Similar to electronic stock exchanges (electronic exchange), alternative trading platforms bring together buyers and sellers of securities or assets to settle transactions. As privately operated markets, they define the trading and price-setting rules and are often less democratic in yielding transparency on the market action for all parties alike. Although they are less regulated than official exchanges, they are still subject to national regulatory authorities, such as the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) in the case of alternative securities platforms in the US. While in the US the term alternative trading system (ATS) is often used synonymously for ATP, it is multilateral trading facility (MTF) in Europe. Among the established ATPs are the systems of large banks (e.g., Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs or UBS) but also those of service providers such as Dealerweb or Instinet. Similarly, the more recent cryptocurrency trading platforms (crypto exchange) are considered ATPs, which still await regulation.
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