A new whitepaper from Exegy reveals that trading firms face mounting operational complexity and an “infrastructure tax” as capital markets expand across geographies, asset classes, and continuous trading hours. With technical debt already consuming an estimated 21% to 40% of enterprise IT budgets, firms are under pressure to scale market access without compounding their operational overhead.
The report identifies several key drivers behind this burden. Overnight US equity volumes regularly surpass 600 million shares during volatile periods, whilst MOON ATS notional activity surged 200% between late 2025 and early 2026 amidst an absence of regulatory frameworks. Concurrently, growth in the MENA, APAC, and LATAM regions, alongside digital asset initiatives from DTCC, Nasdaq, and ICE, is increasing data normalisation and connectivity requirements.
Regulatory developments are also accelerating, with the launch of the UK consolidated tape and the imminent EuroCTP forcing simultaneous migration projects. Exegy concludes that while bespoke in-house infrastructure escalates maintenance costs, specialist vendor products allow firms to prioritise agility.
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