China’s securities regulator is probing IMC BV, a Dutch high-frequency trader, over its activity in the futures market during China’s stock market rout last summer, the second western group to face regulatory fallout from the turmoil.
High-frequency trading has gained popularity among Chinese brokerages and hedge funds in recent years, but remains small and the industry has faced a backlash following the equities collapse in late June 2015.
Regulators placed new restrictions on stock index futures last September, including prohibitively high margin requirements for non-hedging trades, which decimated volumes. There are no futures on individual stocks in China’s vast domestic market.