stocks past the regular close of U.S. markets, President Frank Petrilli said in an interview today.
"We have been working hard to build the infrastructure to participate in after-hours trading and we would expect to complete that in the next month or six weeks," Petrilli said.
"We don't hear of a lot of customer demand, but it is something that even if only a few customers want it, we should offer," he said.
TD Waterhouse, which is a leading discount broker behind Charles Schwab, earlier today reported a better-than-expected third-quarter profit of $26.4 million. The profit, which was double the $12.9 million Waterhouse earned in the year-ago quarter, was driven by a surge in online customer stock trades.
Waterhouse will offer after-hours trading through Island ECN, an electronic stock matching system majority owned by rival Internet broker Datek Online. Waterhouse currently is finalizing a $25 million investment in Island, Petrilli added.
TD Waterhouse is following other brokers, including Datek and Internet broker E*Trade Group, in bringing after-hours trading to small investors. Currently, professionals such as money managers and brokers dominate stock trading after the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq close at 4 p.m. ET.
The deals coincide with sweeping changes in U.S. share trading. Electronic communications networks (ECNs) or computerized trading systems that match stock orders, have grabbed 10 percent to 25 percent of Nasdaq's share volume in the past two years. Both the Nasdaq and NYSE have announced plans to offer after-hours trading and are changing their ownership structures to better compete with the upstart trading systems.
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