ESMA · ESMA_QA_1489 Answer Published

Direct Electronic Access (DEA) and algorithmic trading

Regulation
Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) Directive 2014/65/EU- Secondary Markets
Topic
Direct Electronic Access and algorithmic trading
Submitted
2021-02-03
Answered
2021-02-03

Question

When a firm submits an order through DEA, which is then executed on-venue, should the resulting transaction be considered, from the DEA user perspective, as an on-venue or OTC transaction?

Answer

[ESMA 70-872942901-38 MiFID II MiFIR market structures Q&A, Q&A 3.32] As per Article 4(1)(41) of MiFID II, DEA is a mechanism allowing a client to “electronically transmit orders relating to a financial instrument directly to the trading venue” using the trading code of the DEA provider. Hence, a DEA trade should not be considered as a series of trades (i.e. one trade involving the DEA client and the DEA provider, one trade submitted by the DEA provider and executed on-venue), but rather as one single trade submitted by the DEA user and executed on-venue. This interpretation is however without prejudice to other specific guidance provided by ESMA for ad hoc regulatory purposes as, for instance, in the Guidelines on “Transaction reporting, order record keeping and clock synchronisation under MiFID II” (ref. ESMA/2016/1452, p.162).

This Q&A is published by European Securities and Markets Authority and is non-binding. It does not constitute legal advice. Updated weekly from official ESA sources.

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