BME launches new functionalities in the stock and derivatives markets

• BME introduces two new features in Equities, including Trading At Last, which is a new trading phase after the closing auction.
• MEFF, BME's derivatives marketplace, introduces the new Flag Retail functionality, which allows an order to be marked as belonging to a retail client.

BME begins December with new services for its clients on the stock exchange and on its derivatives market, MEFF. On the one hand, it has incorporated two new functionalities for those securities traded in the auction at the close of the market session, while MEFF has launched a new system functionality to mark an order as belonging to a retail client.

With regard to the stock exchange, the two new functionalities are known as At the close (AtC) orders and the Trade At Last (TAL) phase. AtC orders offer market members the possibility of entering orders at any time during the session, but with the particularity that they will be activated at the start of the closing auction of the security. This makes it easier to enter orders for the closing auction without having to wait for manual entry at the start of the auction.

The Trading At Last phase is a new trading phase that begins immediately after the closing auction and once the closing price has been set. In this phase, orders that could not be traded in the auction will be allowed to be traded at the closing price. This phase shall only be activated for the securities that have set a price in the closing auction and shall have a maximum duration of 10 minutes, from 17:35 (or 17:37 if there is an extension of the closing auction) until 17:45.

Meanwhile, BME's derivatives exchange, MEFF, has just launched the new Flag Retail functionality, which allows an order to be flagged as belonging to a retail client. This is important because the market will be able to see the orders marked as belonging to retail clients and, if the market makers deem it appropriate, they will be able to improve the spread on the contract and offer better prices for the client.

This new functionality can be used in two ways: by marking an account as a retail customer account, so that each of the orders sent associated with that account will be treated as such, or by ticking the Flag Retail box within the ticket of an order, so that only that particular order will be treated as retail.