Deutsche Börse Upgrades Xetra Trading Technology in Harmonization Push

Frankfurt-based Deutsche Börse announced on July 3 that Xetra, its platform for German equities and European exchange-traded funds (ETFs), went live on the T7 trading system. Xetra handles trading in some 1,000 equities and 1,500 exchange-traded products, including ETFs, and executed a total of 23.4 million trades in June 2017.

Crucially, however, the move will put Xetra onto the same technology base as Eurex, Deutsche Börse’s venue for the lucrative over-the-counter derivatives market. Over the course of May 2017, the exchange had a daily average of 7.4 million contracts traded, with over 2,100 products covered across rates, equity, foreign exchange and commodity derivatives.

“The new trading technology T7 gives investors and exchange-listed companies access to a sustainable and extremely reliable system that already has a proven track record [at] different international stock exchanges,” said Hauke Stars, a member of Deutsche Börse’s executive board, in a statement. “Trading participants specifically benefit from cash market and futures trading synergies and further reduction in latencies.”

T7, developed by Deutsche Börse, already powers the European Energy Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange along with Eurex. The Irish Stock Exchange and the Vienna Stock Exchange are scheduled to soon move to the platform as well.

The technology is part of the 7 Market Technology suite developed by the exchange group, with “T” variants powering derivatives markets, “N” covering networks, “M” capable of multi-asset markets, while “C” versions handle clearing systems. Eurex Clearing was the C7 pilot, while T7 was announced in 2013. Commodity markets Cleartrade Exchange in Singapore, Freight Investor Services in London, and Norexco ASA in Norway all signed for the M7 platform in 2015.