New Real-Time Consolidated Tape for European ETFs Unveiled

The product from data-analytics firm big xyt will allow market participants to track pre- and post-trade volumes.

Data-analytics firm big xyt has created a consolidated tape for European equities and ETFs that enables market participants to track pre- and post-trade volumes.

The tape, which was developed in partnership with one of the world’s largest asset managers, allows firms to monitor consolidated liquidity across the European ecosystem.

That includes unexpected off-book trading activity, trades of unusually large size, pending trades and sudden increases in over-the-counter volumes.

The tape is set to benefit trading firms, exchanges, dealing desks and issuers that can gain better insights into liquidity and trading conditions in real-time. Users can access same-day, consolidated reports on market fragmentation to understand the liquidity of a given stock or exchange-traded product.

 “With this step, we are improving the transparency of European ETFs,” Robin Mess, co-founder and CEO of big xyt, told ETF Stream.

“We are delighted to meet growing industry demand for consolidated, normalized and real-time data analytics on European market liquidity, particularly with respect to off-book volumes.”

A Problem for Europe ETFs

The lack of a consolidated tape in Europe has historically been one of the biggest structural challenges facing the European ETF market.

In June, the European Council and Parliament agreed to establish a consolidated tape for equities and exchange-traded funds that incorporates real-time pre-trade data.

However, the agreement failed to incorporate venue attribution despite asset managers and some sell-side firms pushing for a tape that includes five layers of quotes.