ESMA - European Securities and Markets Authority

04/30/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/30/2026 00:54

ESMA launches a call for evidence on the structure of European equity markets

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a call for evidence (CfE) presenting a data driven analysis of the evolution of trading in European equity markets between 2022 and 2025, based on MiFIR transaction reporting data. The CfE invites stakeholder feedback on observed trends and their potential regulatory implications.

The analysis shows that European equity markets continue to function well overall:

  1. The share of addressable liquidity has remained stable at around 85% of total trading volume.

  2. On - book trading has also been relatively stable, accounting for around 75-80% of trading volume over the period.

At the same time, ESMA observes a decline in lit continuous trading between 2022 and 2025. This decline has been offset by increased activity in other trading mechanisms, mainly closing auctions, frequent batch auctions and systematic internaliser (SI) trading.

The paper also analyses how liquidity is allocated across different trading mechanisms on a country - by - country basis and seeks input on the concept of addressable liquidity and its treatment under RTS 1, including possible adjustments to the post - trade transparency flagging framework.

Besides the CfE, ESMA takes the opportunity to inform stakeholders of the repeal of the Q&A clarifying that periodic auctions are subject to the tick-size regime.

Next steps

ESMA invitesstakeholders' views on the functioning of European stock markets by 30 June 2026, and will issue a feedback statement in the second half of 2026 on this call for evidence.

ESMA will continue monitoring market developments, considering recent MiFIR changes, including the move to a single volume cap and enhanced SI transparency obligations, as well as on different types of trading mechanisms such as closing auctions.

Further information:

Cristina Bonillo

Senior Communications Officer
[email protected]

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