The French Senate will vote this week on a draft proposal designed to curb automated trading in what marks the strongest and most direct attack yet on the high frequency trading phenomenon.

The French Senate's finance committee last week adopted a proposal to impose a 0.1% tax on "automated orders" executed in France in a move designed to directly target the controversial trading practice. The tax would be levied on firms that cancel more than 50% of their orders per day with the 0.1% rate applied to the automated orders sent to the exchange.