BATS Trading, the upstart Kansas-based equity trading platform, received approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday to operate as a registered national securities exchange, adding to mounting competition in the stock exchange sector.

BATS has been taking market share from the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market, the two largest US exchanges, since its inception two and a half years ago, although critics said this is because the prices it charges customers to trade on it are unsustainably low.