The Hong Kong Futures Exchange (HKFE) confirmed today its plans to conduct a simulated trading test of its HKATS electronic trading system on Saturday, 11 September.

The test will comprise four 30-minute sessions. Each session will be designed to confirm the capacity of HKATS at 3-times historical peak trading activity. The guidelines for the test are based on consultations with the HKFE's independent consultants and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC).

As in recent tests, participants will be limited to one contract per order.

"The Exchange and its independent consultants have agreed that it is necessary to set a limit of one contract per order to assure that the number of trades can be targeted, as closely as possible, to 3-times the historical peak level." Chief Operations Officer Francis Kwan said. "We understand that multiple contract orders are normal and routine in actual trading. As a result, the Exchange has entered multiple contract orders in past tests to assure HKATS performance under realistic conditions, and we will do so again this Saturday."

"We appreciate Members' continuing co-operation and understanding on the one contract per order test feature, which has been endorsed jointly by the Exchange and its independent consultants as a legitimate method for testing the performance of HKATS," Acting Chief Executive William Grossman said. "Consideration has been given to the fact that the number of contracts per order is not relevant to system resource consumption. All parties involved have worked hard to design a proper test and we are confident that we have achieved our objective.

"Transparency and openness are critical to this very important testing process. We've been meeting with Members to review previous tests and we encourage Members to call us at any time to express their views," Mr Grossman added. "We appreciate all the time and effort Members are devoting to the tests, and we thank them for their efforts."

The Hong Kong Futures Exchange is a leading futures and options marketplace in the Asia Pacific Region, with a membership of over 130 companies, including a number of major international institutions. The Exchange is actively diversifying its product base, which now includes currency, interest rate and equity-based products.

For further enquiries, please contact HKFE Corporate Communications: Mr Mark Tung on 2842 9448 or Miss Chiu Yeung on 2842 9322.