James Baugh, head of European market structure, TD Securities
Given the record equity volumes we’ve enjoyed this year, it’s hard to see those levels maintained in 2026 especially if volatility dampens on the back of what we hope will be an improving geopolitical environment.
No doubt a large part of the year will be taken up discussing the European Commission’s response to their 2025 consultation, which at the time of writing had yet to be published.
This is part of the Savings and Investments Union strategy to make European markets more competitive. It is expected bilateral trading, declining lit order book activity, retail access, along with Digital Ledger Technology, 24-hour trading and tokenisation will all be under the spotlight.
Next year should also see One Chronos launch a competing periodic auction in Europe and by mid-year we should finally see the launch of the European Consolidated Tape.
Unfortunately, the UK is still consulting on their version of the equities tape, with timelines pushed out to 2027. Likewise, in 2026 we anticipate a wider consultation on the future state of the markets from the FCA.
No doubt next year will also see Cboe and Nasdaq further advocating for benchmark crossing, whilst other primary venues will be focused on the roll out of the Auction Volume Discovery order type.
Vikesh Patel, global head of clearing, Cboe Global Markets and president, Cboe Clear Europe
Next year will see the finalisation of the EU’s Markets Integration and Supervision Package, aimed at promoting a more resilient, integrated and efficient pan-European financial infrastructure.
At Cboe Clear Europe, we believe the key to achieving this goal is a competitive clearing environment, where full CCP interoperability for clearing in all European cash equities markets is mandated.
We’ve long championed this model and have witnessed first-hand the benefits it brings market participants, namely substantial operational and capital efficiencies through risk-netting and settlement compression.
Equally critical to fostering an interconnected European marketplace is the need to strengthen the open access framework. Failure to effectively enforce non-discriminatory open access provisions in effect denies investors in those jurisdictions access to non-domestic instruments and the wider benefits of competition.
We’re confident regulatory bodies will recognise these imperatives and take meaningful steps toward building a truly vibrant, unified capital market.
David Taylor, chief executive, Exegy
In 2026, we expect to see meaningful changes within the industry. US equities’ 24-hour trading will bring a new wave of retail participation from Asia, accelerating the influence of retail trading outside of normal trading hours.
The impact on liquidity and price formation will provide new opportunities for savvy institutional traders and brokers.
It also will add to the growing pressure to modernise the National Market System and to extend pricing protections beyond normal trading hours, as well as to re-energise the stalled overhaul of the antiquated consolidated tape regime.
More retail participation and fresh predictions of an extension to the historic bull market into 2026 will cause data volumes to surge to new records, pushing legacy infrastructure past its limits.
Proactive technology and infrastructure investment by sophisticated firms seeking to maintain and grow market share will continue through the first half of 2026. Others will be faced with reactive spending by mid-2026 or forced to re-assess their business goals.
