Facts at Your Fingertips - The Jet Trading System

Orders from investors to buy are matched with orders from investors to sell and this process takes place through the JET System. Clients may require their stockbroker to act as agent when trading. Alternatively, they may trade with the stockbroker as a principal in which event the member firm will be buying shares itself from the client or selling its own shares to the client at an agreed price. Brokerage is fully negotiable between the investor and the member firm. It is charged at an agreed rate in the agency transaction, but may not be charged when the firm is acting as a principal.

The cornerstone of the trading system is a central order 'book'. Dealers manage their orders in the book via trading workstations which are linked to the JET System. The order book is divided into a buy side and a sell side. All orders are time stamped when entered into the book.