Deutsche Börse Launches New Dark Pool Trading Feature Xetra Midpoint for Reduced Market Impact

Deutsche Börse Cash Market is set to introduce a new dark pool trading feature, Xetra Midpoint, on 9 December, targeting institutional clients seeking to execute large trades with minimal market impact.

The new system, which will be integrated into the Xetra reference market, allows trades to be executed at the midpoint between the best bid and offer prices, potentially offering significant cost savings for investors.

Michael Krogmann, Head of Cash Market Business Development at Deutsche Börse

"Xetra Midpoint is a game-changer for German equities within our Cash Market and a unique value proposition to the market. It allows traders to keep their strategies private while benefiting from instant connectivity. With Xetra, market participants can continue to use one of the largest and most trusted trading platforms and, at the same time, profit from significant price improvement by saving half the spread compared to aggressive orders placed in the Xetra central limit orderbook," says Michael Krogmann, Head of Cash Market Business Development at Deutsche Börse.

The launch comes amid growing demand for dark pool trading across Europe. In September 2024, dark pool trading in DAX equities reached nearly 11 per cent of turnover, the highest level since the implementation of MiFID II/MiFIR in 2018, with approximately one-third of this volume classified as "large-in-scale."

Trading participants on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse – FWB) will have access to two order types: midpoint orders for trading exclusively in the midpoint book, and sweep orders that execute in the midpoint book before automatically routing remaining quantities to the Xetra central limit orderbook.

The platform includes features such as minimum acceptable quantity (MAQ) functionality and various order options including "limit" and "fill-or-kill." Order execution follows volume-time priority to maximise overall execution volume.

Dark pools have gained popularity among institutional investors as they prevent information leakage when placing orders, reducing the risk of other market participants adjusting their positions in response to large trading volumes. Many buy-side investors now routinely instruct their brokers to attempt dark pool execution before moving to lit markets.