DECLARATION OF DAVID ELLIS
`
`I, David Elli~, declare that:
`
`I am personally familiar with the facts set forth herein, and, if called as a witness,
`1.
`I could avd would testify thereto of my own personal knowledge.
`
`I started my career as a professional trader over 27 years ago. In 1977, I started
`2.
`trading on the open-outcry floor of the Mi.dAmerica exchange in Chicago, where I t:aded
`mini contracts on hogs, cattle and grain. From around 1978n9 until 1996, I traded at
`various times on the floors of the Chicago Board of Trade ("CBOT") and the Chicago
`Mercantile Exchange (''CME''). In the mid 1990s I started trading electronically on
`Globex, the C!\.1E' s electronic trading platform.
`
`3.
`Near the end of 1996, I founded DE Trading, a proprietary trading firm, and also
`started trading e1ectronically on Eurex. At that time, I became a customer of Trading
`Technologies ("TI"). The firm started with 3 traders, all trading electronically on Eurex.
`Today, DE Trading has around 90 traders trading electronically. I am President of DE
`Trading and International Trading Group, both of which are located in Glenview, lliino]s.
`
`I saw TT's MD Tradet· product when it was first released in around the fall of
`4.
`2000. Prior to seeing MD Trader, I was aware of a wide variety of electronic trading
`software platforms, including TT's previous software, the Burex green screen, the Globex
`front-end, and software sold by GL, EasyScreen, Yes Trader and other vendors.
`
`MD Trader provided for a fast one-click order entry mechanism that was accurate
`5.
`in that the trader could be confident in the order going in at the intended price. This was
`accomplished by allowing the trader to click to send orders in cells aligned with prices
`that remained static on the screen. In previous systems of which I was aware, the prices
`would move on the screen wher, the market changed. If this happened at the moment a
`trader entered a click, the order would be sent in at an unintended price. MD Trader also
`provided a visual format in which market data was displayed against the static prices such
`that the data wonld move up and down the screen. I had never seen these features before
`MD Trader.
`
`The improved order entry reduces mistakes. Also, the visual fotmat of MD
`6.
`Trader allows traders to easily see relative movements of multiple products when
`multiple MD Trader windows are displayed side-by-side (for example, when spreading
`two or more products). In my opinion, these features provide an important benefit to the
`trader. Relatively quickly after MD Trader was first available, the vast majority of the
`traders at DE Trading were using MD Trader a.s their primary order entry and
`
`1
`
`TRADING TECH EXHIBIT 2021
`TD Ameritrade v. Trading Technologies
`CBM2014-00136
`
`Page 1 of 2
`
`

`

`•
`
`management tool. In my experience, it is very rare for a trader to start using MD Trader
`and then go back to using an older styJe trading screen.
`
`I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on
`September JL. 2004.
`
`fjy{fl);
`
`David Ellis
`
`2
`
`Page 2 of 2
`
`