Cboe Europe Disrupts Retail Trading with Pan-European EBBO Access—Here’s Why It Matters

Cboe Europe just flipped the script for retail traders across the continent. Starting today, they’re rolling out pan-European EBBO (European Best Bid and Offer) trading—a first-of-its-kind move that could level the playing field.

Why this hits different: Until now, institutional players dominated EBBO access, leaving retail traders with fragmented liquidity and subpar execution. Cboe’s pivot throws open the gates—expect tighter spreads, better pricing, and fewer ‘oops’ moments when your limit order gets steamrolled by pros.

The cynical take? It’s about time. Banks and hedge funds have been arbitraging this inefficiency for years—now they’ll need a new trick. Meanwhile, retail traders get what they’ve always deserved: a seat at the big kids’ table.

One catch: Liquidity won’t magically appear overnight. But with Cboe’s scale, this could finally make ‘fair’ more than just a marketing buzzword in European finance.

• New trading service designed to allow retail investors to trade at the best available prices free of charge
• Service leverages Cboe’s pan-European footprint to offer retail brokers single access point to equities and ETFs across 18 European markets
• Builds on Cboe’s global leadership in serving retail investor community across multiple asset classes

Cboe Europe, operator of the largest pan-European stock exchange by value traded and a division of Global Markets, Inc., announced its plans to launch a retail-focused trading service on its Lit order book designed to enhance execution outcomes for retail investors trading stocks and ETFs across Europe. The service is scheduled to go live on 8 September 2025, subject to receiving the required regulatory non-objections in the Netherlands and the UK.

With Cboe Europe’s extensive pan-European market coverage and customer base, this service will offer brokers free execution of retail orders at or better than the European Best Bid and Offer (EBBO)[1] across 18 European markets[2]. The service will operate as part of Cboe Europe’s trusted, transparent and regulated exchange environment, which offers access to over 8,000 European stocks and ETFs. To support this launch, Cboe Europe is also introducing a dedicated Retail Liquidity Provider (RLP) Programme, designed to enhance retail execution quality by incentivising market makers to post orders at the EBBO which are exclusively for interaction with retail order flow.

Through this new service, retail customers will be able to access some of the best available Lit liquidity in European equities. In addition, retail orders will also be eligible to benefit from free execution on other Cboe Europe trading mechanisms, including its Dark and Periodic Auctions order books, offering potential price improvement opportunities.

Alex Dalley, Head of European Cash Equities, Cboe Global Markets, said: “Cboe is committed to the ongoing evolution of our equity trading services to strengthen European equity markets through the development of a vibrant and inclusive on-exchange ecosystem that benefits all investors. This service is our latest innovation, developed through close collaboration with our retail broker participants seeking to trade at EBBO or better in a simple and cost-effective way. We look forward to leveraging our pan-European footprint, unrivalled range of trading mechanisms and strong industry relationships to enhance the trading experience for retail investors and the firms that support them.”

To participate in this service, brokers will be required to complete a Retail Order Attestation form, which enables designated retail orders to access retail-specific pricing and functionality. To support diverse and integrated Lit order books, these retail orders can interact with quotes from both RLPs and non-RLP participants, with executions occurring at the best available prices. When prices are equal, RLP quotes are given priority, and any remaining unmatched quantity may then interact with other available liquidity in the Lit order book.  We will have separate market data feeds for RLP and non-RLP orders, enabling brokers the ability to consolidate their view of all orders on our Lit order books.

Existing Cboe Europe participants can access the service through their current connectivity, with many already handling retail order FLOW and actively sending retail-attested orders.

Cboe operates 27 markets across five asset classes globally and continues to strengthen its competitive position in serving the global retail investor community. It has strong retail participation in its U.S. options and equities markets, and recently announced plans to introduce 24×5 trading for U.S. equities, subject to regulatory approval and industry developments, to meet growing demand from global investors to access U.S. markets.

Cboe Europe operates exchanges in both the UK (Cboe UK) and the Netherlands (Cboe NL) – with a combined market share of 25%[3] – offering a comprehensive suite of equity trading services including Lit and Dark books, Periodic Auctions, Cboe BIDS Europe, Cboe BIDS VWAP-X, and Cboe Closing Cross (3C).

Source: Cboe