In order to avoid the issues that had plagued Facebook during its IPO, the New York Stock Exchange conducted a test run of Twitter's much anticpated market debut. The Big Board, which is run by NYSE Euronext, regularly conducts systems checks during weekends but this was the first time that it ran a simulated IPO.
The said test run was done at the request of some of its member firms, many of whom participated in the 2012 Facebook IPO on Nasdaq OMX Group's main exchange. The test sought to determine if the system could handle the volume of message traffic expected from the IPO and to ensure orders placed would promptly receive the notices of completions of their placed orders.
This is also seen as the means to fill the gap between the NYSE and the NASDAQ with regards to technology listings. Both exchanges sought to list Twitter but many analysts say that the choice of the NYSE comes after the many glitches and technical issues that had hounded the debut of Facebook on the NASDAQ.
Twitter is intending to sell nearly 70 million shares priced between USD17 and USD20. This is the largest Internet IPO since Facebook and is expected to start trading by November 7.
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