Aquis Exchange Plans to Change Proprietary Trading Rule

Aquis Exchange plc. (Aquis), an operator of the world's only subscription-based trading venues, released a statement on Tuesday (September 12), announcing its plans to change the proprietary trading rule on its UK and EU trading platforms.

In 2015, Aquis introduced the rule prohibiting aggressive non-client proprietary trading with the aim of reducing market impact and signalling risk. However, at the request of its members, Aquis has now decided to change the rule to "allow liquidity providers the option to choose if they wish to interact with aggressive non-client proprietary trading or not."

"This innovative modification is consistent with Aquis' commitment to provide members with the greatest choice and flexibility when transacting on the MTF platform," explained Aquis in the announcement.

The company further stated: "Implementation of this change will take place, subject to regulatory non-objection, in October to allow members and data providers to adapt to this change."

Alasdair Haynes, CEO of Aquis, said: "The change to our proprietary trading rule is being implemented in order to provide members of the Aquis MTF with greater choice and immediacy of execution. This alongside Aquis's growing product suite will further enhance the range of execution options available to our members."

Earlier this year, the trading venues operator published its financial data for the full year 2022​, recording its net revenue of £20.1 million, up 24% compared to £16.2 million in 2021. The increase owed to significant growth in he technologies division, along with strong performances in pan-European secondary market trading, the primary market activities of Aquis Stock Exchange and data revenue during the period.