New competition and algorithmic trading add to pressures on LSE

摘要

Algorithmic trading systems buy and sell shares automatically when prices match predetermined levels. Traders may hold shares for only milliseconds, and make small amounts of money on massive volumes of trades. As a result, the trading venues they use must be able to provide high speeds, high volumes and consistency. Downtime and slow trading can slash traders' revenue. New competitors to the London Stock Exchange, known as multi-trading facilities (MTFs), have emerged as a result of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid), which was introduced in November 2007 to liberalise the sector.