Market Metrics That Matter: European Equities April Volume Briefing

May 14, 2026

Welcome to the April edition of Market Metrics That Matter, your monthly briefing on European cash equities trends.

Don’t forget to visit Cboe Europe’s Market Share page for leading insights into European equity trading activity.

April 2026 Highlights

European equity trading volumes dip following high-volatility period, with activity shifting towards Dark order books, Periodic Auctions and Systematic Internalisers

  • Total on-exchange average daily value traded (ADVT) in European equities reached €64.7bn, down on the all-time high recorded in March of €74.4bn
  • Total addressable activity (including on and off-exchange), was €95.9bn, down on the €103bn high from March
  • Market-wide activity shifted away from Closing Auctions and Lit order books towards Dark order books, Periodic Auctions and Systematic Internalisers (SIs):
  • Dark order books recorded an ADVT of €7.1bn and their on-exchange market share increased to 10.9% (vs 10% in March 2026).
  • Periodic Auctions ADVT was €7.3bn, which represented 11.3% of on-exchange activity (vs 10.6% in March).
  • Closing Auctions accounted for 24.5% of on-exchange activity, down from 25.9% in March.
  • Total addressable SI ADVT was €17.8bn, which represented 18.5% of total addressable volumes (vs 17.7% in March)
  • Paris-listed securities recorded the strongest month-on-month increase in market share (+1 percentage point), while London reduced the most (-0.8 percentage points)

Cboe Europe posts largest market share gains, driven by mix of trading mechanisms

  • Cboe recorded an overall market share of 25.7%, up from 25.5% in March, making it the biggest market share gainer and the largest pan-European stock exchange for the fourth consecutive month
  • Cboe Periodic Auctions achieved a monthly ADNVT of €5.9bn, representing 9.2% of all on-exchange activity and 80.8% of the Periodic Auctions segment
  • Cboe BIDS Europe, Cboe’s European block trading platform, remained the largest platform of its kind for the 49th consecutive month, posting a monthly ADVT of €673.5m and an above-LIS market share of 32%
  • Cboe BIDS VWAP-X, our trajectory crossing service, achieved a single day record of €19.4m on April 14

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