NYSE Euronext (NYX) has teamed with five operators of alternative-trading systems for a new venture that will pull back the curtain on trading activity in so-called dark pools.

The announcement came Tuesday as NYSE Euronext Chief Executive Duncan Niederauer and Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to consider new rules for the trading platforms.

Dark pools are private venues where large blocks of stock are traded electronically and have been targeted by regulators seeking a better idea of how much trading takes place away from exchanges.

On Wednesday, the SEC is slated to hold a meeting focused on alternative trading systems' role in the U.S. stock market, with regulation proposals likely.

NYSE's new venture, announced just ahead of that meeting Tuesday, will next month begin printing trades on the trade-reporting facility operated by NYSE Euronext and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or Finra, with the daily trading activity of each venue also displayed on NYSE Euronext's Web site.

The idea is to shed light on a handful of dark pools that are estimated to make up as much as 4.5% of the U.S. equity market, according to a Rosenblatt Securities Inc. report; overall, the venues are estimated to account for about 9% of U.S. stock trading.

Regulators, including SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro, have repeatedly stated that a lack of transparency in dark pool reporting is of paramount importance in any possible regulation. Leading up to Wednesday's meeting, regulators have been meeting with representatives from all facets of the dark pool trading community.

"I'd be surprised if this wasn't the result of conversations with the SEC and what they'd like to see," said Greg DePetris, founder of stock-lending platform Quadriserv Inc., speaking on the sidelines of an industry event in New York.

Steve Chmielewski, chief operating officer of Jones Trading Institutional Services LLC, added that similar moves are likely to take place often in the coming months, as the SEC moves forward in its evaluation of broader growth in high-frequency trading.

Instead of waiting for official rules to come from the SEC, dark pool administrators, exchanges and others will be looking to make moves "so the regulators don't have to."

High-frequency trading, driven by computer programs, seeks profits through rapid-fire transactions across multiple exchanges and trading venues.

Incumbent exchanges NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NDAQ) have both ceded business to alternative trading systems in recent years, and executives have expressed concern that dark pools' growing share of the market could distort prices set by displayed venues.

But NYSE Euronext has also sought to partner with certain dark pool operators, this year introducing a service from Liquidnet that lets companies know when their stock is seeing active trade on that firm's non-public market, and teaming with broker-dealer BIDS Holdings LP to develop the New York Block Exchange.

In Tuesday's initiative, NYSE said has joined with Barclays Capital, Getco, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Knight Capital Group Inc. (NITE) and UBS AG (UBS). Additional operators of alternative trading systems are in talks to join up, according to NYSE Euronext.

"This initiative is an important step toward the standardization of trade volume reporting across ATS venues," said Frank Troise, head of equities electronic product for Barclays Capital, in a statement.

- By Jacob Bunge, Dow Jones Newswires; (312) 750 4117; jacob.bunge@dowjones.com;

and Geoffrey Rogow, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2179; geoffrey.rogow@dowjones.com
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