Block trading network Liquidnet claimed its partnership with SIX Swiss Exchange made it one of the largest dark pools for Swiss equities in February, with turnover on the SIX Swiss Liquidnet Service (SLS) reaching €970 million.
Dark multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) traded €2.67 billion – or 4.7% – worth of Swiss blue-chip equities in February, with overall trading in Swiss stocks totalling €56.7 billion. The SLS accounted for 1.7% of the entire Swiss market.
“Through this partnership, Liquidnet and SIX Swiss Exchange have created a unique offering for the market,” said Christian Katz, CEO, SIX Swiss Exchange. “Our members are not only able to access more quality block liquidity, but also realise the benefits of significant price improvement and reduced market impact on large orders.”
Launched last year, Liquidnet’s agreement with the SIX Swiss Exchange allows exchange members to direct block orders in 2,500 Swiss and other European stocks to Liquidnet’s global trading network, which includes some 630 asset management firms.
Liquidnet added the average trade size on the SLS platform was €587,445 in February – a figure it said was more than 60 times larger than any other MTF or exchange.
Liquidnet's block market accounted for 3% of total European dark trading – including activity by broker crossing networks (BCNs) and dark MTFs – in February, according to figures provided by Thomson Reuters. The figures also revealed that BCNs accounted for 51% of the €56.4 billion worth of overall dark trading in February.