Shining a Light on Dark Pools

The modern conception of dark pools is a fairly recent development. In 1986, Instinet established the first truly modern dark pool: After Hours Cross. Instinet’s pool was soon followed by,among others, ITG‘s Posit. Worldwide, growth of dark pools has climbed in recent years.

As of 2013, dark pools are most predominant in North America, notably in the United States, where they account for approximately 13% of trading volume.

The forerunner of modern electronic dark pools was “upstairs trading”. Buyers and sellers met in the upstairs rooms of brokerage

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The EU Financial Transaction Tax Debate

Levying financial transaction taxes is hardly a new idea. John Maynard Keynes proposed charging some form of tax for financial transactions in the early twentieth century, as did Nobel laureate James Tobin in the 1970s, whose eponymous tax encapsulates the idea of ‘throwing sand in the wheel’ to slow down excessive trading in the market.

In the current economic and political climate, as the world is still recovering from the 2008 financial crisis, it is easy to understand why the notion of FTTs is alluring in Europe. The continent was one

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Posted in Case Studies