Liquidity Landscape: From Q3 trends to 2025 transformations

European equities in 2024 have continued to shake their reputation as the laggard in the global investment race and have remained resilient amid a complex economic environment.

Key findings:

• Market share for Lit Primary Continuous venues recorded the lowest value to date of 29.4% in September 2024, due to record high investments in passive ETFs and trading in the closing auction.

• Dark trading has experienced an uptick in activity this year, reaching 10.7% of total trading volumes in Q3. The increase in volumes can be attributed to the rise in larger blocks trading in the dark, which accounted for 46% of dark trading in September, up from 38% last year.

• In the dark market, above LIS trades have risen by 13% from the 2023 average to 43% YTD.

• The increase in Periodic Auction activity has not stopped, its year-on-year growth has now reached new highs hitting 6.3% of overall volumes in September 2024.

• The Closing Auction continues to play a major part of the lit markets, with over 38% market share of total lit volumes.

Regulators in both the UK and Europe continue to pursue ways in which to make their markets more competitive—implementing consolidated tapes, moving to T+1 and improving listing regimes.

Next year brings a transformative landscape, requiring strategic adaptation to fragmented liquidity, evolving regulations, and advancing technology.

For a full Q3 2024 review and insight into the regulatory developments on the radar for 2025, click the button below.

Gareth Exton Head of Execution + Quantitative Services EMEA, Prashanth Manoharan Head of Execution Consulting, and Henry Baugniet Equities Execution Data Analyst , in partnership with Rebecca Healey, Redlap Consulting