Tradeweb Markets, a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, today reported total trading volume for February 2021 of $20.4 trillion (tn). Average daily volume (ADV) for the month was a record $1.06tn, an increase of 19.9 percent (%) year over year (YoY).
Tradeweb reported record ADVs in U.S. and European government bonds, U.S. High Yield Credit, European Credit and Repurchase Agreements. This included a single-day volume record for U.S. government bonds on February 26th, when more than $210 billion (bn) was facilitated on Tradeweb’s platforms, as well as $60bn of European government bonds. In credit, Tradeweb captured a record 7.3% of U.S. High Yield TRACE share in February.
https://twitter.com/Tradeweb/status/1367097031718756355
Lee Olesky, Tradeweb CEO, said: “At some point a string of volume records becomes evidence of a more sustained shift towards electronic trading, and to me it feels like we’re reaching that point. Across our platform, clients are leveraging electronic tools and protocols they may not have utilized in the past. In Treasuries and interest rate swaps, for example, volumes were driven in part by underlying market volatility but we also saw greater breadth of electronic trading protocols being utilized in these markets.”
RATES
- U.S. government bond ADV was up 22.2% YoY to a record $118.1bn, and European government bond ADV was up 30.3% YoY to a record $33.7bn.
- Tradeweb continued to see strong activity in firm streams and session-based trading. Steady global government bond issuance and heightened volatility prompted record trading.
- Mortgage ADV was up 4.5% YoY to $233.2bn.
- The recent rapid rise in interest rates drove increased convexity hedging, notably towards the end of the month, and continued Fed purchase commitments contributed to overall flows.
- Rates derivatives ADV was up 22.0% YoY to $278.9 bn.
- Dealer support for request-for-market (RFM) list trading grew and client support for the protocol continued. In addition, client adoption of electronic trading of EM swaps increased. Liquidity providers added support to additional currencies which led to strong growth in the product.
CREDIT
- U.S. Credit ADV was up 36.6% YoY to $6.2bn and European credit ADV was up 16.8% YoY to $2.1bn.
- Tradeweb saw record U.S. High Yield ADV as request-for-quote (RFQ) volumes executed anonymously via Tradeweb AllTrade climbed, and the adoption of automated trading via AiEX continued to grow. Furthermore, sessions-based trading set records across U.S. and European credit products. U.S. High Grade TRACE market share was 19.1% (9.7% fully electronic) and TRACE High Yield market share was 7.3% (4.1% fully electronic).
· Credit derivatives ADV was down 54.6% YoY to $9.3bn.
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- More normalized volatility led to CDS trading on Tradeweb and the broader industry declining from the historically high levels seen during February 2020.
EQUITIES
- U.S. ETF ADV was down 9.8% YoY to $5.2bn and European ETF ADV was up 15.6% YoY to $2.8bn.
- U.S. wholesale activity was lower due to a decline in U.S. equity market volatility. Tradeweb’s global institutional sector continued to grow, driven by 70.8% growth in U.S. institutional activity, increased client adoption and higher AiEX activity.
MONEY MARKETS
· Repurchase Agreement ADV was up 41.9% YoY to $343.8bn.
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- Global Repo activity continued to grow, with additional support for FICC sponsored repo as well as CAD government bond for institutional clients. Retail money markets activity remained pressured by the low interest rate environment.
Source: Tradeweb
