Following the completion of its Aquis acquisition, which was originally announced in November, SIX will have listing and trading venues situated in mainland Europe, the UK and Switzerland.

The result could mean a unique opportunity for the exchange operator to create a three-pronged fully pan-European trading venue, the first of its kind to come to market within the region.

“Thinking long term, we have the opportunity to think about building a pan-European venue with three legs to stand on,” Bjørn Sibbern, chief executive officer of SIX Group, tells The TRADE.

“Subject to the closing of the acquisition of Aquis, we will be the only exchange with listing venues in Switzerland, EU and the UK, and that creates a unique opportunity. We have two other listing venues that work well so we need to see how we want to develop that.”

Aquis-ition

The exchange group confirmed its plans to acquire Aquis in November last year, a deal which remains subject to closing conditions and regulatory approvals. The Swiss exchange group has agreed to acquire the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Aquis at a price of 727 pence per share, valuing the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Aquis at approximately £207 million (based on Treasury stock methodology).

Read more – SIX agrees to acquire Aquis Exchange

Speaking on the drivers behind the deal, Sibbern explains that the Aquis acquisition was a natural fit with complimentary offerings to those already in play at SIX.

“Aquis has a pan-European trading offering with more than five percentage market share. They’ve been the most successful MTF in the last couple of years in terms of growth,” he says.

“They run on their own technology – a technology we use in Asia for a joint venture we have on crypto derivatives called Asia Next. They have a small listing offering and then also have a data offering. It’s a great match to what we have at SIX. We want to keep the brand we want to keep the management team and we want to keep business model – including competing with ourselves.”

Among its many product expansions announced in the last year, Aquis confirmed plans to launch a new VWAP crossing service in the UK and Europe in December. The new offering will use conditional indication of interests (IOIs) and use a VWAP period of five minutes. Members will be able to submit IOIs at a volume weighted price using all the major reference markets for that calculation.

While UK endevours for the offering have continued as usual, plans for the product in Europe were brought to a standstill at the end of last year thanks to a last-minute rule change by EU watchdogs.

Featured in its final report on equity transparency, published in December, the European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA) added an additional line to its text surrounding the specific characteristics of negotiated transactions, preventing exchanges from using the negotiated waiver model on their own behalf.

However, a recent consultation released by the European Commission suggests it could be exploring reversing this decision.

Read more – European Commission exploring US-style order protection rule among other market reforms

When asked about the group’s future plans for either Aquis’ potential VWAP crossing offering or its own one, Sibbern confirms that nothing is being ruled out.

“From the SIX point of view, we look at many of these types of different functionality,” he explains. “We have been one of the exchange innovators around midpoint matching […] and this [VWAP cross] is also one of the things that we’re looking at.”

The future European venue landscape

Something that Sibbern is keeping tabs on – like many that sit in similar seats to his – is the continued decline of lit volumes in Europe. Lit markets now account for just under 30% of volumes in Europe, the lowest they have ever been.

Institutions’ increasing appetite for alternatives to the incumbent exchanges have continued to drive innovation in the European trading venue landscape including the launch of new trading mechanisms and the growth of dark trading.

SIX itself has a successful dark trading business both in Switzerland and Spain and Sibbern reaffirms the exchange’s stance that dark trading will continue to play a central role in the market.

The danger, he notes, is when market’s reach a point where the fractional portion of volumes taking place on exchange set the reference price for all other trading mechanisms.

“While Mifid II didn’t achieve its original goal of moving more volume onto lit venues, the reality is that we’ve seen volume proliferate across alternative trading venues, as institutional investors demand increasing choice over where and how they execute,” he says.

“If you see more flow go to SIs, OTC, private rooms that will just diminish the price sitting on the exchanges which is important because everybody uses that as the reference price.”

The venue landscape much like most corners of the financial markets is constantly evolving as the needs of those operating within them also shift. While not currently allowed under regulation in the UK and Europe, ‘private’ or ‘hosted’ rooms have continued to come up during industry discussion in recent months as the explosion of the concept in the US piques the interest of investors in Europe.

“We will see private rooms in some shape and form in Europe. I don’t think it would be as big as US but it’s too early to conclude,” adds Sibbern. “It’s something we’re mindful of and something we’re looking at. It’s not an offering we have in place but something we have to monitor of course.”

Another US-led innovation also occupying airtime in Europe and the UK currently is the concept of 24-hour equities trading. While a handful of technology providers have offered out of hours trading for several years now, the decision by several incumbent exchanges – namely NYSE, Nasdaq and Cboe – to begin exploring implementing an extension of trading hours suggests the theme is becoming mainstream in the US.

Read more – Cboe to launch 24-hour US equities trading

Europe, however, seems to tell a different story. A few years ago, European participants were petitioning for the shortening of market hours. As US venues apply to regulators for the lengthening of their trading day, their European peers have shown little to no sign of following suit.

“I do not see any strong customer demand for expanding the opening hours,” says Sibbern. “In Europe, it will probably be a case of wait and see what the development is in the US. Where it’s different is for structured products where you see customers wanting to also trade in the evening.”

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Launched in March, the new service is designed to offer automatic price improvement over Xetra reference market prices.

Retail orders are integrated with institutional ones within the Xetra order book, however, central to the new offering launched in March is are retail-dedicated market makers designed to interact specifically with retail orders, with the aim of provides providing price improvement over the prevailing Xetra best bid and offer (BBO) prices when possible.

If this cannot be achieved, then orders are executed at least at the current Xetra price.

“Given the recent surge of retail investor activity in Germany and other European countries, our new retail execution service addresses the growing demand for efficient capital market access at the right time,” a Deutsche Börse spokesperson told The TRADE.

“This service represents an important milestone in our ongoing efforts to deliver first-class execution services specifically tailored to the needs of retail clients. It will also serve as a launching pad for further innovation in the future.”

Transaction fees for retail executions have been reduced by Xetra, subject to the investor’s bank or broker participating in the service. The service applies to all Xetra trading in equities, ETFs and ETPs.

It is supplemented by a free real-time Level 2 market data offering for ETFs and ETPs, launched in April. Registered private investors have access to Xetra ETF real-time push price data. The new retail data offering also includes real-time order book depth data of all ETFs and ETPs traded on Xetra.

The market data offering is also available to institutions for integration into their services, a spokesperson for Deutsche Börse confirmed.

The new ETF retail trading offering builds on the equities service launched by Xetra last year.

“With our new execution service, we aim to reduce both implicit and explicit execution costs for private investors, ensuring best execution in equities – including German, European and a broad range of foreign stocks – as well as ETFs and ETPs,” a spokesperson for the exchange said.

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Steve Miele

The move will allow buy-side trading desks to connect to nominated brokers on the Turquoise Plato Block Discovery trading service, providing increased control over block orders and self-directed orders to Turquoise and enhancing liquidity while reducing market impact. 

The offering is set to go live in H2 2025, subject to regulatory approval, and will be made available through LeveL Markets’ platform, Luminex.  

“We are delighted to partner with LeveL Markets to expand our dark trading offering on Turquoise and to launch our new solution for large block trading,” said chief executive of Turquoise Global, Adam Wood.  

“This further underlines our commitment to providing our members with diverse sources of liquidity and working with the market to deliver increased efficiencies and functionality across our equity trading services.”  

Read more – Turquoise and Plato draw commercial partnership to a close  

 The Luminex platform aims to provide buy-side clients with an anonymous, non-quoted trading destination to source block liquidity while reducing market impact through its proprietary user interface.  

Steve Miele, chief executive of LeveL Markets, LLC, said: “With the launch of this exciting partnership with Turquoise, we are able to further deliver on our purpose to satisfy the liquidity needs of buy-side firms. Through our trading solutions and Turquoise’s new block manual conditional order type, this collaboration will enable users to source further block liquidity while reducing market impact.” 

 The new collaboration with LeveL Markets follows the end of Turquoise’s commercial relationship with Plato Partnership announced in July 2024, which had seen the pair working together to drive change in best practice guidance and deliver increased efficiencies in anonymous European equity block trading.  

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Umesh Gajria

The exchange operator said the move will support the launches of its MIAX Bloomberg 500 Index futures and options products, planned for the second half of 2025.  

MIAX Futures will list MIAX Bloomberg 500 Index futures, subject to certain filings with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). MIAX Bloomberg 500 Index options will also be listed on MIAX Options, subject to approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  

Thomas P. Gallagher, chairman and chief executive of MIH said: “The industry is looking for alternative ways to manage its US equity exposure and we believe our new MIAX Bloomberg 500 Index Futures and Options will offer competitive fees, enhanced product choice and more appropriate contract sizes to support the evolving needs of retail and institutional investors.” 

The launch of MIAX Bloomberg 500 Index futures will make the product the first financial future to be traded on the MIAX Futures Onyx platform, pending filing with the CFTC. 

“We are thrilled that our flagship B500 Index will be more broadly available through both the MPF and OPRA,” said Umesh Gajria, global head of index-linked products at Bloomberg Index Services Limited.  

“The availability of BBX will allow the industry to more easily incorporate the data into trading, risk and analytical models, creating the foundation for the B500 suite of products we are building in collaboration with MIAX.” 

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Ivan Brown

The exchange operator said the new venue will align with the needs of options industry participants and tackle risk management challenges in the market. 

The firm announced the launch of the US options exchange in September 2024, and efforts have already been made to expand IEX’s options team, file the proposed rule book with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and maintain engagement with regulatory authorities and industry stakeholders.  

Read more – IEX Group to launch its first options exchange 

Ivan Brown, who leads business and product development for IEX Options said: “The options market continues to grow rapidly, driving demand for innovative solutions that help participants quote confidently, manage risk and deploy capital effectively, and expand their competitive toolkit. 

“We’re encouraged by the strong and ongoing engagement with our clients, who recognise the utility of a differentiated exchange model that helps provide new solutions for a fast-growing and robust market.” 

The exchange will be an electronic venue, providing access to the entire multi-listed options market while relying on a pro-rata model.  

IEX has said that the launch will tackle challenges facing the options market, specifically adverse selection, by leveraging the firm’s previous experience in building equities solutions for performance and protection.  

Following the announcement of the launch last year, the firm also stated that minimal effort will be required to onboard current members of its equities exchange onto the new venue.  

John Palmer, head of options at IEX said: “We’ve taken the time to build a market architecture designed to enhance market participants’ ability to manage risk, with the goal of driving more liquidity and better prices for the market at large. The positive response from our clients reinforces our confidence in the value IEX Options will bring to the market.” 

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Tabled as part of a consultation paper launched on 15 April, the European watchdog has asked participants how effective they believe the order protection rule is for guaranteeing the best price for clients/investor protection, speed of execution, level of execution fees, split of liquidity, interconnection between trading venues, efficiency of the price formation process, modernising trading protocols and trading.

Implemented as part of Reg NMS in 2005, the US order protection rule mandates that orders be executed on exchanges that show the best price. Orders are re-routed to other competing venues if it cannot be executed at what is considered the best price.

The European Commission’s consultation has asked participants for their assessment of EU infrastructure to cater for the rerouting of orders to venues offering the best price – as per the requirements of the rule. It has also asked respondents to note if they think the geographical positioning of venues would pose an issue, and what the necessary arrangements and costs could be.

Those responding are also invited to give their opinion on the effectiveness of best execution rules in Europe, requiring them to list whether the EU or the US framework is most effective for obtaining the best results for clients.

Brought in under Mifid II, the best execution obligation requires that firms take all necessary and reasonable steps to ensure the best result for an order.

The European Commission’s consultation touches on a wide range of market areas as part of its objective to gather stakeholder feedback on obstacles to market integration across the EU. When it comes to trading specifically, the paper has a heavy focus on market harmonisation, with many sections dedicated to the potential benefits and feasibility of creating more integrated markets in Europe.

Numerous questions relate to what respondents believe could be barriers to integration across the 27 member states and their markets. It also asks respondents to assess both direct execution and indirect execution of orders, as well as the various fees charged for connections to venues across member states.

The 375-question strong consultation also assesses several other market areas including dark trading levels.

The paper asks participants why they think dark trading is growing, whether that be regulation, liquidity fragmentation, order flow competition, technological developments, or the growth of ETFs and passive management. Participants are also prompted on their thoughts on reference price waiver is fit for purpose and asks them to assess the current criteria for reference price.

The return of VWAP crossing?

Notably, the consultation asks if trading venues should be allowed to use the negotiated price waiver to execute negotiated transactions that take place with the assistance of a system or trading protocol operated by the trading venue.

Read more – ESMA thwarts European trajectory crossing plans with last minute rule change

The consultation follows European regulators’ decision at the end of last year to bring an abrupt and unexpected end to a group of trading venue’s plans to launch trajectory crossing in the region with a last-minute rule change. Said venues had been planning to use the waiver as the basis for their models.

Featured in its final report on equity transparency, published in December, the European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA) added an additional line to its text surrounding the specific characteristics of negotiated transactions, preventing exchanges from using the model on their own behalf. The rule change put a stop to exchanges’ plans in Europe.

The decision has received significant hit back from several parties – namely the venues looking to launch these products in Europe.

However, Tuesday’s consultation suggests the European Commission could be open to reassessing.

24-hour trading, the consolidated tape and the close

The extension of market trading hours for equities has become a hot topic in the US in recent months. While a handful of technology providers have offered out of hours trading for several years now, the decision by several incumbent exchanges to begin exploring implementing an extension of trading hours suggests the theme is becoming mainstream in the US.

Europe, however, seems to tell a different story. A few years ago, European participants were petitioning for the shortening of market hours. As US venues apply to regulators for the lengthening of their trading day, their European peers have shown little to no sign of following suit.

The European Commission’s consultation released on Tuesday asks respondents how positive they deem extended trading hours/24-hour trading to be for the development and competitiveness of EU markets, also asking if it is “advantageous” or “risky”.

When it comes to the tape, the Commission has also asked participants opinions on several technical elements including how effective lifting the anonymity of the EBBO, the importance of expanding the depth of the EBBO displayed, and the speed at which core market data should be disseminated by the tape.

Centrally the European watchdog has asked whether systematic internalisers (SIs) should contribute to the tape and which amendments to their regulatory framework would be required to effectively include them as contributors of equity pre-trade data.

The consultation also explores bilateral trading levels, single market marker venues and ghost liquidity, as well as, closing auction activity, with several questions asking participants why they think the close has grown so much and what fees they are charged on competing venues.

Respondents have until 10 June to submit their feedback to the watchdog. Meanwhile, an online questionnaire through which participants can respond to the consultation will be available as of 22 April 2025.

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One Trading has unveiled a new regulated perpetual trading venue, increasing the European crypto-assert exchange’s accessibility to both institutional and eligible retail clients.  

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Daniel Labovitz

Through becoming a registered securities exchange, GIX will become the firm stock market in the US focused on the $35 trillion sustainability economy.

Speaking to interest in the sustainability-focused exchange, Charles Dolan, co-founder and president, previously told The TRADE that important conversations were underway with key buy-side players, explaining: “Our discussions with major buy-side firms have revealed a high level of interest in our initiative. They believe our direction will significantly influence asset allocation decisions and other industry practices, making it a game-changer for the entire sector.”

The GIX trading platform is set to be powered by MEMX technology and offer non-tiered, competitive liquidity and quoting programs.

In addition, GIX confirmed that it will also be part of the National Market System (NMS), ensuring best execution. 

 “Climate risk is business risk. It’s that simple. US investors and companies are continuing to pursue sustainability because it makes financial and competitive sense,” said Dolan in an official announcement on 14 April.

Read more: Keeping ESG commercial

Speaking to The TRADE last July, chief executive and co-founder Daniel Labovitz, highlighted the importance of the GIX mandate and the opportunity it represents for market makers to voluntarily take on a dual listing matter.

He further highlighted the significance of firms taking accountability through joining GIX, adding that joining the platform will be a reflection of a business’ integrity and the character of its leadership. 

“[…] Contrary to popular belief, an exchange is not just about ‘buy, buy, sell, sell,’ which is the domain of brokers. The true essence lies in the infrastructure that supports these transactions,” he said. 

“The role of GIX is to provide an unbiased platform where investors can meet to buy and sell, guided by credible, reliable, and trustworthy information. This is the essence of what an exchange does, and GIX is committed to fulfilling this need for the sustainability world.”

GIX founders also include Jim Buckley, former chief regulatory officer of the National Stock Exchange, and Lou Pastina, former executive vice president of operations on the NYSE floor. 

The post GIX trading platform becomes first green securities exchange to gain SEC approval appeared first on The TRADE.

Megan Morgan

The derivatives and securities exchange network has said that the launch will complement Cboe’s S&P 500 Index (SPX) options.  

The expansion comes following increasing conversations around equity index exposure in recent years, as well as growing interest in options to manage US equity market exposure and volatility.  

Belvedere Trading will act as the lead market maker. 

Megan Morgan, head of market structure at Belvedere Trading, said: “The addition of S&P 500 Equal Weight Index options by Cboe is timely and we are excited for the opportunity to serve as the lead market maker. We have long found value in the S&P 500 Index ecosystem and Cboe’s trading floor, and as the market evolves, more tools in the toolkit are always welcomed.” 

Through using the S&P 500 EWI options, the exchange provider aims to allow market participants to make directional trades based on their views of macro trends and shifts in equity market dynamics.  

Catherine Clay, global head of derivatives at Cboe said: “We expect these options to cater to both retail and institutional investors looking to diversify and implement a variety of trading strategies, ultimately providing them greater choice and ability to tailor their exposure to fit their needs.  

Cboe said that an S&P 500 EWI options contract would have a mid-sized notional value of approximately $63,200 as of market close on 7 April, to open up greater options access to more market participants.  

Similarly, the launch also addresses challenges of physical delivery through cash settlement, as well as the risk of early assignment and uncertainty around implementing hedging strategies through European-style expiration.  

Read more: Cboe to launch FTSE Bitcoin Index Futures 

Cboe has made several moves to expand the derivatives suite available on its venues in recent months. The exchange unveiled plans earlier this month for its new FTSE Bitcoin Index Futures (XBTF) with the aim of driving expansion in the digital asset markets. Trading is scheduled on the Cboe Futures Exchange for 28 April. 

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Jarrod Boland

The funding round, which included Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, LLLP (SPEILLLP), a member of Susquehanna, also saw IMC and CTC participating as co-investors.  

The investment is expected to accelerate change by allowing market participants to trade OTC FX options directly with each other within a single venue, through SpectrAxe’s all-to-all central limit order book (CLOB) platform.  

Jarrod Boland, associate director at Susquehanna International Group said: “We’ve watched SpectrAxe’s development with great interest since their launch. Their platform has demonstrated that a central limit order book can successfully operate in the OTC FX options market, driving meaningful improvements in price discovery and liquidity access.” 

Through using CLOB, the company aims to address traditional challenges facing the FX options market including manual chat or phone-based trading and reduce barriers to entry for market access while improving operational efficiencies. 

 “We have a shared belief that by solving the credit problem to enable true all-to-all trading in FX options in an anonymous, exchange-style environment, market fragmentation will become a thing of the past,” said chief executive of SpectrAxe, Scott Greene. 

Read more – SpectrAxe and OSTTRA partner to streamline FX options trading 

In July 2024, SpectrAxe and OSTTRA partnered on an end-to-end service aimed at streamlining FX options trading through automation of the entire process.  

Ramon Puyane, head of FX trading at IMC said: “SpectrAxe is redefining FX trading with an electronic platform that brings the structure and efficiency of major listed exchanges to the OTC market. 

“By leveraging a non-disclosed central limit order book, it aims to unlock a new level of price discovery and transparency. Increased adoption of SpectrAxe by traders into their workflow is expected to drive significant volume growth, cementing its position as a key liquidity venue in the FX landscape.” 

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