The new facility is adjacent to the New York Stock Exchange equities trading floor and is comprised of two adjoining rooms with new trading pits. The NYSE Amex options trading community and customers will benefit from the enhanced speed, order executions and capacity improvements of the NYSE Arca technology.

'On behalf of the former Amex trading community, we welcome the opportunity to join the NYSE Euronext exchange family,' says James Hyde, Vice President, NYSE Amex options. 'As we begin this exciting new chapter in our history, NYSE Amex options customers will benefit from our best-in-class technology coupled with our proven open outcry marketplace, which offers better pricing and improved order executions.'

'Opening the new NYSE Amex options trading floor is a significant achievement for us and a milestone in the integration of our second US options trading facility,' says Ed Boyle, senior vice president, NYSE Euronext US options. 'Adding the expertise and customer-focused approach of the NYSE Amex options traders and staff gives NYSE Euronext a new, complementary self-regulatory organization as well as the unique ability to leverage our multi-asset exchange model to another important customer segment.'

NYSE Euronext's dual US options exchanges, NYSE Arca options and NYSE Amex options, combine to make the third-largest US equity options marketplace by number of contracts traded. The two US options exchanges enables NYSE Euronext to operate a dual market structure that provides customers with the choice of price-time priority on NYSE Arca options or the traditional market-maker model and expanded array of services of NYSE Amex options.