Catherine D'Hondt

MiFID Pre-trade Transparency Rules: An Investor’s Perspective

In this article, EDHEC emphasises an important issue that is probably not the expected outcome of MiFID. Even though we recognise that the intentions of the Directive are clearly both to ensure market integrity and protect end investors, we have serious concerns about the results one can expect from the newly introduced requirements related to pre-trade transparency.

What Characterizes Commonality on European NYSE Euronext Markets

Using a rich dataset of orders and trades for a sample of stocks listed on the four European markets of NYSE Euronext, we apply principal component analysis and provide evidence on the existence and magnitude of commonality in returns, order flow and liquidity. We show that commonality in order flow mainly comes from foreign market members acting for their own account. Proprietary trading is a major driver in trade imbalance and return commonality. Next, we provide evidence on commonality in hidden liquidity. In contrast to commonality in visible depth that is the strongest for large firms, comovements in hidden depth seem to be stronger for small caps. We also show that commonality in returns, order flow and liquidity is not constant throughout the day. The opening of US markets is a key moment where commonality often reaches its maximum level.