EU Launches Consolidated Tape After 52-Year Wait
The European Union has launched its consolidated tape, a unified data feed for stock prices across all major exchanges in the region. The service, provided by EuroCTP B.V., will aggregate feeds from approximately 130 trading venues and approved publication arrangements across the EU.
The consolidated tape creates a single, standardized data feed that includes the European Best Bid and Offer (EBBO), a benchmark for buying and selling equities at any given moment. This is similar to the Consolidated Tape Association in the US, which has been in place since 1974.
Access to the consolidated tape will be free for non-professional users and regulated entities, while professional users, including institutional traders and data vendors, will pay tiered fees. The EU aims to boost retail participation in its equity markets through this initiative.
The service is expected to enhance market visibility and execution benchmarking, potentially attracting increased investment flows into EU equities. Analysts at Goldman Sachs have predicted as much, but the exact impact remains to be seen.