EuroCTP, the joint venture of 15 European exchange groups selected by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to deliver the EU’s first real-time consolidated tape for shares and ETFs, has named Exegy as its core technology partner. Exegy’s FPGA-accelerated ticker plant will serve as the data normalisation and consolidation engine at the centre of the platform, which is targeted for a July 2026 go-live.
The choice of an FPGA-based architecture – rather than a purely software-driven approach – reflects the scale of the engineering challenge that EuroCTP faces. The platform must consume pre-trade and post-trade data from more than 130 trading venues and Approved Publication Arrangements (APAs), normalise heterogeneous data formats, and compute the official European best bid and offer (EBBO) in real time. Deterministic latency and the capacity to handle volume spikes without performance degradation are central requirements for infrastructure that will function as shared European market plumbing.Why FPGA?
FPGAs (field-programmable gate arrays) execute data processing operations directly in hardware rather than through layers of software instruction. For workloads that involve high-throughput, repetitive operations on streaming data – precisely the profile of consolidated tape computation – this approach delivers consistent performance characteristics that are difficult to replicate in software alone, particularly under peak load conditions.
“Building an Equities consolidated tape across the fragmented European landscape requires proven experience in mission-critical roles and technology that provides the necessary level of capacity and reliable performance,” says David Taylor, CEO of Exegy. “By delivering purpose-built FPGA appliances and providing a comprehensive 24/7, ‘Follow the Sun’ managed service model, we are helping EuroCTP create a robust, efficient, and future-proof platform that supports the next generation of growth in European capital markets.”
The collaboration between the two firms dates back to 2024, when they jointly developed a prototype consolidated data feed featuring the novel EBBO computation. That prototype phase appears to have been a key factor in Exegy’s selection, giving both parties an opportunity to prove the architecture before committing to a production build.
Independence by design
For EuroCTP, the decision to go to an external technology vendor – rather than drawing on the infrastructure of its exchange shareholders, which include Euronext, Deutsche Börse, Nasdaq, and SIX among others – is also significant from a governance perspective. The exchange-owned consortium has faced persistent questions about conflicts of interest since its formation in 2023, and selecting an independent provider reinforces EuroCTP’s position that its technology stack operates at arm’s length from its shareholders.
“Selecting Exegy as a strategic technology partner was a critical milestone in our mission to foster transparency and equal access to market data,” says Eglantine Desautel, CEO of EuroCTP. “EuroCTP is committed to delivering a consolidated tape that serves retail and institutional investors alike. Exegy’s proven track record, building on its history of powering the Canadian Equities Consolidated Tape and supporting a large number of industry participants with high industry standards and operational resilience, is crucial to delivering on our promise of a more integrated EU Single Market.”
Exegy is a global provider of high-performance market data and trading infrastructure, headquartered in St Louis with operations spanning New York and Europe. The firm’s product portfolio extends well beyond FPGA hardware to include the Axiom data-as-a-service platform, software and FPGA-based feed handlers, and ultra-low-latency execution gateways. Its growth through the 2021 merger with Vela Trading Systems and the 2022 acquisition of Enyx has broadened both its technology stack and its global footprint. The firm’s Axiom platform already delivers normalised real-time data from more than 300 venues worldwide.Building the technology stack
The Exegy selection is the latest in a series of technology partnerships that EuroCTP has assembled as it builds out the operational infrastructure for the tape. DataBP was appointed in October 2025 to handle the licensing, subscriber management, and billing layer – what its CEO Mark Schaedel described as a “digital-first” administrative framework. BMLL was selected in November 2025 to provide data quality calibration, using its historical data covering more than 100 European venues to help EuroCTP validate its data quality controls and calibrate thresholds ahead of launch.
With Exegy now confirmed as the core data engine, the technology stack for the EU equities tape is taking clearer shape: FPGA-accelerated normalisation and EBBO computation at the centre, with data quality calibration, administrative infrastructure, and distribution layers assembled around it.
The consolidated tape is a cornerstone of the EU’s Capital Markets Union agenda and is designed to address long-standing fragmentation in European equity market data. Market data user groups including EFAMA and EPTA have flagged remaining questions about the tape’s data content – including demands for deeper pre-trade book depth, venue identification on pre-trade data, and the inclusion of ETCs and ETNs alongside ETFs. Separately, the relationship between the tape’s near-real-time output and existing regulatory reporting regimes under MiFIR will present reconciliation challenges for firms that consume both datasets.
ESMA is also progressing consolidated tapes for other asset classes. The bond tape was awarded to Ediphy (fairCT) in July 2025, and the selection procedure for the OTC derivatives tape was launched in January 2026.
European trading and trade publication venues are currently being onboarded ahead of the go-live later this year. Exegy’s managed service model, operating around the clock across time zones, will support the platform once it enters production.
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