Oct 11, 2012
BME sets date for co-location service
Spain’s Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) will introduce
co-location services on its market from next month as part of efforts to
increase high-frequency trading at the national exchange.
From 12
November, BME members will have the ability to place their servers a few meters
away from the bourse’s cash equities and derivatives trading platforms. BME market data will also be accessible from the same
facility.
Five of the
Spanish exchange’s members have already signed up to the service.
Co-location
lets brokers reduce the time it takes to send orders from their systems to
the market.
The service is
favoured by high-frequency trading firms that need low-latency
infrastructure for their strategies to work effectively.
“The goal of this service is
to improve the speed of access to the Spanish market, in this way enhancing
liquidity and improving price formation,” read a statement from the BME.
BME’s co-location service will
be managed by specialised staff who will be responsible for ensuring access to
the market is "fair and secure".
The version of MiFID II agreed
upon by the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee last
month includes an obligation for trading venues to provide co-location on “a non-discriminatory, fair and transparent
basis”.
Anish Puaar
+44 (0)20 7397 3817
anish.puaar@thetrade.ltd.uk