With MiFID II driving liquidity shifts, the Swiss stock exchange has proven its capability to provide a solution for both the buy-side and sell-side looking for non-displayed liquidity. This solution is called SwissAtMid – and it has been very successful, as the numbers attest.
In 2018, SwissAtMid has become the largest non-displayed pool of liquidity for Swiss equities in Europe. In recent months, SIX further cemented its position. In April, new records were established, with CHF 338 million traded on a single day and over CHF 1 billion in single week; prior to this, CHF 5.6 bn had already been traded during Q1 2019.
In his article Building blocks with a "Plus" [pdf] Adam Matuszewksi, Senior Equity Product Manager at Securities & Exchanges, SIX, analyzes the reasons for the success of SwissAtMid and provides a concise summary of its benefits. He describes the effects of MiFID II – specifically the introduction of double volume caps (DVCs) – and the drivers behind the surge of average trade sizes in non-displayed pools.
No lack of liquidity
The growth of block liquidity has also been observed in SwissAtMid. Of the resting orders that amount to a total daily value of ca. CHF 3 billion, almost 60% are above Large-in-scale (LIS) thresholds. The article describes how Switzerland’s extensive and unique network of private banking institutions along with investment banks is elementary to the superior liquidity that can be found in the leading non-displayed pool and reference market for Swiss equities.
Furthermore, the article explains how SIX – with the introduction of innovative new orders such as Limit Plus and Iceberg Plus – has improved liquidity especially for larger executions, but also how market participants can interact with liquidity and benefit from the unique setup of SwissAtMid.