Liquidity is King, Are Dark Pools the Haven?

Undisplayed venues, havens amid down markets, show resilience by thriving in stable and rising markets as well

In the spring of 2009, the focus of weakly recovering markets seeking liquidity was primarily on dark pools. But after more than 12 months of a mostly-buoyant market, innumerable regulatory initiatives, and a “flash crash,” are dark pools still the same go-to source for institutional liquidity?

Salient quotes from the full story include:

“It appears that volumes are still growing, especially in Europe over the last 12 months and to an extent in Asia,” said Jeff Wecker, chief executive officer of Lime Brokerage, an independent brokerage for institutional, high-frequency, and options traders.

“The past 12 months have really been about shaking out the priority of the dark pools—which have gained traction and what is unique about them?" said Tim Mahoney, chief executive officer of BIDS Trading. "At BIDS we have found that goods and services provided by the broker dealers [such as] content and calendar have had a resurgence in importance among the institutional community.”

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