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The trading environment in Asia is strikingly different to the US and Europe, given the often vast differences between domestic regulations and market practices. This lack of harmonisation across the region proves problematic when attempting to determine concepts such as best execution and this is holding back the development of electronic trading to some extent. Moreover, the fact that the Asian stock exchanges have traditionally been very protective of their own markets and tend to be domestically focused has not helped matters. When the environment is one country, one execution venue, the incentive is much lower to adopt electronic trading methods and processes.

However, despite these drawbacks, the Asian markets have witnessed a lot of technological progress over the last few years. Many markets have started to open themselves up to direct market access and the participation of foreign institutions in these markets has driven forward change. This is particularly the case in markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Australia, which are often dubbed the tier one Asian markets.


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