[ T H O U G H T L E A D E R S H I P | C B O E E U R O P E ]
Cboe Europe: The home of European equity markets
As the EU’ s Mifid rulebook approaches its twentieth anniversary, it’ s remarkable to reflect on how much the European trading landscape has evolved. For Cboe Europe, the milestone carries particular meaning. Established directly in response to the Mifid rulebook in 2007, we’ ve grown into the largest pan-European stock exchange, accounting for around 26 % of on-exchange trading on a daily basis- simplifying cross-border equities trading, boosting competition, improving execution outcomes and lowering costs for investors along the way.
From launching the first pan- European lit order book and delivering cost-efficient trade reporting services, to introducing periodic auctions and setting new transparency standards through our widely-used Market Share webpage, client-led innovation has always been central to our mission.
And our momentum continues to build: Here are four areas of focus guiding our business in 2026 as we continue our mission to deliver better execution outcomes for end investors.
Delivering robust, diverse paneuropean lit order books Even though lit order book
Cboe Europe is one of Mifid’ s success stories- and a blueprint for the type of efficient, pan-European market infrastructure the EU is looking to promote through its capital markets integration reforms. Alex Dalley, recently appointed SVP, head of european equities, reflects on Cboe’ s journey so far and shares his vision for the exchange’ s next chapter of innovation.
volumes have declined, the trend is often overstated when viewed in the context of overall addressable trading( see Chart 1). Lit order books remain the largest category of on-exchange trading in European equities, underscoring their importance in terms of price discovery and execution certainty. They sit at the core of Cboe Europe’ s offering- providing quick, reliable and cost-effective access to liquidity in equities and ETFs across 18 European countries.
We continue to work hard to ensure they remain attractive venues to trade. Our commitment to enhancing our EBBO presence, maximising certainty and time‐to‐fill for client limit orders, thoughtfully integrating all of our services through sweep functionality and maintaining a competitive, egalitarian fee structure is supporting the ongoing growth and quality of our lit orderbooks.
A key initiative to further enhance our lit order books is our EBBO retail trading service, which supports our vision of a strong, on-exchange retail trading ecosystem and fosters more diverse lit order books that benefit all investors. The service enables brokers to execute retail orders free of charge across more than 9,000 European equities and ETFs, with execution at or better than the EBBO. Fully integrated into our lit order books and supported by retail liquidity providers quoting exclusively for retail flow, the service has already seen strong early engagement. We are focused on expanding participation and delivering technical enhancements to further improve outcomes for retail investors.
50 // TheTRADE // Q1 2026