The Canadian Trading and Quotation System Inc., Canada’s new stock market for emerging companies, announced the successful launch of its trading operations on Friday.

The new market opened for trading as scheduled and the company’s trading platform, provided by Computershare Markets Technology, performed well.

“This launch represents an important step forward for Canadian small cap markets,” said CNQ president Robert Cook. “Early stage companies now have a marketplace designed to maximize liquidity, while investors in these companies have a market with superior levels of disclosure and the highest possible standard of regulatory oversight.”

Today’s opening is the culmination of a process through which CNQ received recognition from the Ontario Securities Commission to operate a quotation and trade reporting system.