The restrictions are part of EU market reforms that will be voted on by the European Parliament on Tuesday.
Michel Barnier, the EU financial services commissioner, said on Monday: “With these rules the EU is putting in place one of the strictest set of regulations for high-frequency trading (HFT) in the world.
"While HFT trading might bring some benefits, we need to make sure that it doesn’t cause instability, and isn’t a source of market abuse. That’s what these rules set out to achieve.”
With high-frequency trading, a computer algorithm automatically determines whether to buy or sell a stock or currency, the timing of the order, the price and quantity. In Flash Boys, Mr Lewis claimed the use of superfast computers and algorithms allowed traders in the $22 trillion US stock market to profit at the expense of small investors by exploiting differences in prices on various exchanges.
HFT was blamed for the “flash crash” on May 6, 2010, during which the Dow Jones briefly lost almost 1,000 points.
The draft HFT rules MEPs are to vote on include a requirement for traders to have their algorithms tested on trading platforms to minimize risk as well as have them authorized by regulators.
However, proposals to ensure orders stay on a trader's book for a minimum time, making it difficult for high-frequency traders to operate, were dropped last year.
Tuesday's vote will endorse a tentative deal agreed in January on rules to govern financial markets by negotiators for the EU Parliament and the Council of Ministers.
The rules, which will still have to be endorsed by individual nations, were designed to curb speculative commodity trading, regulate high-frequency trading and close the loopholes in the existing legislation to ensure financial markets were safer and more efficient.
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