Surge In Credit And Rates Drives MarketAxess August Trading Volume Up 39%

MarketAxess revealed that its trading activity increased massively in August. This increase was due to a positive market environment which raised rate and credit trading volumes.  The online trading platform reported a 39.6% surge in total average daily volume (ADV), now at $41.6 billion. This is a massive improvement from the previous year and July 2024.

The firm’s trading in municipal bonds and US high-grade played a big role in this growth and set a new record. Its total credit ADV also saw an impressive 27.4% increase compared to last year, and US high-grade trading contributed a lot to this growth.

Portfolio Trading Stood At $988 Million In August, A 125.6% Increase From Last Year

There was a 33.7% increase in US high-grade ADV, municipal bonds grew by 49.5%, and emerging markets saw a 25.5% boost. Even though its market share dropped a bit from last year, MarketAxess got back up in July, recording a 7.2% increase in high-yield bonds

MarketAxess’ portfolio trading hit its highest point of $988 million in August this year, showing a rise of 125.6% compared to the preceding year. The firm’s projected market share of high-yield and US high-grade TRACE trading reached 21.8%, rising from 17.2% in July.

Portfolio trading went down a bit compared to all trading (from 10.6% in July to 9.5% in August). Despite this tiny decline, the overall progress in this area was clear.

Open Trading, MarketAxess’s system for all-to-all trading, made up 36% of all credit trading volume, increasing from 34% last year. The Dealer RFQ system did well with average daily volume growing by 15% from the previous year.

Variable Fees Stayed At About $154, Up From $143 In July 2024

There were also massive growths in Rates trading with a total average daily volume of $28.4 billion in August this year, showing an increase of 46.1% from last year. This good performance was helped by a 26.9% growth from last month, keeping up the rising trend for the company’s rates products.

The early variable fees for each million dollars in total credit stayed the same as last year at about $154 but went up from $143 in July 2024. This growth was mainly due to the extended time Bonds were traded in the US high-grade section. The FPM for all rates stood at about $4, a bit lower than $4.35 last year.

MarketAxess Holdings is a global financial technology firm that offers an online trading service for the institutional credit markets. It also provides post-trade and market data services. The company allows broker-dealers and institutional investors to buy and sell credit instruments such as corporate bonds, and other fixed-income assets.