Bats Global Markets has officially filed for an initial public offering with US regulators, providing a chance for employees, rivals, users (and financial journalists) to pore over previously undisclosed details about the 10-year-old exchange operator.

While not as recognisable to the layman as the New York and London stock exchanges, the Kansas City-headquartered Bats is highly-regarded in trading circles and is the biggest exchange operator in Europe by market share and the second largest in the US.