US equities block trading platform Pipeline is planning to start trading across Europe from Q2 this year. The firm is in the final stages of the authorisation process for its new European platform with the Financial Services Authority, the UK’s financial regulator.
The European platform will grant traders access to liquidity in 14 European markets. It will cover 6,000 stocks, including all the main European indices, as well as a range of exchange-traded funds and global depository receipts. The 14 launch countries are the UK, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Belgium and Italy.
According to Pipeline, the system will provide European traders with the same reduced market impact and hit rates for large orders enjoyed by its US users. The US platform has a 26% block hit rate with an average trade size of 50,000 shares, compared with the New York Stock Exchange’s average trade size of 260 shares.
The system combines the Pipeline Block Market trading platform with the Algorithm Switching Engine – a tool which uses real-time and historical trading data to select the appropriate algorithms and execution styles for a trader’s execution preferences.
“Pipeline’s unique model gives traders a competitive advantage to source natural block liquidity,” said Fred Federspiel, president of Pipeline Financial Group, in a statement. “Our expansion into Europe will give traders a single, easy to use tool to get the largest orders done with the least amount of market impact.”
Tony Whalley, head of dealing at asset management firm Scottish Widows Investment Partners, added, “Accessing liquidity is becoming increasingly difficult in the current volatile market conditions. As a result, we are turning to alternative venues such as Pipeline to ensure we achieve best execution.”