Thomson Reuters outlines tougher rules for FX market

Thomson Reuters has proposed an update to its matching rule book, setting higher industry standards in FX trading.

Thomson Reuters has proposed an update to its matching rule book, setting higher industry standards in FX trading.

The proposals have been in development for the past year and incorporate feedback from market participants on how to encourage behavior that sustains primary markets.

Revisions to the Thomson Reuters Matching rule book are intended to encourage interest at top of book, maintain high certainty of execution and provide a fair and orderly trading experience.

The rules will also discourage abuse and manipulation and activities that do not contribute to enhanced liquidity across the market. The platform is a regulated multilateral trading facility (MTF) for FX, offering real-time executable prices for 54 spot currency pairs.

It also plans to launch a pilot in randomisation of order processing for a selected currency pair to facilitate an equitable trading environment.

Phil Weisberg, global head of FX at Thomson Reuters, said: “As an FCA-regulated trading venue, Thomson Reuters has a responsibility to guard that the trading behaviours and practices on its matching platform comply with the Market Conduct rules that govern MTFs.”

The platform will also take a proactive, transparent and consistent approach to enforcemet of the rules, with surveillance and reporting of trading activity, notifying clients of potentially abusive activity and sanctions and penalties for firms in breach of the rules.

Thomson Reuters Matching already includes controls to influence trading behavior, such as minimum quote life to ensure longevity of orders in the book, minimum tick sizes to control spreads and price stability.

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