A report released on Tuesday by Market Structure Partners claims exchanges are leveraging an “incumbent advantage” to enforce “inexplicable price rises” in market data pricing.

The soaring cost of stock market data provided by exchanges risks stifling economic growth and innovation in Europe, scathing research backed by major banks and asset managers has found.
Some of the region’s biggest exchanges have increasingly relied on selling data at higher costs to compensate for declining equity trading volumes and shrinking customer bases, advisory firm Market Structure Partners said in a 4 February report.

European stock exchanges are increasingly turning to market data sales to compensate for adverse market conditions that should have resulted in a downturn in equity market revenues such as declining equity trading volumes, shrinking market share, and a diminishing customer base.
The research, commissioned by a coalition of trade and other industry associations, presents a critical analysis of how the equity market data business and fee structures of Europe’s largest exchanges (Deutsche Börse, Euronext, LSEG, Nasdaq Nordics and SIX Swiss Exchange Ltd) have evolved and how it stifles growth and innovation.

A new study finds that some of Europe’s largest exchanges have been using their incumbent advantage as must-have sources of data to boost their revenues by structuring datasets originally sold together into increasingly complex bundles at increased costs.

Market Structure Partners, a market intelligence and advisory firm, published a report analyzing market data prices and fee structures from 2017 to 2024, and found that fee schedules have increased exponentially across Deutsche Börse, Euronext, London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), Nasdaq Nordics, and SIX, far outpacing the period’s inflation rates.

Research by Market Structure Partners (MSP) reveals that European stock exchanges are increasingly turning to market data sales to compensate for adverse market conditions that should have resulted in a downturn in equity market revenues such as declining equity trading volumes, shrinking market share, and a diminishing customer base. This shift has dramatically driven up the cost of equity market data, which is essential for issuers, investors, and market intermediaries to conduct their daily business.

Research by Market Structure Partners (MSP) has claimed that European stock exchanges are increasingly turning to market data sales to compensate for adverse market conditions that should have resulted in a downturn in equity market revenues such as declining equity trading volumes, shrinking market share, and a diminishing customer base. This shift has dramatically driven up the cost of equity market data, which is essential for issuers, investors, and market intermediaries to conduct their daily business.

Exchanges are leveraging an “incumbent advantage” to enforce “inexplicable price rises” in market data pricing, a new report by Market Structure Partners (MSP) has stated.

Released on Tuesday, the research entitled ‘There is no Market in Market Data’ revealed that incumbent venues are supplementing dwindling equity market revenues and volumes with hikes in market data pricing, ultimately leading to what the paper calls “stifling of growth and innovation”.

A new study finds that some of Europe’s largest exchanges have been using their incumbent advantage as must-have sources of data to increase their revenues by structuring datasets originally sold together into increasingly complex bundles at increased costs.

Market Structure Partners, a market intelligence and advisory firm, published a report analyzing market data prices and fee structures from 2017 to 2024, and found that fee schedules have increased exponentially across Deutsche Börse…

“Euronext just started its journey later”, says Niki Beattie, chief executive of Market Structure Partners. “All exchanges want to diversify from equities; it’s a low-margin business.”

The push to expand into other asset classes has more than offset the impact of Europe’s lacklustre equity market. In Q1, Euronext reported revenue up 8% due to growth in clearing, fixed income and power trading despite a 2% decline in equities income.

“It’s a little bit of embellishing because the buyside doesn’t care too much about latency,” said Niki Beattie, chief executive of Market Structure Partners. “There are not that many people who are milliseconds-sensitive, but there’ll be some who say: ‘Yeah, that’s attractive.’”

The main purpose of dark pools is to hide large block trades that otherwise would move a stock’s price if they were completed on lit markets.