One man's stock market

The Prague Stock Exchange (BCPP) will be, according to a series of articles in the media, experiencing a revolution at the end of next week. The new owner will modernise the technology used for trading (called SPAD) and bring in American banks.

In reality, there are even more important things happening at the stock exchange. Let us look at the web pages of Patria Finance.

They writes that BCPP in February traded stocks worth CZK 40 billion. Of that Patria traded CZK 30 billion in February. That is 75% of the entire volume. I think these are facts worth thinking about. It's not just about the skilfulness and success of one trader, but it could endanger trade on the market. The keeping of certain regulations that ensure a real market no de facto rests in the hands of one trader on the BCPP.

We are not saying that Patria did something wrong (it, in fact, boasts about this on its web site). Maybe it's just better than the others. But it is probable that no other similar stock exchange, operated by a single trader exists in the world. It would be interesting to see what the antimonopoly office will have anything to say about it. Probably not. The stock exchange may be a public service, but it is operated by a private company. Another specific characteristic of the BCPP is that a significant majority of the trade each month – CZK 20.6 billion – has to do with ČEZ shares, and the state is continuously…