MarketAxess Announces Monthly Volume Statistics For February 2020

Company Reports Record Monthly Average Daily Credit Trading Volume and Record Monthly Trading for Open Trading™ and U.S. Treasuries


NEW YORK, March 03, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: MKTX), the operator of a leading electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities, and the provider of market data and post-trade services for the global fixed-income markets, today announced monthly trading volume for February 2020 of $592.1 billion consisting of $190.0 billion in credit volume and $402.1 billion in rates volume.

A number of trading volume records were achieved in February 2020, including for the following categories:

  • Total credit average daily trading volume of $9.9 billion
  • Open Trading™ average daily trading volume of $2.9 billion and total trading volume of $55.4 billion
  • U.S. high-yield average daily trading volume of $1.6 billion and total trading volume of $30.7 billion
  • Eurobond average daily trading volume of $1.2 billion and total trading volume of $25.0 billion
  • U.S. Treasuries average daily trading volume of $21.0 billion and total trading volume of $398.7 billion

The Company also reported record credit and U.S. Treasuries average daily volume for the week ended February 28, 2020 of $13.9 billion and $31.3 billion, respectively and record credit and U.S. Treasuries trading volume on February 28, 2020 of $20.4 billion and $44.0 billion, respectively.

Reported MarketAxess volume in all product categories includes only fully electronic trading volume. MarketAxess trading volumes, TRACE reported volumes and Trax® processed volumes are available on the Company’s website at investor.marketaxess.com/volume.cfm

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including statements about the outlook and prospects for Company and industry growth, as well as statements about the Company’s future financial and operating performance.  These and other statements that relate to future results and events are based on MarketAxess’ current expectations.  Actual results in future periods may differ materially from those currently expected or desired because of a number of risks and uncertainties, including: the volatility of financial services markets generally; the level of trading volume transacted on the MarketAxess platform; the absolute level and direction of interest rates and the corresponding volatility in the corporate fixed-income market; the level and intensity of competition in the fixed-income electronic trading industry and the pricing pressures that may result; the variability of our growth rate; the rapidly evolving nature of the electronic financial services industry; our ability to introduce new fee plans and our clients’ response; our exposure to risks resulting from non-performance by counterparties to transactions executed between our clients in which we act as an intermediary in matching back-to-back trades; our dependence on our broker-dealer clients; the loss of any of our significant institutional investor clients; our ability to develop new products and offerings and the market’s acceptance of those products; the effect of rapid market or technological changes on us and the users of our technology; our ability to successfully maintain the integrity of our trading platform and our response to system failures, capacity constraints and business interruptions; our vulnerability to cyber security risks; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights or technology and defend against intellectual property infringement or other claims; our ability to enter into strategic alliances and to acquire other businesses and successfully integrate them with our business; our ability to comply with new laws, rules and regulations both domestically and internationally; our ability to maintain effective compliance and risk management methods; the strain of growth initiatives on management and other resources; our future capital needs and our ability to obtain capital when needed; limitations on our operating flexibility contained in our credit agreement; and other factors.  The Company’s actual results and financial condition may differ, perhaps materially, from the anticipated results and financial condition in any such forward-looking statements.  The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.  More information about these and other factors affecting MarketAxess’ business and prospects is contained in MarketAxess’ periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and can be accessed at www.marketaxess.com. 

About MarketAxess

MarketAxess operates a leading, institutional electronic trading platform delivering expanded liquidity opportunities, improved execution quality and significant cost savings across global fixed-income markets. A global network of over 1,700 firms, including the world’s leading asset managers and institutional broker-dealers, leverages MarketAxess’ patented trading technology to efficiently trade bonds. MarketAxess’ award-winning Open Trading™ marketplace is regarded as the preferred all-to-all trading solution in the global credit markets, creating a unique liquidity pool for a broad range of credit market participants. Drawing on its deep data and analytical resources, MarketAxess provides automated trading solutions, market data products and a range of pre- and post-trade services.

MarketAxess is headquartered in New York and has offices in London, Amsterdam, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, São Paulo, Hong Kong and Singapore. For more information, please visit www.marketaxess.com.

Investor Relations Contact:

David Cresci
MarketAxess Holdings Inc.
+1-212-813-6027

Media Relations Contacts:

Kyle White
MarketAxess Holdings Inc.
+1-212-813-6355

William McBride
RF | Binder
+1-917-239-6726

MarketAxess Holdings Inc.
Monthly Volume Statistics

            
 Average Daily Volume Total Trading Volume
 Feb-20 Feb-19 % Change Feb-20 Feb-19 % Change
  
  
 ($ in millions)
            
U.S High-Grade 1           
Fixed Rate$4,417 $4,318 2.3% $83,925 $82,050 2.3%
Floating Rate 255  320 -20.3%  4,849  6,084 -20.3%
Total U.S. High-Grade 4,672  4,638 0.7%  88,774  88,134 0.7%
Other Credit 1           
U.S. High-Yield 1,614  864 86.8%  30,658  16,410 86.8%
Emerging Markets 2,339  1,906 22.7%  44,447  36,223 22.7%
Eurobonds 1,249  1,016 22.9%  24,986  20,329 22.9%
Other Credit Products 59  28 110.7%  1,115  530 110.4%
Total Other Credit 5,261  3,814 37.9%  101,206  73,492 37.7%
Total Credit 9,933  8,452 17.5%  189,980  161,626 17.5%
Rates           
U.S. Government Bonds 2 20,983  - n/a   398,671  - n/a 
Agencies and Other Government Bonds 1 180  281 -35.9%  3,428  5,367 -36.1%
Total Rates 21,163  281 NM   402,099  5,367 NM 
            
            
Number of U.S. Trading Days 3 19  19        
Number of U.K. Trading Days 4 20  20        
            
NOTES:           
1 Consistent with FINRA TRACE reporting standards, both sides of trades are included in the Company's reported volumes when the Company executes trades on a matched principal basis between two counterparties.
2 U.S. Government Bonds represent U.S. Treasury volume traded through LiquidityEdge LLC, which was acquired by the Company on November 1, 2019.  Consistent with industry standards, U.S. Government Bond trades are single-counted.
3 The number of U.S. trading days is based on the SIFMA holiday recommendation calendar.
4 The number of U.K. trading days is based on the U.K. Bank holiday schedule.