The American Stock Exchange announced that it will launch its new trading platform AEMI, Auction and Electronic Market Integration, on November 6.

The AEMI pilot follows several weeks of successful testing on the trading floor and with outside firms. On November 6, the Amex will begin trading two Amex-listed securities. The Amex expects to add products rapidly throughout the next three months with anticipation of a full roll-out of Amex products before the implementation of Regulation NMS rules on Feb. 5, 2007, the timetable released by the Securities and Exchange Commission for SRO compliance.

“We have worked incredibly hard to reach this day and I am confident that AEMI will transform Amex’s technology,” said Antoine Shagoury, chief information officer at the Amex. “The Amex is on the path to becoming an even more competitive and versatile marketplace.”

The AEMI trading platform has been in development since April 2004. The system will contain functionality for both pre- and post-Regulation NMS compliance. This initial rollout will allow AEMI to launch pre-Reg. NMS and will ensure a smooth migration of Reg. NMS functionality by February 2007. AEMI will trade equities and ETFs at the outset but it has been designed to trade multiple instruments.

The Amex says that its new market structure will offer market participants a greatly expanded range of automated transaction services for equities and exchange traded funds and will combine the speed of an electronic market with the dedicated liquidity of an auction market for times of order imbalances, complex trades, or when natural liquidity cannot be found. The exchange believes that the fusion of automated execution and the auction market will meet the future needs of Amex customers – the investing public, institutional traders, liquidity providers and listed companies – and will enhance the Amex’s competitiveness.

“The American Stock Exchange takes great pride in AEMI, which will provide immediate and automated execution of electronic orders in full compliance with Regulation NMS. AEMI will also support brokered orders and the best qualities of the auction market when conditions warrant human interaction,” said Neal Wolkoff, Amex chairman & CEO. “We have achieved a milestone and we are looking forward to capturing greater market share and adding products on our new trading platform.”