Liffe STIRs market making under fire

Euronext Liffe’s market maker scheme, an attempt to drag STIR volume options onto screen and away from the phone, has come under criticism from factions of the community who believe that it will not be a success and that part of the scheme was questioned by some observers.The market making scheme was introduced on 30 July and at the time of writing had done “some” business, according to the exchange, but the industry said that it was yet to capture the support of the trading community. While it received compliments from certain quarters of the industry others pointed towards one part of the scheme which involves some clients being able to avoid the market makers entirely.The guaranteed crosses allow market participants to enter both sides of a pre-negotiated market. Crossing between the best bid/offer (BBO) will always be allowed with no volume...