Will Consolidation or Fragmentation Follow NYSE–ICE, Bats–Direct Edge?

Some will see these mega-deals as part of a major shakeup and others will regard them as just another phase in the Big Bang–Big Crunch cycle that exchanges periodically go through. Often, one begets the other. For instance, a purchase by the Maple Group brought Toronto's TMX Group under the same umbrella as the competing Alpha exchange, but now the proposed Aequitas Exchange threatens to divide Canadian liquidity once again. IEX launched in the US in late October. Bats and Chi-X Europe joined