IEX, the exchange helmed by “Flash Boys” hero Brad Katsuyama, has gotten ahead of itself.
The trading platform is within spitting distance of averaging 1 percent of the monthly trading volume in the US stock market — a major milestone toward its stated goal of becoming a registered exchange.
IEX was planning on attracting 1 percent of volume by around June, Katsuyama told The Post last year — putting the company ahead of its own projections.
The company is now the fourth-largest alternative trading system in the US by total shares traded, behind platforms run by the much larger Credit Suisse, UBS and Deutsche Bank, according to data from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
The increase comes as New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has been locked in a battle with Barclays over one of its “dark pool” exchanges — sending the British bank’s platform down from its former No. 2 position, by volume, to No. 13.
According to statistics available on IEX’s Web site, Katsuyama’s alternative trading system in February attracted between 0.8 percent and just over 1 percent of total “equity trading volume” — up from half a percent of all volume in June.
IEX first came to prominence last March when best-selling author Michael Lewis made Katsuyama the hero of his book, which alleged that high-frequency traders rig the stock market by trading faster than other investors.
The IEX platform deliberately slows down all orders so that no one trader can get ahead of another.
Gerald Lam, a spokesman for IEX, declined to comment on the figures.