Let’s end a story of unfairness

Would you pay to have access to a casino knowing that other players might have paid more to see your hand? Would it be fair at a restaurant to pay to have the menu and then pay for your food? Is it right that when you buy a stock and someone else is selling it to you the exchange claims ownership of that bid and that offer along with the trade and sell that information to you?

Clearly not, so let’s end this story of unfairness. Sign the StopMarketDataFees petition. 

It takes 30 seconds and it could actually change the law.

Why are we launching this campaign?

To bring a legal end to a history of immoral fees. To force exchanges to make money on transaction fees and not on exchange feeds. To change the immoral situation of unfair access to exchanges.

True transparency and even level field. Not just because we say so, but because it is right and it’s needed: free and equal access to all participants.

It takes 30 seconds and it could actually change the law.

Zero fee cost for real time prices, because they are not real time when they reach you. Equal access to all participants.

The regulators and law makers need to step up and put a stop to this monopoly. The facts are plain to see. 

So if you too believe it should be illegal to profit by charging fees, to have access to price in order to trade, because Exchanges are monopolies. Here’s to changing the law. 

Petition launched to Stop Market Data Fees practiced by stock exchanges – sign now!

On January the 6, ATM Associação de Investidores – an association of investors member of the Better Finance, the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users, and the World Federation of Investors Corporations, -  sponsored by DIF Broker – launched a petition to stop unfair stock exchanges fees  practices and enable small brokers, and investors to get a fair deal.

Stock exchanges still dominate the highly fragmented matching price market and hence are the gatekeepers between investors and trading in the markets. They abuse their enormous power by forcing financial intermediaries and investors to pay costs extremely high for feeds and distorting the market. Faced with these unfair practices, financial intermediaries are often intimidated into operating in a “climate of fear” with little choice but to meet exchanges demands.

The European Commission represents a key opportunity to better protect investors and small financial intermediaries. The EU has committed itself with implementation of Mifid 1 and 2 to better regulated financial markets but the practices from Exchanges related to feeds grossly deviate from good commercial conduct and are contrary to good faith because they are imposed by the major trading partner in the value chain of financial market transactions.

Update June 9th 2016

The European Commission considered the petition and decided the issues raised are admissible to conduct a preliminary investigation. For more details, click here to see the EU letter.