European Expansion

SpiderRock Connect Expands into European Options and Equity Markets

SpiderRock is pleased to announce its strategic expansion into the European equity and derivatives markets, a significant milestone in our mission to provide institutional clients with high-performance derivatives trading solutions on a global scale. This move reflects our commitment to meeting the evolving needs of clients seeking seamless access to liquidity globally via advanced trading tools, starting in Europe.

The European rollout will occur in three structured phases:

1. ISV/Platform – Algo Execution (Fall 2025)
   Initial deployment of the core SpiderRock software platform, featuring support for algorithmic execution in derivatives and equities across European listed markets. This rollout is delivered in partnership with member brokers of leading European exchanges, including Eurex, Euronext, and CEDX.

2. Investment Firm – Block Auction Functionality (Q3–Q4 2026)
   SpiderRock intends to become a member of several major European derivatives exchanges to introduce its auction-based trading functionalities. This initiative will expand the platform’s algorithmic execution capabilities and provide institutional clients with access to deeper and more diversified liquidity pools through an automated crossing mechanism. All transactions will be executed on regulated exchange venues.

3. Expansion and Enhancements (timeline to be determined)
   SpiderRock will continue to invest in broadening exchange access, enhancing platform capabilities, and integrating its advanced analytics suite.

Exchange Access

The following is how to access the supported European exchanges:

• Eurex – accessible via direct connect (Sponsored Access).
• CEDX and Euronext (Amsterdam, Paris, Milan, and Brussels) – accessible through Morgan Stanley.
• Hedging markets – accessible only through Morgan Stanley.

Note: Eurex is available both via direct connect and through Morgan Stanley connectivity, depending on the client’s set-up.

Phase 1 – ISV/Platform and Algo Execution (Fall 2025)

SpiderRock will initially operate in Europe as a technology platform (ISV), providing access to both derivatives and cash markets through its full suite of algorithmic execution and risk management tools. SpiderRock’s infrastructure is built to support equity and index options, as well as futures and options on futures. The platform will also enable spread strategies through broker-executed trades in the underlying assets.

Clients can leverage our SRSE API (hosted in AWS Frankfurt – FR2) and our web-based GUI tools to trade on Eurex, CEDX and Euronext (Amsterdam, Paris, Milan, and Brussels). Order entry and market data will be available for these exchanges upon launch. Connectivity to European exchanges will first be provided by our broker partners Marex and Morgan Stanley. Specifically, direct Eurex access will be enabled via Marex, while all listed derivatives and equity execution will be available through the Morgan Stanley infrastructure. Additional broker partners may be integrated in the future.

Note: For hedging activity with stock, access to the Morgan Stanley SWAP facility will be supported via SpiderRock.

Platform Features

• Feature-rich execution and risk management platform
• Algos: Maker, Taker, TWAP-style algos
• Algos with limit price tied to the SpiderRock volatility
• Centralized ticker model for risk
• Development of historical data and analytics offering
• Orders can be tied to fair value (volatility surface) or alpha probabilities
• Surfaces and analytics available at launch
• Trade Tool with support for all listed exchanges
• Visual tools: live order montage and volatility surface view

Phase 2 – Investment Firm and Block Auction Functionality (Q3-Q4 2026)

In addition to offering our core platform as an ISV, SpiderRock will also be seeking authorization as an investment firm, enabling us to receive and transmit orders for, and execute orders on behalf of, our clients directly on European options exchanges. This trading network (the “SpiderRock Network”) is essentially a system where, in responding to auctions, buyer and seller orders are presumptively matched on SpiderRock’s platform, then forwarded to the exchange for execution pursuant to the rules of the subject exchange.

This expansion of the SpiderRock algorithmic execution offering is designed to provide additional liquidity access for traditional asset managers and institutional clients through an automated crossing mechanism. As part of this expansion, SpiderRock will also enhance its algo suite to support strategy orders, further broadening its execution capabilities. The European platform will continue to grow with the planned integration of ICE Europe, and connectivity to Euronext via Marex, reinforcing SpiderRock’s commitment to comprehensive exchange coverage and efficient market access across the region.

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Market Structure in the United States versus Europe

As SpiderRock expands into the European markets, we recognize key structural differences from the U.S. market environment in which our platform was originally developed. In the U.S. options markets, the Options Price Reporting Authority (OPRA) feed provides a consolidated view of all listed options exchanges through a single point of entry. This unified feed enables SpiderRock to maintain a single feed handler—our OPRA Binary Gateway—that translates all options tick and trade data from across the U.S. market, ensuring a complete, real-time view of options activity.

Under the Regulation National Market System (RegNMS) framework, U.S. markets also operate with a National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO), which enforces best execution by requiring exchanges to re-route orders to the venue offering the best available price. Together, these systems form the consolidated, fungible market structure that underpins much of SpiderRock’s platform architecture and data assumptions.

The European market environment differs significantly from that of the United States, primarily due to the absence of a unified symbology standard and a consolidated, fungible market structure. In Europe, the same underlying security can be cross-listed under different ticker symbols on separate exchanges, which are referred to by SpiderRock as exchange-specific native tickers.

The same underlying security may also be listed under separate ISINs, reflecting different trading currencies or a different Central Securities Depository (CSD) for settlement. Equity listings, while fungible, are primarily listed on their home country’s main exchange and cross-listed to other venues. In contrast, derivatives, while similar in specification, are entirely non-fungible, meaning they are not interchangeable for settlement or trading purposes.

An ISIN is a 12-character alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies a specific security. It is used globally to ensure that each security (stock, bond, derivative, or fund) can be referenced unambiguously across markets, systems, and jurisdictions. The use of the ISIN ensures that, despite differences in exchange-specific native tickers, all listings of the same underlying security share the same identification number.

The European derivatives markets also lack both an NBBO equivalent and an OPRA-style consolidated feed that aggregates market data across all exchanges. This leads to fragmented liquidity, varied best execution practices, and the need to source market data from multiple exchanges independently. To bridge this gap and deliver a similar consolidated view for our clients, SpiderRock has integrated a third-party aggregated feed. This feed provides a unified data source across participating European exchanges, allowing us to adapt our platform for the region while maintaining broad market visibility.

Key Differences between American and European Derivatives Markets

Feature	United States	Europe
Regulatory Framework	Highly centralized under Regulation NMS, SEC, CFTC, OCC, and FINRA.	Fragmented, governed by ESMA, delegated to national competent authorities (NCAs), and MiFID II. Less centralized enforcement.
Market Consolidation	RegNMS ensures fungibility of instruments and consolidated tape (SIP/OPRA) across all exchanges.	Currently no official unified consolidated tape; fungibility is not guaranteed across exchanges.
Options Clearing	Centralized via OCC (Options Clearing Corporation) for equity and index options.	Multiple CCPs, such as Eurex Clearing, LCH, and EuroCCP, depending on the venue and asset class.
Exchange Architecture	Multiple exchanges (CBOE, ARCA, BOX, ISE, etc.) all referencing a common NBBO (National Best Bid/Offer).	Multiple exchanges (Eurex, Euronext, CEDX etc.) with venue-specific books and no NBBO equivalent.
Best Execution	Mandated routing to exchange with the best price due to RegNMS.	Under MiFID II, "best execution" is a principles-based obligation rather than a strict formula.
Product Listings	Options often listed once and traded across exchanges, maintaining fungibility.	An instrument may be venue-specific, with no cross-exchange fungibility.
Market Hours	Standardized market hours and extended trading available.	Market hours vary by country and exchange, less consistency in pre-/post-market access.

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Main Platform Differences

1. SpiderRock Composite Europe (SCE) Ticker Source

To address fragmented liquidity across European markets, SpiderRock has developed the SpiderRock Composite Europe (SCE) TickerSrc, which groups equity option listings by their shared underlying equity. For any equity sharing a common ISIN (International Securities Identification Number) and traded currency, the platform aggregates quotes from all supported exchanges into a single consolidated ticker tape under a regionally unique TickerKey (for example, BMW-SCE-EQT).

SpiderRock currently receives equity market data from Cboe Europe venues — BXE, CXE, and DXE — which collectively represent the largest sources of pan-European liquidity. These exchanges provide the best bid and offer (BBO) for equities across SpiderRock’s European offering.

While SpiderRock sources market data directly from these three venues, equity order execution is further enhanced through broker partners’ smart order routing, providing clients with access to all European equity venues for execution, even though SpiderRock’s direct market data feed is limited to Cboe BXE, CXE, and DXE.

**Important Note:**At launch, the SCE TickerSrc will only apply to underlying equities. Options and other derivatives will continue to use their exchange-specific native tickers, though SpiderRock plans to extend the composite model to derivatives in the future.

2. Risk Controls

In the European deployment of SpiderRock’s platform, all standard risk controls remain available. However, there is one key implementation detail to be aware of when configuring ticker-level risk limits. For equity and index options, all ticker risk limits are counted at the underlying composite ticker. This means that all limits should be set on the underlying composite symbol, not the option root symbol.

While useful for order entry and market data at the exchange level, option roots do not account for the same underlying listed on other exchanges. This means they cannot consolidate exposure across exchanges in fragmented markets such as Europe, which is why the risk limits are set on the underlying composite symbol.

3. Types of Supported Algos

The following algo types will be supported at launch:

• ActiveTaker
• ActiveMaker

Progression Algos

• TwapAlpha
• SpdrPulse

Mleg Orders

• Seeker – supported only via Morgan Stanley.
• Legger – available anywhere.
• SeekerLegger – supported globally; however, the seeker component operates only via Morgan Stanley, while the legger component is available anywhere.

Important Note: All equity hedging activity will be done via the Morgan Stanley algo offering. Clients should discuss what behavior they would like to achieve with Morgan Stanley.

4. Transition from Citrix-based Tools to Web Application GUI Tools

With the eventual release of SPARC, all Citrix-based tools will be deprecated and replaced by the web application tools in the European environment. This transition is driven by infrastructure efficiency — deploying web applications through regional Amazon Web Services (AWS) is significantly more scalable and maintainable than operating a dedicated Citrix farm in Europe.

During the transition period, the Risk Viewer (RV) and Order Manager (OMv2) Citrix tools will continue to be supported in Europe for U.S. clients trading in European markets. Several adjustments have been made in the RV to support the European offering for U.S. clients.

• The SymbolViewSummary and SymbolViewDetail now include a region selector, allowing users to toggle between U.S. and European views. Users can also select their preferred currency display in views such as Industry Risk, Account Risk, and Expiration Risk.
• When a currency option is not available, values are displayed on a symbol-by-symbol basis. For European products, all dollar deltas and Greeks are shown in the product’s local currency.

In OMv2, there are a few minor functional differences to note. Market data is not transmitted to the V8 European environment; therefore, any PnL metrics that rely on live market data will default to zero. These include:

• liveMark
• liveUPrc
• dayPnL
• dayDnPnL (Day Delta Neutral PnL)
• uDriftDayPnL

5. Trade Tool Updates

The Trade Tool will include several updates specific to the European environment. Data availability and structure will differ from the U.S. version — for example, certain tickers may not display data due to different option stripes and distinct symbology standards used across European exchanges. Additionally, when placing trades, users can select the new EUXmsAlgo within the AutoHedge function for regional hedging.

Because multiple exchanges operate across European markets, root selection will vary by country, and FLEX options will not be offered in Europe. The tool will also support multiple currencies, allowing users to view and manage trades in their appropriate regional denomination.

6. Historical Analytics

Access to historical datasets in Europe will follow the same process used by U.S.-based clients. Access will be granted upon request, after which the relevant historical data files will be provided for download and analysis. Clients can view and work with these files in their environment using tools such as Python or R.

Certain differences apply to the European dataset compared to U.S. coverage:

• Exchange auction data (auction prints and notices) will not be included.
• Security IDs for stocks will not be provided in some datasets (e.g., OptionCloseMarks).
• Market hours will mirror the European market hours.