Cboe Europe New VWAP Crossing Service to Launch in Q4

Cboe Europe has confirmed plans for the launch of its new volume weighted average price (VWAP) crossing service for equities at the end of this year. According to a story in The Trade news, the VWAP-X service will be made available through block trading platform Cboe BIDS Europe and will give users a greater chance of sourcing and matching liquidity at a forward benchmark price. It will utilize BIDS’ conditional trade negotiation and execution workflow to match orders based on a standard and exchange-regulated VWAP methodology. Participants will be able to submit conditional VWAP indications of interest (IOIs). Once a potential match is found, firms will be given the opportunity to firm-up their IOIs. Trades will be reported in real time as off-book on-exchange executions. They will be centrally cleared through Cboe Europe’s clearing model. Once launched, the service will be accessible by sell-side participants through FIX connectivity. Testing will begin in Q3 ahead of the Q4 launch, subject to regulatory approvals.