"’................ trades using a crossing-engine system – a sophisticated technology that matches buy and sell orders within its own customer base, away from the publicly disclosed “lit” market.
Around 25 per cent of all trades are executed through these so-called dark pools, according to figures from the Australian Securities Exchange.
While dark pool trading has been around as long as markets have been in existence as a way to trade large blocks of stock without alerting the market to these placements, the structure has recently raised the ire of the security regulators."
and later....
"“One concern ASIC has is that retail clients [of trading platforms that use crossing engines] are not getting the best deal possible,” says Greg Yanco, senior executive leader, market and participant supervision at ASIC.
ASIC released its report on dark liquidity and high-frequency trading this week, highlighting dark pools and high-frequency trading as areas of concern. The securities regulator has asked for submissions from the industry."cont.
