ESMA Opens Call for Evidence on European Equity Market Structure

ESMA has opened a call for evidence on the structure of European equity markets after reviewing MiFIR transaction reporting data from 2022 to 2025. The regulator said overall market functioning remains stable, with addressable liquidity holding near 85% of total trading volume and on-book trading still accounting for roughly 75% to 80% of volume over the period.

The shift ESMA is highlighting is happening inside that stable headline picture. Lit continuous trading has declined, while more activity has moved into closing auctions, frequent batch auctions and systematic internaliser trading. ESMA is also asking for feedback on how addressable liquidity should be treated under RTS 1 and whether the current post-trade transparency flagging framework needs adjustments.

For traders, this is less about a headline ban or product launch and more about how price discovery may keep evolving across venues. If regulators decide the current framework no longer reflects where liquidity is actually forming, that can feed through into execution quality, transparency expectations and how brokers route orders.

Why it matters

European equity traders already operate in a market where meaningful flow is not concentrated only in lit order books. ESMA’s review signals that auctions and bilateral mechanisms are now important enough to attract closer policy attention.

What to watch next

Comments are open until 30 June 2026. The key follow-up is whether ESMA turns this evidence-gathering exercise into concrete proposals on transparency, tick-size treatment or venue-level reporting flags later in 2026.