It’s been nearly two years since the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed the most-sweeping US Equity Market Structure reforms in a generation. So far only one small, mostly uncontroversial piece of that package has been adopted, amid widespread industry and bipartisan Congressional opposition to the rest, including threats of federal litigation. Will SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who has been vocal about the need for reform, follow through on the other proposals anytime soon? In the meantime, how are market participants responding to a range of changing competitive dynamics, including persistently high retail and off-exchange market share, an ever-expanding venue landscape and a push for more off-hours and overnight trading? Our panel of senior exchange, sell-side and buy-side speakers breaks it all down.
Moderator: Justin Schack, Partner & Head of Market Structure, Rosenblatt
Running an institutional trading desk has never been more challenging. Volumes are surging, but intraday liquidity can be disappointingly thin, as more activity migrates to closing auctions or leaves public markets for bilateral internalization. The pace of market-structure and technological change is often dizzying, with an array of new exchanges and off-board venues readying launches and artificial intelligence making its way into electronic-trading products. And relentless fee compression and margin pressure for asset managers means head traders have precious few resources to bring to the fight. Hear from seasoned buy-side trading-desk heads about how they’re approaching it all.
Moderator: Valerie Bogard, US Market Structure Analyst, Rosenblatt
European equity markets have been struggling with low volumes, sparse liquidity and anemic primary issuance. Meanwhile, operating costs and complexity for market participants have increased since the EU and UK failed to negotiate post-Brexit regulatory equivalence. But hopeful signs are beginning to surface. A new Labor government in the UK likely will increase cooperation with the EU, which itself is seeking to replace its fragmented array of national market regulators with a single, pan-European entity. Both jurisdictions are planning to introduce long-awaited consolidated tapes that could stimulate volumes. And a rewrite of UK listings rules already may be bearing fruit for the London Stock Exchange. Of course, competition among exchanges and alternative venues isn’t ceasing amid all this uncertainty. In this session, we’ll hear from a host of major market participants about the latest developments and how this emerging landscape will evolve.
Moderator: Will Hadfield, European Market Structure Analyst, Rosenblatt
The past four years have been among the most active in modern history for US markets rulemaking. That’s been particularly true at the SEC, which has fashioned sweeping reforms of equity market structure and a host of corporate and investor disclosures pertaining to environmental exposure, stock buybacks and beneficial ownership, among other measures. Republicans in Congress have clashed sharply with SEC Chair Gary Gensler and his Democratic supporters on these and a host of other issues, including how cryptocurrencies should be regulated. But election years have a way of changing things in the markets-policy world. With a tightly divided electorate the outcome of November’s polling is still anyone’s guess, but one thing is for certain: come January there will be a new president living in the White House. What would either a Trump or Harris win mean for the regulatory outlook? And what about the battle for control of Congress? Our panel of four seasoned Beltway hands, including former senior Congressional staffers and SEC officials, games out the possibilities.
Moderator: Justin Schack, Partner & Head of Market Structure, Rosenblatt
The brutally competitive US equity exchange landscape is only getting more difficult to navigate, amid swollen off-board market share and a packed queue of newcomers seeking regulatory approval to launch. On-exchange market share has been hovering at about 53% of consolidated volume, and the dominant three exchange “families” — NYSE, Nasdaq and Cboe — together account for 47%, leaving four rival operators (and counting) to split a very tiny piece of the pie. How can challengers to the Big Three distinguish themselves in such a fragmented, yet concentrated, market? Leaders of the two biggest challenger exchanges — MEMX and IEX — will share their views during this session.
Moderator: Valerie Bogard, US Market Structure Analyst, Rosenblatt