NYSE Euronext will next month allow broker-dealers’ alternative trading systems and off-exchange market centres to print dark pool trades on the Finra/NYSE trade reporting facility and display the daily activity of each trading venue on NYSE.com.
“This is an example of NYSE Euronext and the industry working together to develop a positive solution to address the lack of understanding regarding the extent and nature of ‘dark pool’ trading , which has been a concern for regulators and legislators,” says Joseph Mecane, NYSE Euronext’s executive vice president and chief administrative officer for US markets. “We believe this will bring requisite and appropriate sunlight to alternative trading systems and other sources of off-exchange liquidity, and also help standardize the way their trading volumes are reported.”
NYSE Euronext has been discussing the idea with a number of firms that operate ATSs and off-exchange trading venues, and Barclays Capital, Getco, Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing, Knight Equity Markets and UBS Investment Bank have volunteered to begin reporting their respective venues’ activity to the Finra/NYSE TRF in November 2009.
Other firms have indicated an interest in NYSE Euronext’s transparency initiative and are establishing the necessary technology to begin participating in the programme in the coming weeks.
"This initiative is an important step toward the standardization of trade volume reporting across ATS venues," says Frank Troise, head of equities electronic product at Barclays Capital. "Industry participants will be able to make more informed order placement decisions and thereby improve their execution quality."
The daily trading activity volume published by the Finra/NYSE TRF will be based on trades reported to the Finra/NYSE TRF, which follow Finra’s trade-reporting rules. Basing the published volume strictly on trade reports will address some of the problems associated with voluntary reporting by ATSs of their own volume, such as counting both sides of a trade, and counting trades that are routed by not executed. Trades reported to Finra/NYSE TRF will be single-counted and matched-only.
All ATS trades are currently reported to an industry TRF, which in turn drives the various time and sales market data feeds. This initiative attributes the volumes to the matching destination.
Each trade reporting facility provides a mechanism for the reporting of transactions effected otherwise than on an exchange. While each TRF is affiliated with a registered national securities exchange, each TRF is a Finra facility and is subject to Finra’s registration as a national securities association.