Nasdaq has been discretely canvassing opinions about its proposal to launch a pan-European trading platform sometime in 2001, industry sources said on Wednesday.

Competition among electronic trading systems is hotting up as they take on established bourses who are themselves forming a pan-European alliance.

The US exchange has been raising its profile in Europe and is already pushing ahead with expansion plans in Asia.

"If anyone can do it, they can, but the market is crowded atthe moment," said Steven Burnham, director of trading at Herzog Heine Geduld.

Nasdaq's London office said it was unable to comment, but added that it was well known for some time the exchange was looking at Europe. Some observers believe the exchange is flying a kite to gauge support.

Last week, UK securities settlement system Crest and the Easdaq announced a link between Crest and the US settlement system DTC to cut the cost of UK and Irish private investors buying Nasdaq and S&P 500 Shares.

Rivals line up ahead of nasdaq

Nasdaq would enter a tangled web of rivals, if it went ahead with a European platform.

"There are a lot of markets out there, with Easdaq coming on, and Tradepoint as well, so Nasdaq might find it difficult and they will be a year behind everyone else," Burnham said.

The Nasdaq has ties with Easdaq, a pan-European stock exchange, but it is thought that relations between the two have cooled somewhat.

Easdaq is looking to launch a new trading platform in Europe next year not only to trade in growth company shares as it does now, but also in shares whose primary listing is on other European bourses or in the United States and Israel.

On Wednesday, Easdaq said it had raised an additional 3.2million euros from two new shareholders, US internet broker E-Trade Group, and trading firm Susquehanna Partners, and three existing shareholders -- Knight/Trimark, the UK's Equitable Life Assurance Society and Herzog Heine Geduld.

Tradepoint also gears up

Tradepoint, the small UK electronic stock exchange is also looking to trade shares on a pan-European basis from next year and has won backing from a consortium led by agency broker Instinet, part of Reuters Group.

A senior investment manager involved in the project said the consortium -- which he estimated represented over half of European share dealing volumes -- should be linked to Tradepoint in the first quarter of next year using software devised by Royal Blue and others.

"We expect to have trading in all the Eurotop 300 shares bythe end of the first quarter next year," the investment manager said. Some 230 other shares could be added later.

Tradepoint was expected to capture three to five percent ofpan-European share volume within a year and play a role in after-hours trading and arbitrage between cash and futures in stocks, the consortium member said.

Tradepoint has bought a small stake in Easdaq as key marketplayers look to have as many fingers in as many electronic pies as possible to ensure they form part of any winning project.

Eight bourses, led by the London Stock Exchange and the Deutsche Boerse, plan to launch their "virtual" pan-European exchange to trade in blue chips from November 2000 by installing electronic link-ups between the participating bourses.