'The year of digital is upon us:' Bitcoin, political gridlock, and big data are set to transform markets in 2018

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• Kevin McPartland, the head of research for market structure and technology at Greenwich Associates, a consultancy, outlined the ten trends that'll define markets in 2018.
• According to McPartland, 2018 will be the year in which digital descends upon the markets.
• He sees banks paying more attention to crypto, data becoming more important, and more regulatory changes.

2017 was politically strange, economically strong and eerily calm. President Trump attempted to govern the U.S. in ways never before seen and often hard to imagine. Britain seemed to second-guess their choice to leave the EU while carrying on negotiating the exit. Asset prices around the world continued to rise, prompting bubble fears despite generally supportive fundamentals (for those assets with fundamentals, unlike Bitcoin).

Even with the first real nuclear threat since the Cold War, markets have remained oddly calm, with volatility and volume remaining depressingly low,particularly for those who make money only when markets move. Heading into 2018, dreams of volatility will continue, and watching interest rates rise will be like watching grass grow.

While both will be key factors on every market participant's dashboard, neither is really a trend-just business as usual. Regulatory change will enter the spotlight again this year, and the importance of data and analytics will be highlighted along with it. Both will impact trading venues, investors, dealers, and those that support them.

With that, these are our top 10 market structure trends to watch in 2018: