Summary

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided additional information on six foreign automated trading systems for trading futures contracts and options, focusing on: (1) when the exchanges began the futures trading; (2) their current or planned operating hours; (3) the types and volumes of contracts traded; and (4) the exchanges' automated trading processes.

GAO found that: (1) the New Zealand Futures Exchange, Tokyo Stock Exchange, and Tokyo International Financial Futures Exchange used automated trading systems for all futures trading; (2) the Swiss Options and Financial Futures Exchange planned to use its system for all futures trading this year; (3) the Sydney Futures Exchange and the London International Financial Exchange, which began automated trading in 1989, used their systems for after-hours trading and conducted open-outcry trading during normal hours; (4) five systems operating during 1989 traded nearly 28 million futures contracts and options on futures contracts; and (5) all six systems were similar in that the exchanges used them to match and execute orders received from exchange members and report the results of such trades.