Nexa Technologies and CBOE Expand Relationship With Development of New HyTS Terminal.

IRVINE, Calif. & CHICAGO -- Nexa Technologies, Inc. (www.nexatech.com), a subsidiary of Penson Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: PNSN), and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) today announced the release of the Nexa HyTS Terminal, a multifunctional trading solution workstation, that offers users a broker-neutral connectivity solution to the CBOE and all other U.S. options exchanges. The Nexa HyTS Terminal features added functionality, including a streamlined GUI, FIX drop copy capabilities and a complete demo environment for user evaluation prior to implementation.

"We have worked closely with the CBOE for some time and are excited to expand our relationship with the release of the Nexa HyTS Terminal," said Eric Stoop, President of Nexa Technologies. "Clients will experience a clean, user-friendly interface designed by experienced options traders that provides integrated access to U.S. options exchanges as well as futures and equities products. The new terminal enhances a trader's ability to manage trading in multiple asset classes through a single front-end."

In addition to complete connectivity to U.S. options markets, the Nexa HyTS terminal is delivered with real-time market data, streaming quotes and a full set of order management tools. The new product is not a replacement for the current HyTS technology, but rather an additional option from which members can choose. The new version is available immediately to CBOE members through Nexa affiliate Penson Financial Services, Inc., and can be delivered via the Internet.

"CBOE is pleased to market Nexa's additional state-of-the-art, universal access routing terminal to choose from. Nexa's proven track record as a cutting-edge technology provider allows our members and customers to choose among highly capable vendors for the universal access and functionality they have come to expect from HyTS terminals," said Edward Provost, CBOE Executive Vice President, Business Development.

Earlier this year, the CBOE and Tick Data, Nexa Technologies' market data division, joined forces to release the industry's first commercially-available, research-ready historical intraday database for the U.S. options market. The Tick Options Database is being employed by high-frequency buy-side and sell-side firms to design, test and validate algorithmic options trading models and used for pre- and post-trade analysis and optimization of execution strategies.

About Nexa Technologies: www.nexatech.com

Nexa Technologies, Inc. is a provider of online and direct access trading solutions. Nexa Technologies, Inc. is a subsidiary of Penson Worldwide, Inc. Its comprehensive product set incorporates multi-asset direct access trading systems, FIX-compliant order routing, an Order Management System (OMS), comprehensive data and market access to European and North American equity, options and derivatives exchanges and ECNs.

The Tick Data division, which provides clean, reliable historical intraday time series data for the equities and futures markets, employs proprietary compression algorithms, price-filtering techniques, and ticker symbol mapping processes to produce complete, research-ready historical data. From efficient data collection and distribution to seamless integration with third-party analytical software, Tick Data removes the frustration from building and maintaining historical databases.

About Penson Worldwide (NASDAQ: PNSN): www.penson.com

The Penson Worldwide group of companies includes Penson Financial Services, Inc., Penson Financial Services Canada, Inc., Penson Financial Services Ltd., Nexa Technologies, Inc. and Penson GHCO, among other companies. The Penson Worldwide group of companies provides execution, clearing, custody, settlement, and technology infrastructure products and services to financial services firms and others servicing the global financial services industry. Penson Financial Services, Inc., headquartered in Dallas, Texas, has served the clearing needs of all types of broker/dealers since 1995. Penson is The Flexible Choice in Global Financial Services.

About Chicago Board Options Exchange: www.CBOE.com

CBOE, the largest U.S. options marketplace and the creator of listed options, is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). For additional information about the CBOE and its products, visit the CBOE website at: www.cboe.com.

CBOE[R], Chicago Board Options Exchange[R], CBOEdirect[R] and HyTS[R] are registered trademarks of Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated (CBOE). CBOE Hybrid(SM) and Hybrid(SM) are servicemarks of CBOE.