In the dark: pools warn late Mifid rules still won't add up

Venues say better trade-flagging, consolidated tape needed for equity double-volume caps

As the postponed start of Europe’s new dark pool trading regime hurtles closer, pool operators are getting edgy. They never liked the rules, which can suspend dark trading of any stock at a percentage of the market-wide volume – 4% for a single pool and 8% for all pools – but they also fear the mysterious lack of data that prompted a two-month postponement could presage a more serious backfire.

Juan Pablo Urrutia, European general counsel at ITG, which runs the Posit dark pool, offers a