Article 17 Algorithmic trading

1. An investment firm that engages in algorithmic trading shall have in place effective systems and risk controls suitable to the business it operates to ensure that its trading systems are resilient and have sufficient capacity, are subject to appropriate trading thresholds and limits and prevent the sending of erroneous orders or the systems otherwise functioning in a way that may create or contribute to a disorderly market. Such a firm shall also have in place effective systems and risk controls to ensure the trading systems cannot be used for any purpose that is contrary to Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 or to the rules of a trading venue to which it is connected. The investment firm shall have in place effective business continuity arrangements to deal with any failure of its trading systems and shall ensure its systems are fully tested and properly monitored to ensure that they meet the requirements laid down in this paragraph.

2. An investment firm that engages in algorithmic trading in a Member State shall notify this to the competent authorities of its home Member State and of the trading venue at which the investment firm engages in algorithmic trading as a member or participant of the trading venue.

The competent authority of the home Member State of the investment firm may require the investment firm to provide, on a regular or ad-hoc basis, a description of the nature of its algorithmic trading strategies, details of the trading parameters or limits to which the system is subject, the key compliance and risk controls that it has in place to ensure the conditions laid down in paragraph 1 are satisfied and details of the testing of its systems. The competent authority of the home Member State of the investment firm may, at any time, request further information from an investment firm about its algorithmic trading and the systems used for that trading.

The competent authority of the home Member State of the investment firm shall, on the request of a competent authority of a trading venue at which the investment firm as a member or participant of the trading venue is engaged in algorithmic trading and without undue delay, communicate the information referred to in the second subparagraph that it receives from the investment firm that engages in algorithmic trading.

The investment firm shall arrange for records to be kept in relation to the matters referred to in this paragraph and shall ensure that those records be sufficient to enable its competent authority to monitor compliance with the requirements of this Directive.

An investment firm that engages in a high-frequency algorithmic trading technique shall store in an approved form accurate and time sequenced records of all its placed orders, including cancellations of orders, executed orders and quotations on trading venues and shall make them available to the competent authority upon request.

3. An investment firm that engages in algorithmic trading to pursue a market making strategy shall, taking into account the liquidity, scale and nature of the specific market and the characteristics of the instrument traded:

(a) carry out this market making continuously during a specified proportion of the trading venue’s trading hours, except under exceptional circumstances, with the result of providing liquidity on a regular and predictable basis to the trading venue;

(b) enter into a binding written agreement with the trading venue which shall at least specify the obligations of the investment firm in accordance with point (a); and

(c) have in place effective systems and controls to ensure that it fulfils its obligations under the agreement referred to in point (b) at all times.

4. For the purposes of this Article and of Article 48 of this Directive, an investment firm that engages in algorithmic trading shall be considered to be pursuing a market making strategy when, as a member or participant of one or more trading venues, its strategy, when dealing on own account, involves posting firm, simultaneous two-way quotes of comparable size and at competitive prices relating to one or more financial instruments on a single trading venue or across different trading venues, with the result of providing liquidity on a regular and frequent basis to the overall market.

5. An investment firm that provides direct electronic access to a trading venue shall have in place effective systems and controls which ensure a proper assessment and review of the suitability of clients using the service, that clients using the service are prevented from exceeding appropriate pre-set trading and credit thresholds, that trading by clients using the service is properly monitored and that appropriate risk controls prevent trading that may create risks to the investment firm itself or that could create or contribute to a disorderly market or could be contrary to Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 or the rules of the trading venue. Direct electronic access without such controls is prohibited.

An investment firm that provides direct electronic access shall be responsible for ensuring that clients using that service comply with the requirements of this Directive and the rules of the trading venue. The investment firm shall monitor the transactions in order to identify infringements of those rules, disorderly trading conditions or conduct that may involve market abuse and that is to be reported to the competent authority. The investment firm shall ensure that there is a binding written agreement between the investment firm and the client regarding the essential rights and obligations arising from the provision of the service and that under the agreement the investment firm retains responsibility under this Directive.

An investment firm that provides direct electronic access to a trading venue shall notify the competent authorities of its home Member State and of the trading venue at which the investment firm provides direct electronic access accordingly.

The competent authority of the home Member State of the investment firm may require the investment firm to provide, on a regular or ad-hoc basis, a description of the systems and controls referred to in first subparagraph and evidence that those have been applied.

The competent authority of the home Member State of the investment firm shall, on the request of a competent authority of a trading venue in relation to which the investment firm provides direct electronic access, communicate without undue delay the information referred to in the fourth subparagraph that it receives from the investment firm.

6. An investment firm that acts as a general clearing member for other persons shall have in place effective systems and controls to ensure clearing services are only applied to persons who are suitable and meet clear criteria and that appropriate requirements are imposed on those persons to reduce risks to the investment firm and to the market. The investment firm shall ensure that there is a binding written agreement between the investment firm and the person regarding the essential rights and obligations arising from the provision of that service.

Q&A

7. ESMA shall develop draft regulatory technical standards to specify the following:

(a) the details of organisational requirements laid down in paragraphs 1 to 6 to be imposed on investment firms providing different investment services and/or activities and ancillary services or combinations thereof, whereby the specifications in relation to the organisational requirements laid down in paragraph 5 shall set out specific requirements for direct market access and for sponsored access in such a way as to ensure that the controls applied to sponsored access are at least equivalent to those applied to direct market access;

(b) the circumstances in which an investment firm would be obliged to enter into the market making agreement referred to in point (b) of paragraph 3 and the content of such agreements, including the proportion of the trading venue’s trading hours laid down in paragraph 3;

(c) the situations constituting exceptional circumstances referred to in paragraph 3, including circumstances of extreme volatility, political and macroeconomic issues, system and operational matters, and circumstances which contradict the investment firm’s ability to maintain prudent risk management practices as laid down in paragraph 1;

(d) the content and format of the approved form referred to in the fifth subparagraph of paragraph 2 and the length of time for which such records must be kept by the investment firm.

ESMA shall submit those draft regulatory technical standards to the Commission by 3 July 2015.

Power is delegated to the Commission to adopt the regulatory technical standards referred to in the first subparagraph in accordance with Articles 10 to 14 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010.