Draft Changes Muddy Future of Dark Pools

The European Commission is reviewing the rules governing trading in dark pools in which stock prices are not displayed. An amendment to a July draft report by British MEP Kay Swinburne – who has been reviewing dark pools and other market practices – has removed the proposed threshold above which private broker-run pools of liquidity [...]

Regulators Face Uphill Battle as Dark Pools Grow Murkier

It would be hard to find a phrase less suited to generating confidence in markets, or more specifically market structures, than “dark pools”. It conjures up a world where trading is done in secret, away from public view. It suggests possibly nefarious activities carried out beyond the sight of regulators. The latter statement is (probably) [...]

ConvergEx Launches Abraxas Europe

Press Release Highly Adaptable Technology to Source Fragmented European Liquidity LONDON, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire/ — ConvergEx Group, a leading technology company, today announced the European launch of Abraxas(SM), the firm’s tactical trading algorithm that uses several technologies to source liquidity in both displayed and dark venues.  Using this algorithm, clients can now better exploit hidden [...]

Singapore OKs Dark-Pool Deal

A joint venture between Singapore Exchange Ltd. and Chi-X Global Inc. received approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore to operate what is known as a dark pool, further expanding the role of alternative trading platforms in the Asian-Pacific region. Trading in the dark pool is expected to begin in the fourth quarter, according to [...]

First Pan Asian Dark Pool

Press Release AMSTERDAM & LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Citi’s Global Transaction Services has been selected by LCH.Clearnet Ltd (LCH.Clearnet) to perform settlement agent bank services for the first Pan Asian dark pool, Chi East. Chi East, the joint venture between Chi X Global and Singapore Stock Exchange, will launch in Q4 2010 as the first Pan Asian dark [...]

Big Stock Exchanges Propose Rules vs ‘Dark Pools’

Some of the world’s biggest exchange operators pushed on Monday for new rules that would relieve them of the intense pressure brought on by broker-run venues, with one executive tying these smaller rivals to computer-based trading techniques that provide little good. The heads of London Stock Exchange Group Plc and NYSE Euronext, attending the World [...]

The Danger with Dark Pools

As with many well-intentioned ideas from Brussels, the new breed of so-called “dark-pool” exchanges isn’t exactly what was intended. According to legend, Belgium’s great central banker Baron Lamfalussy and fellow members of a committee were going for a stroll through a park in the capital when they came up with a scheme for a providing [...]

Liquidnet Promoting Dark Pool in New Zealand

A US firm which specialises in “dark pools” trading is hoping to increase the number of international fund managers trading in New Zealand listed securities by bringing its electronic trading service here. The type of trading is called “dark pools” because it allows investors to trade anonymously with prices only made public once trading is [...]

Barclays to Launch Europe Equities Dark Pool

Barclays Plc’s (BARC.L) investment bank arm said it plans to launch a European “dark pool” trading platform, building on its U.S. platform as part of plans to expand its equities business globally. Rival banks such as Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) already run in-house European “dark pools”, electronic platforms that allow buyers and [...]

Getco Launches a Dark Pools Arm in Europe

Getco, one of the largest US market-making firms, will today formally launch a type of “dark pool” share trading platform in Europe. Dark pools match trades anonymously with prices posted only after trades are done. The move highlights the inroads that US firms are making into the region’s fragmented equity markets. The Chicago firm has [...]

Brokers Cautious About Dark Pools

Press Release LONDON-(BUSINESS WIRE) –An industry roundtable hosted by Transaction Network Services (NYSE:TNS) has highlighted the uncertainty felt by brokers about trading with dark pools and suggests the cause is simply unfamiliarity with these relatively new trading venues. Held in Stockholm last week, the event was supported by Turquoise, SEB and Burgundy, and brought together [...]

Goldman Now Dominating Dark Pool Trading; Who Is Sigma X?

The last time I discussed dark pools, it was in the context of SEC regulation due to the increasing sense of opacity of what happens in this subset of the stock market. A new Reuters article adds fuel to the fire, indicating that not only are dark pools aggressively taking away from exchange trading action, [...]

NYSE Euronext Takes ‘Dark Pool’ Complaints to SEC

NYSE Euronext (NYX) took its case against dark pools to the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday, charging that competitors are giving preferential treatment to some customers and introducing price distortions to the market. In a letter to SEC Secretary Elizabeth Murphy, the operator of the New York Stock Exchange alleged that new order types developed [...]

Bank-Run Dark Pools Swelling in U.S. Stock Markets

Big banks are executing an increasing percentage of U.S. stock trades within their own walls, capitalizing on the credit crisis and enticing the most active traders away from the traditional exchanges. “Dark pools,” where orders are anonymously matched so that traders do not alert the wider market to their intentions, have triggered concerns that stock [...]

Nasdaq OMX May Tap Dark Pools to Bolster Equities Business

Nasdaq OMX Group (NDAQ) is considering further steps to compete with electronic competitors that have cut into its U.S. equity trading business, a top executive said Thursday. The exchange operator, which will introduce a new order type that taps off-exchange liquidity on Friday, may recruit dark pool operators to provide additional liquidity to its markets [...]

Trading in a Dark Pool? Watch for Sharks

The proliferation of alternative electronic stock exchanges known as dark pools puts institutional investors at higher risk of shark encounters. Dark pools find matches for blocks of shares without publishing the orders or the identities of the institutions. But that anonymity can also give cover to sharp operators known as “gamers.” These traders sniff out [...]