French Stock Market Added 150K Retail Traders in Early Pandemic Months

The French financial market supervisor, locally known as Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), revealed that retail investors traded more than €67 billion in French equities between December 2019 and April 2020.

In a market analysis study of the execution Execution Execution is the process during which a client submits an order to the brokerage, which consequently executes it resulting in an open position in a given asset. The execution of the order occurs only when it is filled. There is typically a time delay between the placement of the order and the execution which is called latency.In the retail FX space, reliable brokers always strive to deliver best execution to their clients in order to maintain a solid business relationship with them. This is a co Execution is the process during which a client submits an order to the brokerage, which consequently executes it resulting in an open position in a given asset. The execution of the order occurs only when it is filled. There is typically a time delay between the placement of the order and the execution which is called latency.In the retail FX space, reliable brokers always strive to deliver best execution to their clients in order to maintain a solid business relationship with them. This is a co Read this Term of retail investors during the first few months of the Covid-induced volatility, the regulator found that the activities surged and touched unprecedented levels. It has observed the influx of 150,000 new retail investors in the French equities market during the studied period.

“The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown saw a surge in retail stock market activity, which continues to be well above pre-crisis levels,” said the AMF.

Earlier, the regulator said that the country has added a total of 1.1 million retail traders over the past three years.

Two Dominating Exchanges

A majority of the traded volume during the early pandemic months was executed primarily on two exchanges: Euronext Paris, a pan-European trading venue, and Equiduct, which is managed by the Berlin Stock Exchange. The first one handled 64 percent of all the volumes, while the second one accounted for 20 percent.

Both the exchanges are ensuing competitive pricing for retail traders with two different models. Euronext Paris executes retail trades under its Best of Book program that provides complementary liquidity Liquidity The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent Read this Term outside the central order book. In contrast, Equiduct sources execution prices from 16 different trading venues under its Apex model.

Further, the average transaction size on both the exchanges became similar at around €4,000. However, Euronext had higher available liquidity due to its status as the main market for French stocks, and on its dedicated service.

“The study showed that most of the volumes traded were on more attractive terms than the Euronext Paris central order book, but mainly because of the zero-fee mechanism,” the regulator stated in the report.

“The AMF also observed that during periods of stress, price deteriorations (representing a loss of up to €2.3 for an average transaction of €4,000) in relation to the Euronext Paris central order book were more pronounced than price improvements (the equivalent of a possible gain of €0.6 for an average transaction of €4,000).”