Brussels-based Finance Watch on April 24 released a white paper with recommendations of how to improve the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, which governs European securities trading among member states. The report calls for tougher rules on high-frequency trading because it damages liquidity, such as establishing circuit breakers and requiring firms to provide their algorithm codes and trading audit-trail. It also calls for limits on commodity speculation, including putting individual limits on speculators. The document calls for new rules for dark pools, non-transparent trading venues where prices and volumes are no immediately disclosed. It would place new pre-trade transparency standards and a size thresholds on these venues.
