Instinet has launched a Instinet BLX Australia, a new dark liquidity pool for Australian equities, the company said on Wednesday.

BLX, which already operates in the US and Canada, aggregates multiple orders from both buy- and sell-side participants and consolidates them into block-sized trades. The BLX model was designed to increase trade size by appealing to an array of participants, including both passive block traders and those using algorithmic strategies.

"With the Australian equities market becoming more electronic and institutional trading needs becoming more complex, we believe this is an ideal time to introduce a pool like BLX that combines the benefits of both block and continuous trading," said Matthew Moore, head of Australian sales at Instinet. "In BLX you know you're always trading at the middle of the spread rather than paying a premium just to get a block trade down. This results in a greater price improvement, the benefits of which flow right through the investment chain."