FIX Trading Proposes to Make EU Markets Bigger, Better  

FIX Trading Community Proposes to Make EU Markets Bigger, Better 

The capital markets industry association has called for new trading practices and FIX Protocol extensions to improve transparency and accessibility of European markets  

4 November, 2025 (London): The FIX Trading Community, the industry association that manages the world’s trading language, has published a whitepaper, FIXing Europe – How the European Consolidated Tape can radically improve the image of European capital markets, detailing how its proposed changes to trading practices and the FIX Protocol could increase both the size and attractiveness of the market.  

FIX Executive Director Jim Kaye said the proposals encapsulate long-term work by the Global Technical Committee and ECT Working Groups. “FIX has been working for years with participants from all segments of the market on the issues that face European markets,” he said. “The introduction of the ECT is the perfect moment to fix a number of major issues once and for all and allow the EU market to show off its full potential for the first time.”  

These issues are outlined in the whitepaper, which says the market is undervalued by investors due to the way its volume and liquidity is assessed. Fixing this legacy problem, which has dragged on the market for more than two decades, would dramatically improve outcomes for market participants right down the investment chain.   

“Today, investors assessing the European market will completely discount up to one-third of volume because of the way trades are reported,” said FIX Executive Director Jim Kaye. “For example, activity taking place off-venue, for example in systematic internalisers, is discounted, whereas in the US is it counted and accounts for almost half of the entire market.”  

FIX is proposing a suite of practical, targeted reforms to close gaps, improve data quality, and boost European market appeal. The proposals are backed by international precedent and technical feasibility and designed to be cost-effective for firms to implement. They include suppressing reporting of non-price forming trades relating to clearing and settlement; flagging trades executed in closing auctions; identifying execution methods for individual trades; and clarifying reporting obligations to remove ambiguity and overlaps.  

The FIX Trading Community is the only independent global community where capital markets firms come together to solve common issues and shape the evolution of capital markets. FIX groups in over 60 countries are working on a range of global issues including digital assets; reference data; carbon trading; AI; algo trading; FICC and ETFs, while country and regional committees work together to manage local regulation and market structure matters.   

—For further information and interviews with Jim Kaye:  

Kristin Westlake, The Continuum Partners | kwestlake@thecontinuumpartners.com | +61 416 219 358/+1 (604) 966 1410