The total number of shares traded on European venues fell by 13% in the third quarter this year, compared to the second quarter.
The Association for Financial Markets in Europe’s (AFME) third quarter review on equity markets revealed that €3 trillion of shares were traded in Europe in the second quarter this year.
However, in the third quarter the value of shares trade on European venues decreased to €2.6 trillion.
AFME also found equity trading in main markets decreased over 14% quarter-to-quarter and over 15% year-on-year.
Dark trading represented 8% of total equity turnover on main markets and MTFs in the third quarter this year, a slight dip from the prior quarter.
“By markets, 14.7% of the turnover value of FTSE250 listed companies was traded on dark order books in 3Q16, compared with 10% of FTSE100,” AFME added.
The report said the figures for dark trading have stabilised around these values for the last two years.