John Thain, new chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has laid out reforms which pave the way for a transition of trading away from the traditional floor-based specialists and onto electronic platforms.

Just three weeks into his tenure, Thain confirmed that he would do away with the 30-second time limit on electronic order entry and allow trades of more than 1,099 shares to be executed on the automated Direct Plus system. Only 6% of trading on the exchange is currently done electronically.