BATS Trading had a reaction to yesterday's blog that Citadel Derivatives is investing in Direct Edge ECN and that its parent Knight Capital is seeking to build a consortium of direct investors to grow the ECN's liquidity and might eventually consider exchange status. Even though Direct Edge appears to be taking a page from BATS' own strategy, here's what BATS Trading VP, Randy Williams, had to say:

I saw your story today. Interesting. And I/we certainly have some thoughts.

We do respect the appointment of Bill O’Brien as CEO – he has a great reputation and is doubtless a solid candidate. Truthfully, BATS sees DirectEdge as a platform with unique attributes that makes it appropriate for certain types of trades.

That said, the Citadel investment and hiring of Mr. O’Brien will have no impact on BATS’ mission to distinguish itself as the platform of choice for all styles of trading and for all players in the industry. Our broad-based broker-dealer ownership group, combined with our current goal of achieving Exchange status and catering to the specific needs of our customers, sets BATS apart as the industry’s best choice for trading venues.

As an industry leader built for the broker-dealer community, we look forward to making markets better for many years to come.

By the way, (yesterday's) volume figures:

BATS – 415 million shares
DirectEdge – 300 million shares

We welcome the competition.

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