JP Morgan asked more than 400 institutional traders (mainly FX, rates and commodities) about the biggest e-trading trends for 2018, from mobile trading and MiFID II to precision execution. The results of the survey showed that the biggest macro issue e-traders face is market structure and regulatory change (37 per cent), while geopolitical events and global economic uncertainty also figure highly as significant macro challenges. When it comes to daily trading issues, the issue flagged by most of the respondents was best execution requirements and precision of execution. Availability of liquidity, process efficiency and price transparency were also pressing daily trading issues.

MiFID II

The majority – 61 per cent – said that MiFID II will have a day-to-day impact on trading in 2018. MiFID II is more likely to have an impact on e-traders in the EMEA region, and the regulation is likely to alter the traders' use of electronic portals, alter the types of execution orders the trader uses and 32 per cent believe it will enhance transparency.

Mobile trading

The survey also tracked mobile trading trends and found that far more institutional traders are now likely to use a trading app: 61 per cent in 2018, compared to 31 per cent 2017. The top two barriers to using a mobile trading app, cited by respondents, were that company policies either prohibit trading on a mobile or they prohibit any use of a mobile phone at all. And the two most important capabilities of mobile trading apps were synchronising orders with the trader's desktop and providing market data.

For more insights, read the full results from the E-trading trends for 2018 survey.