MiFIR (2014)
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Know the numbers? Now learn the why.Read the MiFIR: Transparency, Reporting and Derivatives study notes: short answers, key numbers and the law behind each rule.
- What does MiFIR cover, and whom does it apply to?
- What must trading venues publish before and after trades in shares and ETFs?
- When can a venue trade shares without pre-trade transparency?
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Framework & scope
- What is MiFIR and how does it relate to MiFID II?
- MiFIR is Regulation (EU) 600/2014; together with the MiFID II directive it forms the MiFID II framework. As a regulation, MiFIR applies directly in all member states without national transposition.
- To which entities does MiFIR apply?
- Exam material: investment firms, credit institutions providing investment services, and market operators with their venues, plus CCPs and benchmark rights holders (Title VI only) and third-country firms under an equivalence decision (Title VIII only). Since 26 June 2021: third-country firms are also under the product intervention chapter; since 1 January 2022: data reporting service providers are under Title IVa; and since 28 March 2024 Title V reaches financial and non-financial counterparties subject to the EMIR clearing obligation.
Pre-trade transparency
- What pre-trade information must a venue publish continuously for equity instruments?
- The current bid and offer prices and the depth of trading interest at those prices, during normal trading hours, on reasonable commercial and non-discriminatory terms.
- Which trading systems are calibrated for equity, and what is added for non-equity?
- Exam material: order-book, periodic auction, quote-driven and hybrid systems for equity, with voice trading systems added for non-equity instruments. Since 28 March 2024: the equity list is unchanged, but non-equity pre-trade transparency applies only on central limit order book and periodic auction systems, so voice and request-for-quote systems are outside it.
- What are the main pre-trade transparency waivers for equity?
- The reference price waiver (price derived from the primary/most liquid venue), the negotiated transactions waiver, orders large in scale above normal market size, and orders held in an order management facility pending disclosure.
- How is the reference price defined for formalised negotiated transactions?
- Exam material: the midpoint of the current bid and offer or, if there is none, the midpoint of the session's closing bid and offer. Since 3 January 2018 (MiFIR Article 4(2)): this price belongs to the reference price waiver, and it is the midpoint of the current bid and offer on the first-admission venue or the most relevant market or, if unavailable, the session's opening or closing price, used only outside continuous trading. Negotiated trades in illiquid shares must fall within a preset percentage of a suitable reference price.
- What is the notification procedure before CySEC grants a pre-trade waiver?
- CySEC must notify ESMA at least four months before the intended start date. ESMA issues a non-binding opinion within two months.
Double volume cap
- What are the two levels of the MiFIR double volume cap for dark trading?
- Exam material: waiver trading on any one venue is limited to 4% of all EU trading in the instrument during the previous 12 months, and across all EU venues to 8%. Since 28 March 2024 in law, and since ESMA's first results on 9 October 2025 in practice: one cap, under which trading under the reference price waiver may not exceed 7% of all EU trading in the share over 12 months, with no per-venue limit.
- What happens when a volume cap is exceeded?
- Exam material: the competent authority suspends the waiver within two days (two working days in the Regulation) for six months, and extra reports follow once trading exceeds 3.75% on a venue or 7.75% EU-wide. Since 9 October 2025, under the single cap: venues themselves suspend the reference price waiver within two working days of ESMA's quarterly data, for three months, and there are no early-warning reports.
Post-trade transparency
- What details of executed equity transactions must be made public in near real-time?
- The price, volume and time of the transaction. The identities of the parties are NOT made public — they are reported privately to regulators via transaction reporting.
- Who may authorise deferred publication of transaction details?
- Exam material: CySEC, after approving the venue's arrangements, which the venue must disclose to market participants and the public, for equity and non-equity alike. Since 2 March 2026: unchanged for equity, but bonds, structured finance products and emission allowances follow harmonised deferrals applied without CySEC's authorisation; derivatives still need it until the new standards apply, expected from 1 March 2027.
- What counts as a non-equity instrument under MiFIR?
- Bonds, structured finance products, emission allowances and derivatives.
Systematic internalisers
- When must a systematic internaliser (SI) make public firm quotes?
- For instruments with a liquid market. Where there is no liquid market, the SI need only provide quotes to clients on request.
- What are the quote requirements and minimum size for an SI?
- Exam material: firm bid and offer prices reflecting prevailing market conditions, for sizes up to the standard market size (SMS), with a minimum quote of at least 10% of the SMS; dealing above the SMS falls outside the SI regime. Since 23 November 2025: the minimum quote is the SMS itself, and the quoting duties apply up to twice the SMS.
- How is standard market size determined, and how is SI status notified/reviewed?
- Shares are grouped into classes according to the arithmetic mean value of the orders executed in them across the EU, leaving out large-in-scale orders, and each class has a standard market size. The competent authority of the most relevant market sets each share's class at least once a year; that review concerns the class, not SI status. A firm that is an SI notifies CySEC, which passes the notification to ESMA, which keeps the EU list; since 17 October 2025 SI status in Cyprus is a qualitative test, or an opt-in, with no size test.
Record-keeping
- How long must investment firms and trading venues keep order and transaction records under MiFIR?
- At least five years. For client transactions, records must also include client identity and all information required for anti-money-laundering purposes.
Transaction reporting
- What is the MiFIR deadline for reporting completed transactions?
- As soon as possible, and no later than the close of business of the following working day (T+1).
- What is the scope of MiFIR transaction reporting, and where must transactions occur?
- Instruments admitted to or traded on a trading venue, instruments whose underlying is traded on a venue, and instruments based on an index/basket of traded instruments — reported regardless of whether traded on a venue or OTC.
- What key identifiers must a MiFIR transaction report include?
- The client on whose behalf the transaction was executed (including LEI for legal persons), the persons and algorithms responsible for the investment decision and execution, a short-sale flag for shares and sovereign debt, and a risk-reduction indicator for commodity derivatives.
- Through which channels may a firm submit transaction reports, and who corrects errors?
- Itself, an approved reporting mechanism (ARM) acting on its behalf, or the trading venue through whose system the transaction was completed. The party that submitted the report must correct and resubmit any errors or omissions.
- When must financial instrument reference data be submitted to CySEC?
- Exam material: before trading in the instrument starts, in a standardised electronic format, updated whenever the data change, and sent to CySEC, which forwards them to ESMA. Since 1 January 2022: trading venues send them directly to ESMA (systematic internalisers still do too, as RTS 23 has not been revised), and ESMA publishes them immediately on its website; the timing is unchanged.
Derivatives trading
- Where must in-scope derivatives be traded under MiFIR, and how far does the obligation reach?
- Exam material: on EU regulated markets, MTFs or OTFs, or on third-country venues covered by a Commission equivalence decision, and the obligation extends to third-country contracts with a direct, substantial and foreseeable effect in the EU. Since 28 March 2024: that extension is deleted, and the obligation binds financial and non-financial counterparties subject to the EMIR clearing obligation when they trade with each other in declared classes; the venues are unchanged.
- Who ensures CCP clearing of derivatives on a regulated market, and how quickly?
- The operator of the regulated market. Trades must be submitted and accepted for clearing as quickly as technologically practicable using automated systems.
- How is portfolio compression treated under MiFIR?
- Exam material: it is exempt from best execution and from the obligation to trade on a regulated market, MTF or OTF; volume and timing are published through an APA in near real time, and records are kept of every compression. Since 28 March 2024: the APA duty is deleted, and compression is one of several post-trade risk reduction services, also exempt from transparency, with records kept only for transactions not already recorded or reported under EMIR.