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Article 16 - Determination of the most relevant market in terms of liquidity

Article 16

Determination of the most relevant market in terms of liquidity

1.   In the case of a transferable security within the meaning of Article 4(1)(44)(a) of Directive 2014/65/EU, an emission allowance or a unit in a collective investment undertaking, the most relevant market in terms of liquidity for that financial instrument (the most relevant market) shall be determined once each calendar year on the basis of the data of the previous calendar year, provided that the financial instrument was admitted to trading or traded at the beginning of the previous calendar year, as follows:

(a)

for instruments admitted to trading on one or more regulated markets, the most relevant market shall be the regulated market where the turnover, as defined in Article 17(4) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/587 (8) for the previous calendar year for that instrument is the highest;

(b)

for instruments not admitted to trading on regulated markets, the most relevant market shall be the MTF where the turnover for the previous calendar year for that instrument is the highest;

(c)

for the purposes of points (a) and (b), the highest turnover shall be calculated by excluding all transactions that benefit from pre-trade transparency waivers pursuant to Article 4(1)(a), (b) or (c) of Regulation (EU) No 600/2014.

2.   By derogation from paragraph 1 of this Article, where a transferable security within the meaning of Article 4(1)(44)(a) of Directive 2014/65/EU, an emission allowance or a unit in a collective investment undertaking was not admitted to trading or traded at the beginning of the previous calendar year or where there is insufficient or non-existent data to calculate the turnover in accordance with point (c) of paragraph 1 of this Article for the purpose of determining the most relevant market for that financial instrument, the most relevant market for the financial instrument shall be the market of the Member State in which a request for admission to trading was first made or where the instrument was first traded.

3.   In the case of a transferable security within the meaning of Article 4(1)(44)(b) of Directive 2014/65/EU or a money market instrument whose issuer is established in the Union, the most relevant market shall be the market of the Member State where the registered office of the issuer is situated.

4.   In the case of a transferable security within the meaning of Article 4(1)(44)(b) of Directive 2014/65/EU or a money market instrument whose issuer is established outside the Union, the most relevant market shall be the market of the Member State where the request for admission to trading of that financial instrument was first made or where the financial instrument was first traded on a trading venue.

5.   In the case of a financial instrument which is a derivative contract or a contract for difference or a transferable security within the meaning of Article 4(1)(44)(c) of Directive 2014/65/EU, the most relevant market shall be determined as follows:

(a)

where the underlying in the financial instrument is a transferable security within the meaning of Article 4(1)(44)(a) of Directive 2014/65/EU or an emission allowance which is admitted to trading on a regulated market or is traded on an MTF, the most relevant market shall be the market deemed to be the most relevant market for the underlying security in accordance with paragraph 1 or 2 of this Article;

(b)

where the underlying in a financial instrument is a transferable security within the meaning of Article 4(1)(44)(b) of Directive 2014/65/EU or a money market instrument which is admitted to trading on a regulated market or traded on an MTF or an OTF the most relevant market shall be the market deemed to be the most relevant market for the underlying financial instrument in accordance with paragraph 3 or 4 of this Article;

(c)

where the underlying in a financial instrument is a basket which contains financial instruments, the most relevant market shall be the market of the Member State in which the financial instrument was first admitted to trading or traded on a trading venue;

(d)

where the underlying in a financial instrument is an index which contains financial instruments, the most relevant market shall be the market of the Member State in which the financial instrument was first admitted to trading or traded on a trading venue;

(e)

where the underlying of the financial instrument is a derivative admitted to trading or traded on a trading venue, the most relevant market shall be the market of the Member State in which that derivative is admitted to trading or traded on a trading venue.

6.   For financial instruments that are not covered by paragraphs 1 to 5, the most relevant market shall be the market of the Member State of the trading venue which first admitted the financial instrument to trading or on which the financial instrument was first traded.


(8)  Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/587 of 14 July 2016 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on markets in financial instruments with regard to regulatory technical standards on transparency requirements for trading venues and investment firms in respect of shares, depositary receipts, exchange-traded funds, certificates and other similar financial instruments and on transaction execution obligations in respect of certain shares on a trading venue or by a systematic internaliser (see page 387 of this Official Journal).