018/2026: Announcement of T7 Release 15.0

1. Introduction

Deutsche Börse plans to introduce T7 Release 15.0 on 9 November 2026 for the trading venues Deutsche Börse Xetra and Deutsche Börse Frankfurt. The Simulation period for T7 Release 15.0 is planned to start on 31 August 2026.

This circular provides T7 Trading Participants with the T7 Release 15.0 timeline and the communication calendar.

The following enhancements will be introduced in T7 Release 15.0:

• Sponsored Access Functionality with an Overall Risk Functionality
• Xetra Midpoint enhancements
• Improvements of the Enhanced Drop Copy Interface (EDCI)

Simulation start:         31 August 2026
Production start:      9 November 2026

2. Required action

Trading Participants are requested to initiate the preparatory steps to ensure software readiness for the new T7 Release 15.0 on 9 November 2026.

3. Details of the initiative

A. Introduction schedule and Communication Calendar for T7 Release 15.0
     
Please refer to the Attachment for the Introduction Schedule and the Communication Calendar. 

The Communication Calendar lists all important dates on which documents for T7 Release 15.0 will be published, including existing documents that will be revised for T7 Release 15.0.

In June 2026, Deutsche Börse will publish the detailed preliminary Release Notes listing the functional and technical enhancements that will be available in T7 Release 15.0.

Deutsche Börse will provide a dedicated Release Simulation environment to give Trading Participants and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) the opportunity to perform comprehensive testing of their trading applications, independent of the T7 Production.
 
In addition to the T7 Release Simulation, Trading Participants can also use the T7 Cloud Simulation that allows Trading Participants and ISVs to test against the current T7 Production and Simulation software versions. In this environment, Trading Participants can initiate predefined market scenarios and test-specific strategies more easily than in a shared environment. The T7 Cloud Simulation is permanently available (24/7) for a fixed price per hour and is accessible using an SSL-encrypted internet connection. The T7 Cloud Simulation will start in advance to the usual Release Simulation.

For more information on the T7 Cloud Simulation, please refer to the Deutsche Börse Cash Market website www.cashmarket.deutsche-boerse.com under the following link: T7 Cloud Simulation.
     
B. Scope of T7 Release 15.0     

Sponsored Access Functionality with an Overall Risk Functionality

Deutsche Börse will introduce a new alternative of getting access to Deutsche Börse Xetra denoted as “Sponsored Access” (“SpA”) supplementing the already existing “Direct Market Access” (DMA) and “Order Routing System” (ORS). 

Any admitted Trading Participant of Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse, FWB^®) will be allowed to act as SpA Service Provider, granting access to indirect Trading Participants (“SpA User Company”) to use this new SpA for low-latency trading at Deutsche Börse Xetra.
 
Consequently, it is assumed that SpA User Companies will use their own applications and algos for on-book trading in Deutsche Börse Xetra. SpA User Companies will be directly connected via specific SpA High and Low Frequency sessions indicated by new session sub-types (trading and back office). Alternatively, specific SpA FIX LF back-office sessions will also be supported. These SpA sessions will support data confidentiality between the SpA User Company and its SpA Service Provider. T7 Entry Services (TES), Xetra EnLight, nor on-book quoting will not be supported for SpA User Companies.
 
In line with the already existing ORS and DMA, a SpA Service Provider will set up one or several SpA User companies within the T7 Trading Platform and will also manage their SpA sessions. Already existing T7 risk solutions can be used by the SpA Service Provider to monitor the trading activities of its SpA User Companies.

SpA User Companies will be enabled to submit regular limit orders that are Good-For-Day only, including Iceberg orders, IOC, FOK and BOC orders. The Overall Risk Limit (ORL) functionality will also be introduced in the context of SpA. SpA Service Providers will be enabled to define the overall daily risk limit for a SpA User Company. The ORL will consist of three optional levels with dedicated actions to be taken upon a level breach:

• Level 1: Upon the breach of this limit a warning message is sent to the SpA User Company and SpA (Service) Provider
• Level 2: Upon the breach of this limit, the SpA User Company’s trading capabilities are slowed down
• Level 3: Upon the breach of this limit, the SpA User Company is stopped from trading and optionally, all open orders are deleted. 

The consumption of the ORL will be calculated across all tradable products and instruments and each new order entry or execution will be evaluated if it would breach a defined limit. In case of a limit is breached, the respective actions will take place.

The SpA Service Provider may change ORL limits intraday, especially the level 3 limit to enable trading again. 

The SpA User Company will be enabled for trading again on the next business day, if the limits are not set up as a zero limit.

SpA Service Providers will be enabled to stop trading and optionally remove open orders via the ETI, FIX LF, and EDC interface by submitting corresponding stop trading requests. The same requests will also be available to resume trading activities of a SpA User Company stopped before. 

Additionally, SpA Service Providers will be enabled to monitor the trading activities of their SpA User Companys via dedicated EDC monitoring sessions. In case of an outage of EDC monitoring, trading activities of the monitored SpA User Company may be automatically restricted, if configured by the SpA Service Provider. 

Xetra Midpoint enhancements    

Deutsche Börse will introduce enhancements in the Xetra Midpoint trading functionality to enable Trading Participants to further fine-tune their trading strategies. Two new trading restrictions will provide Trading Participants with the following functions:

• Midpoint-Book-Only (MBO) trading restriction         

This new optional trading restriction prevents Midpoint Orders to be immediately executed (partially or fully) upon order entry,

• Counterparty-Resting-Time (CRT) trading restriction         

This new optional trading restriction will ensure that CRT Midpoint Orders will only be executed against other midpoint orders that have been resting passively in the Xetra Midpoint Order Book for a minimum time interval (“minimum marketable resting time”) with a marketable limit price. Thus, it will prevent Midpoint Orders from being executed against any incoming Midpoint Sweep Order or Midpoint Order, as well as Midpoint Orders that have been resting on the Xetra Midpoint order book for only a short period of time (i.e. for less than a defined “minimum marketable resting time” period).

Both trading restrictions can be used for the same Midpoint order. 

The trading restrictions cannot be used for Midpoint Sweep Orders.

Improvements of the Enhanced Drop Copy Interface (EDCI)     

With T7 Release 15.0, retransmission services as well as certain information of rejected order transactions will be included in the EDCI. 
 
Attachment:

• Introduction Schedule, Communication Calendar for T7 Release 15.0

Further information