FCA Handbook - MAR 11A Pre-trade transparency rules for equity instruments

You are viewing MAR 11A Pre-trade transparency rules for equity instruments as of . MAR 11A Pre-trade transparency rules for equity instruments was last updated on 28/09/2026.

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MAR 11A.1 Purpose and application

Purpose

The purpose of this chapter is to set out the conditions applying to pre-trade transparency waivers in relation to equity transparency instruments, to be read in conjunction with Article 3 of MiFIR and MiFID RTS 1.

Application

This chapter applies to a trading venue operator.

In addition, MAR 11A.7.2R and MAR 11A.7.3R apply to equity systematic internalisers.

MAR 11A.2 Reference price waiver

Article 3 of MiFIR does not apply in respect of systems matching orders based on a trading methodology by which the price of the equity transparency instrument is derived from:

(1) the trading venue where that financial instrument was first admitted to trading; or

(2) any other trading venue,

and the reference price is widely published and regarded by market participants as a reliable reference price.

The amount of liquidity associated with the reference price should be an indicator of whether the reference price is reliable for the purposes of MAR 11A.2.1R.

The reference price in MAR 11A.2.1R must be established by obtaining:

(1) the midpoint within the current bid and offer prices of the trading venue to which MAR 11A.2.1R applies; or

(2) when the price referred to in (1) is not available, the opening or closing price of the relevant trading session.

Orders must only reference the price referred to in MAR 11A.2.3R(2) outside the continuous trading phase of the relevant trading session.

The midpoint in MAR 11A.2.3R(1) may be derived from the current bid and offer prices of more than one trading venue.

MAR 11A.3 Negotiated transactions waiver

Article 3 of MiFIR does not apply in respect of systems that formalise negotiated transactions which are:

(1) made within the current volume weighted spread reflected on the order book or the quotes of the market makers of the trading venue operating that system;

(2) in an illiquid equity transparency instrument that does not fall within the meaning of a liquid market in Article 2(1)(17) of MiFIR, and are dealt within a percentage of a suitable reference price, being a percentage and a reference price set in advance by the system operator; or

(3) subject to conditions other than the current market price of that financial instrument.

A negotiated transaction in equity transparency instruments to which MAR 11A.3.1R applies includes a transaction which is negotiated privately but reported under the rules of a trading venue where:

(1) two members of, or participants in, that trading venue are involved in any of the following capacities:
1. (a) one is dealing on own account when the other is acting on behalf of a client;
2. (b) both are dealing on own account; or
3. (c) both are acting on behalf of a client; or
(2) one member of, or participant in, that trading venue is either:
1. (a) acting on behalf of both the buyer and seller; or
2. (b) dealing on own account against a client order.

A negotiated transaction in equity transparency instruments is subject to conditions other than the current market price of the financial instrument where the transaction is:

(1) a benchmark trade;
(2) part of a portfolio trade;
(3) contingent on the purchase, sale, creation or redemption of a derivative contract or other financial instrument where all the components of the trade are meant to be executed as a single lot;
(4) of a type listed in Article 13 of MiFID RTS 1; or
(5) any other transaction equivalent to one of those described in (1) to (4) that is contingent on technical characteristics which are unrelated to the current market valuation of the financial instrument traded.

MAR 11A.4 Large in scale waiver

Article 3 of MiFIR does not apply in respect of orders that are large in scale compared with normal market size.

For the purposes of MAR 11A.4.1R, an order is ‘large in scale’ where, in respect of:

(1) an equity transparency instruments other than an ETF, it is equal to or larger than the minimum size of orders set out in Tables 1 and 2 of Annex II of MiFID RTS 1; and

(2) an ETF, the order is equal to or larger than 1,000,000 euros.

Unless the price or other relevant conditions for the execution of an order are amended, the waiver in MAR 11A.4.2R continues to apply in respect of an order that is large in scale when entered into an order book but that, following partial execution, falls below the threshold applicable for that financial instrument as determined in accordance with MAR 11A.4.2R.

For the purpose of determining orders that are large in scale, the FCA calculates the average daily turnover in respect of shares, depositary receipts, certificates and other similar financial instruments traded on a trading venue.

The calculation in MAR 11A.4.4G:

(1) includes transactions executed in the relevant area in respect of the financial instrument, whether traded on or outside a trading venue; and
(2) covers the period beginning on 1 January of the preceding calendar year and ending on 31 December of the preceding calendar year or, where applicable, that part of the calendar year during which the financial instrument was admitted to trading or traded on a trading venue and was not suspended from trading.

MAR 11A.4.4G and MAR 11A.4.5G do not apply to shares, depositary receipts, certificates or other similar financial instruments first admitted to trading or first traded on a trading venue 4 weeks or less before the end of the preceding calendar year.

Before a share, depositary receipt, certificate or other similar financial instrument is traded for the first time on a trading venue, the FCA estimates the average daily turnover for that financial instrument, taking into account any previous trading history of that financial instrument and of other financial instruments that are considered to have similar characteristics, and publishes that estimate.

The estimated average daily turnover referred to in MAR 11A.4.7G should be used for the calculation of orders that are large in scale during a 6-week period following the date that the share, depositary receipt, certificate or other similar financial instrument was admitted to trading or first traded on a trading venue.

The FCA calculates and publishes average daily turnover based on the first 4 weeks of trading before the end of the 6-week period referred to in MAR 11A.4.8G. The average daily turnover should be used for the calculation of orders that are large in scale and until an average daily turnover calculated in accordance with MAR 11A.4.4G and MAR 11A.4.5G applies.

Average daily turnover is calculated by dividing the total turnover for a particular financial instrument as specified in Article 17(4) of MiFID RTS 1 by the number of trading days in the period considered. The number of trading days in the period considered is the number of trading days on the most relevant market in terms of liquidity for that financial instrument as determined in accordance with MAR 11A.2.

MAR 11A.5 Order management facility waiver

Article 3 of MiFIR does not apply in respect of orders held in an order management facility of a trading venue pending disclosure.

MAR 11A.5.1R applies in respect of an order which:

(1) is intended to be disclosed to the order book operated by a trading venue and is contingent on objective conditions that are predefined by the system’s protocol;
(2) cannot interact with other trading interests prior to disclosure to the order book operated by a trading venue; and
(3) once disclosed to the order book, interacts with other orders in accordance with the rules applicable to orders of that kind at the time of disclosure.

Where a portion of a quantity of an aggressive order has executed against the disclosed quantity of a reserve order and other disclosed orders in the order book of a trading venue, MAR 11A.5.1R applies to the non-disclosed quantity of the reserve order held in a trading venue's order management facility.

Where MAR 11A.5.3R applies, the non-disclosed quantity of the reserve order can be executed against the remainder of the quantity of the aggressive order.

An ‘aggressive order’, for the purposes of MAR 11A.5.3R, is a limit order that has been disclosed in the order book of a trading venue and which initiates trades.

A ‘reserve order’, for the purposes of MAR 11A.5.3R, is a limit order consisting of:

(1) a disclosed order relating to a portion of a quantity in the order book of a trading venue; and
(2) a non-disclosed order relating to the remainder of the quantity where the non-disclosed quantity is held in the order management facility of a trading venue.

MAR 11A.6 Publications

A trading venue operator must:

(1) publish in its rulebook the rules or processes it adopts to fulfil any waiver in this chapter before it implements them; and
(2) identify the waiver implemented by reference to the relevant rule in this chapter in any rule published in accordance with (1).

MAR 11A.7 Transparency calculations

Each year, the FCA will publish for each financial instrument traded on a trading venue:

(1) the trading venue which is the most relevant market in terms of liquidity as set out in Article 17B of MiFID RTS 1;
(2) the average daily turnover for the purpose of identifying the size of orders that are large in scale as set out in MAR 11A.4; and
(3) the average value of transactions for the purpose of determining the standard market size as set out in Article 11(2) of MiFID RTS 1.

Trading venue operators and equity systematic internalisers must use the transparency information for the purposes of MAR 11A.2, MAR 11A.4, and paragraphs 2 and 4 of Article 14 of MiFIR until such time as the transparency information is next published in the following year.

Where the transparency information is replaced by new information during the 12-month period, trading venue operators and equity systematic internalisers must use that new information for the purposes of MAR 11A.2, MAR 11A.4, and paragraphs 2 and 4 of Article 14 of MiFIR.

The FCA may update the transparency information for the purposes of MAR 11A.2, MAR 11A.4, and paragraphs 2 and 4 of Article 14 of MiFIR.

For the purposes of MAR 11A.7.1G, the daily turnover in relation to a financial instrument will be calculated by:

(1) for each transaction executed during a defined period of time, multiplying the number of units of that financial instrument exchanged between the buyers and sellers by the unit price applicable to such transaction; and
(2) adding together the results of the calculations undertaken under (1) for all transactions in a financial instrument executed during the defined period.

(1) A trading venue operator must make the information set out in MAR 11A Annex 1 available to the FCA when:
1. (a) the financial instrument is admitted to trading;
2. (b) the financial instrument is first traded on that trading venue; or
3. (c) any change has been made to the information set out in MAR 11A Annex 1 previously provided to the FCA.
(2) A trading venue operator must make available the information in (1) after the end of the trading day, but before the end of the day.

MAR 11A Annex 1 Reference data to be provided for the purpose of transparency calculations

Table 1: Symbol table for Table 2

Symbol	Data type	Definition
{ALPHANUM-n}	Up to n alphanumerical characters	Free text field
{ISIN}	12 alphanumerical characters	ISIN code, as defined in ISO 6166
{MIC}	4 alphanumerical characters	Market identifier as defined in ISO 10383

Table 2: Reference data for transparency calculations

#	Field	Description/Details to be published	Format to be populated as defined in Table 1
1	Instrument identification code	Code used to identify the financial instrument	{ISIN}
2	Instrument full name	Full name of the financial instrument	{ALPHANUM-350}
3	Trading venue	Segment MIC for the trading venue or systematic internaliser, where available, otherwise operational MIC.	{MIC}
4	MiFIR identifier	Identification of equity financial instruments: Shares as referred to in Article 2(1)(24)(a) of MiFIR; Depositary receipts as defined in Article 2(1)(25) of MiFIR; ETF as defined in Article 2(1)(26) of MiFIR; Certificates as defined in Article 2(1)(27) of MiFIR; and Other equity-like financial instrument is a transferable security which is an equity instrument similar to a share, ETF, depositary receipt or certificate but other than a share, ETF, depositary receipt or certificate.	Equity financial instruments: SHRS - shares DPRS - depositary receipts ETFS - ETFs CRFT - certificates OTHR - other equity-like financial instruments