This new report and analysis, which focuses on providing detailed market size analysis for each of 25 European countries, is based on extensive primary and secondary research conducted by Kimsey Consulting.

Selected highlights from the analysis include:

• The European trading market consists of around 147,000 positions
• The UK is the dominant market, accounting for around 20% of trading operations
• Approximately 42% of trading positions are to be found in trading operations with 15 positions or less - compared to around 42% in the largest trading operations (100+ positions).
• The sell-side accounts for 78% of trading positions but only 32% of trading operations.
• Derivatives (of all types) are traded by more than half of trading operations (51%)
• The seven Eastern European countries covered by the analysis (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania) currently have more than 6000 trading positions across more than 700 trading operations.

A comparison between 2005 and 2003 analysis for the 17 countries covered by both studies, reveals:

• An increase of around 15% in expenditure on trading and related technology
• A marginal decline in the number of trading positions (down 1.2%)
• A fall of around 6% in the number of firms with trading operations.

Stephen Kimsey, principal consultant at Kimsey Consulting, commented, "Although Europe accounts for more than one third of the global market for trading and related technology, it is largely heterogeneous. Our analysis provides a key tool for those requiring detailed and comparative market size information analysis for this important region."