EuroCTP launches the EU consolidated tape for shares and ETFs with 87% of target trade value onboarded

From selection to launch in nine months

ESMA selected EuroCTP on 19 December 2025 to run the consolidated tape for shares and exchange-traded funds that the MiFIR review created. ESMA describes EuroCTP as a Netherlands-based joint venture with 15 European exchange groups as shareholders. ESMA authorised it on 27 July 2026 and gave it a transition period to 30 September to finish its operational and technical arrangements. The same day, EuroCTP set Monday 14 September as its go-live date and said connectivity was already in place with 130 data sources across regulated markets, multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) and approved publication arrangements (APAs).

EuroCTP announced the launch on that date. In its launch statement, it said the tape consolidates data from “over 130 sources” across the EU. It will run for five years under ESMA’s direct supervision. ESMA’s July notice says that five-year term starts on the date operations begin.

ESMA describes the tape as bringing pre-trade and post-trade data from multiple contributors “into a single stream”. Natasha Cazenave, ESMA’s Executive Director, said in July that it would “support better price discovery and facilitate more informed investment decisions”.

Who is not on it yet

EuroCTP said the data contributors onboarded at launch “represent 87% of the target scope, by notional trade value”, with “additional contributors to be onboarded progressively”. It did not name the contributors still to be onboarded.

ESMA’s stated position sets a different baseline. In an April statement, ESMA reminded trading venues and APAs that they have “the legal obligation to contribute data to the CTPs from the CTs’ go-live”, and asked them to finish connectivity and end-to-end testing before then. EuroCTP’s launch figures imply that contributors accounting for 13% of target notional were not feeding the tape on day one. The launch statement did not say which contributors those were or why they had not yet been onboarded.

What it costs

EuroCTP published its fee schedule on 19 February 2026, describing the fees as “subject to regulatory approval”. Non-professional users, including retail investors, academics, civil society organisations and competent authorities, can see the data free on EuroCTP’s website. Professional users pay:

• €100 per natural user per month for display use.
• €4,000 per client group per month for the non-display “EuroCTP Data Licence”, which includes redistribution.
• €10,000 per client group per month for a public display licence, which allows post-trade data to be redistributed for display to non-professional users on open-access channels.

The February release said launch was “planned for July 2026”. The launch came in mid-September instead, inside the window ESMA set when it authorised the provider.

The other tapes

The MiFIR review provides for tapes in three asset classes. The bond tape, to be run by fairCT, was not part of the 14 September launch; ESMA’s April statement said its authorisation was still in progress. For OTC derivatives, ESMA selected Etrading Software Netherlands on 6 July 2026.

In the launch statement, buy-side members of EuroCTP’s advisory committee welcomed the tape. Eric Böss, global head of trading at Allianz Global Investors, said it would “bring greater clarity to how execution is assessed across venues”. Alexandre Roubaud, head of EMEA ETF markets at BlackRock, said it would “become the golden source for the ETF market”.

Why it matters

Until 14 September, building a view of EU equity trading meant buying and normalising data from dozens of venues and APAs, or relying on a vendor’s consolidation. The tape gives desks a regulated reference for traded prices and volumes across the bloc. Execution and transaction cost analysis teams can use it as a common benchmark, and best execution reviews can cite a source that clients and supervisors can also see. ETF market makers and investors gain one view of on-venue and reported off-venue activity for products listed on several exchanges, where liquidity has been hard to measure. The scale of a single exchange group’s slice shows why: Deutsche Börse said ETFs, ETCs and ETNs on its Xetra and Frankfurt venues turned over €31.56bn in August 2026, and that figure leaves out the same products traded on other exchanges, on MTFs and in APA-reported off-venue trades.

There are limits. With 13% of target notional missing at launch, any venue-share or liquidity figure from the early weeks is incomplete. Firms using the tape as a benchmark should check which contributors were live on the dates they measure. Firms deciding whether to replace direct venue feeds with the €4,000 monthly data licence will also need to test latency and coverage against their own requirements.

What we are watching

• When the missing contributors connect, and whether ESMA or national authorities act on the go-live obligation.
• Whether the fees are confirmed as published, and how many professional users take the data licence.
• Progress on the bond tape and the derivatives tape.

Added to The Midpoint on 1 November 2026, with the Market Structure section. This article is dated to the event it describes; it was not published at the time.

Sources

• EuroCTP Launches Europe’s First Consolidated Tape for Shares and ETFs, EuroCTP, 14 Sep 2026
• ESMA authorises EuroCTP as the Consolidated Tape Provider for shares and exchange-traded funds, European Securities and Markets Authority, 27 Jul 2026
• EuroCTP Announces Authorisation as Europe’s First Consolidated Tape for Shares and ETFs, EuroCTP, 27 Jul 2026
• Deutsche Börse Trading Volumes in August 2026, Deutsche Börse Group, 1 Sep 2026
• ESMA selects Etrading Software (Netherlands) B.V. as Consolidated Tape Provider for OTC derivatives, European Securities and Markets Authority, 6 Jul 2026
• ESMA clarifies expectations in the run-up to the launch of EU’s Consolidated Tapes, European Securities and Markets Authority, 1 Apr 2026
• EuroCTP Introduces High-level Fee Structure for EU Consolidated Data for Shares and ETFs, EuroCTP, 19 Feb 2026
• ESMA selects EuroCTP to become the first Consolidated Tape Provider for shares and ETFs, European Securities and Markets Authority, 19 Dec 2025