The latency costs of Dark MTFs on continental stocks: How kilometres translate into basis points

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Pages: 18

Publication date: 24 February 2024

Authors: Paul Besson, Head of Quantitative Research & Anatole Casimir, Quant Research Analyst

In this Quant Research report, we look at implicit latency costs of London-based Dark MTFs for trades on stocks listed on Euronext, whose data centre is located in Italy.

Did you know you are paying a latency tax?

The matching engines of continental Primary Markets are located in Europe, hundreds of kilometres away from London-based Dark MTFs.

It takes 7-8 milliseconds for MTFs to import Euronext Mid-Point prices from Euronext’s Data Centre in Bergamo to London.

31% of Dark trade prices on MTFs are stale on Euronext-listed stocks, and the Opportunity Cost per stale Dark trade amounts to 1.0 tick and 2.3 bps. The overall expected Implicit Latency Cost for a passive Dark trade therefore amounts up to 0.69 bp for a participant unable to benefit from favourable stale trades.

How can you avoid it?

We encourage Sell-Side and Buy-Side institutions to conduct bespoke estimates on their proportion of stale Dark trades, and on their Implicit Latency Costs.

Nevertheless, Euronext’s new Dark trading functionality - Euronext Mid-Point Match - will have no latency; therefore, its total trading cost will amount to only 0.3 bp, as no participants will be exposed to Latency Costs.


For more information and to receive a copy of the report, contact QuantReports@euronext.com

To connect to Euronext Mid-Point Match, contact EquitiesTeam@euronext.com and check out our webpage.