Crossed signals: row over collusion pits scholars against traders

An Oxford study claims to show evidence of collusion in ETF markets. Some traders give it short shrift

Researchers at the University of Oxford think market-makers at the European Union’s largest exchange are colluding to pick the pockets of exchange-traded fund (ETF) investors.

The bombshell claims were published last month in a paper titled ‘Anonymity, signalling and collusion in limit order books’, which presents evidence that market-makers covertly reveal themselves to each other by posting outsize orders that often end in the same two or three digits.

The authors – Alvaro Cartea, professor of