Penalise ultra-fast trades to curb abuses, urges MEP

Exchanges should slap higher fees on traders who cancel many of their buy and sell orders to stop potential abuses from ultra-fast high-frequency trading, a senior EU politician has said.

“We need a deceleration of high-frequency trade, more retail investor protection and containment of excessive speculation,” said Markus Ferber, a centre-right German member of the European Parliament’s economic affairs committee.

Mr Ferber is steering a sweeping reform of EU securities markets, known as MiFID II, through the bloc’s assembly.