Cboe Europe has announced several leadership changes within its equities division as it continues to expand its market presence.
Cboe Europe is the largest pan-European trading venue by volume, with a 25% market share in cash equities as of January 2025. The exchange has seen continued growth in its trading services, with its periodic auction accounting for 8.8% of all continuous trading in December 2024, up from 5.3% the previous year.
Cboe BIDS Europe, the firm’s block trading platform, has maintained its position as Europe’s largest block trading venue for 33 consecutive months, reaching a record average daily volume (ADV) of €575 million in 2024.
 Alex Dalley has been promoted to head of European cash equities, where he will oversee product development, sales, and execution consulting for Cboe’s European equities business. He will report directly to Natan Tiefenbrun, president of North American and European equities.
Dalley has been with Cboe Europe since 2008, playing a key role in growing the exchange’s equities business. He was previously head of Cboe Netherlands, where he led the firm’s pan-European equities and derivatives exchange operations. Before that, he served as co-head of European equities sales, focusing on client relationship management and business development across continental Europe.
Before joining Cboe, Dalley spent over seven years at the London Stock Exchange, where he was head of exchange trading and membership sales. In this role, he managed exchange trading sales, client relationships, and membership acquisition. He was also responsible for business development of the LSE’s buy-side/sell-side FIX hub and spoke service.
Jerry Avenell, previously co-head of sales for European equities, has been named head of sales for European cash equities. He reports to Dalley.
Avenell has over 20 years of experience in European equities sales and trading. He joined Cboe in 2012 as European co-head of sales following the exchange’s acquisition of Chi-X Europe, where he had worked since 2007 as a business development manager. Before that, he spent eight years at the London Stock Exchange as a primary account manager, where he focused on client acquisition and market relationships. In addition to his role at Cboe, Avenell serves as co-chair of the FIX Global equities committee and previously chaired the FIX EMEA equities advisory committee from 2021 to 2024.
Julie Zhou, formerly director of sales, has been promoted to head of continental European sales, reporting to Avenell. Zhou has been with Cboe since 2016, focusing on expanding the firm’s client relationships across Europe.
Before joining Cboe, Zhou worked at MSCI as an account manager specialising in indices for portfolio replication, structured products, and benchmarking. Before that, she spent six years at Thomson Reuters, where she held various roles in enterprise solutions sales, covering FX aggregation software, real-time data feeds, and trading analytics.
Looking ahead, Cboe plans to launch a dedicated retail liquidity provider scheme and new tariff structures for equities and ETFs in 2025, pending regulatory approval. These initiatives aim to enhance retail order execution by offering execution at or within the European Best Bid or Offer (BBO) free of charge.
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