Equity Trading Systems in Europe: A Survey of Recent Changes

This paper provides a survey of recent changes in the market microstructure of the five largest European Stock Exchanges. We first provide a brief statistical overview of European equity markets. Then, we discuss how the introduction of the Investment Services Directive and the development of institutional trading have prompted European Stock Exchanges to modify their trading systems since 1994. We show that these exchanges have converged to a similar market organization. In this organization, trading takes place in an order-driven market but trading rules can vary according to the type of securities. We also describe the remaining differences between the trading systems, in particular with respect to the consolidation of the order flow and transparency.