MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: MKTX), the operator of a leading electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities, today announced trading volume and preliminary variable transaction fees per million (“FPM”) for March and the first quarter ended March 31, 2024.1
Chris Concannon, CEO of MarketAxess, commented:
“In the first quarter, we delivered record total credit ADV of $15.0 billion, driven by an 18.0% increase in U.S. high-grade ADV, a 17.3% increase in emerging markets ADV and a 10.6% increase in Eurobonds ADV. Record levels of ADV across these product areas helped offset significantly lower levels of U.S. high-yield trading activity on the platform, driven by continued low levels of credit spread volatility. The roll-out of MarketAxess X-Pro is continuing and client engagement is increasing with approximately 12.5% of U.S. credit trading volume executed on X-Pro in the quarter.”
Select 1Q24 highlights*
- Record total credit average daily trading volume (“ADV”) of $15.0 billion, up 9.2%.
- Record U.S. high-grade ADV of $7.5 billion, up 18.0% on a 21.3% increase in estimated market ADV. Estimated market share of 19.3%, down from 19.9% in the prior year.
- U.S. high-yield ADV of $1.4 billion, down 29.4%. Estimated market share of 12.9%, down from 18.3% in the prior year. U.S. high-yield estimated market ADV increased 0.5%. We believe the decrease in U.S. high-yield estimated market share year-over-year was driven, in part, by lower levels of credit spread volatility and a greater focus on the new issue calendar by our long only client segment.
— Lower levels of credit spread volatility drove an estimated 54.3% decrease in ETF market maker client activity on the platform, and high-yield ETF notional market volume traded declined 25.2% compared to 1Q23.
— U.S. high-yield new issuance was $87.6 billion in 1Q24, up 116.5% from the prior year.
- Record emerging markets ADV of $3.6 billion, up 17.3%. The year-over-year increase was due to a 13.1% increase in hard currency trading ADV and record local currency markets ADV, up 29.8%.2
— Our Latin America and Asia-Pacific clients generated record levels of ADV in the quarter, up 11.1% and 54.8%, respectively, reflecting continued international expansion.
- Record Eurobonds ADV of $2.0 billion, up 10.6%.2
- Municipal bond ADV of $419 million, down 6.4% with estimated market ADV down 18.5%. Estimated market share of 6.5%, up from 5.7% in the prior year.2
- AxessIQ, the order and execution workflow solution designed for wealth management and private banking clients, achieved ADV of $140.1 million, up 22.2% from the prior year.
- Record $44.2 billion in total portfolio trading volume, up 40.6%.
- 34% Open Trading® share3 of total credit trading volume, down from 37% in the prior year.
- Total rates ADV of $17.7 billion, down 27.9% versus the prior year.
- The preliminary FPM1 for total credit for 1Q24 was approximately $154, compared to $165 in the prior year, and $156 in 4Q23. The decline in total credit FPM compared to the prior year was due principally to product mix shift. The preliminary FPM for total rates was approximately $4.70, compared to $4.12 in the prior year.
*All comparisons versus 1Q23 unless otherwise noted.
Table 1: March 2024 trading ADV
| CREDIT | RATES | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| $ in millions (unaudited) |
US/UK Trading Days4 | Total ADV |
Total Credit |
High-Grade | High-Yield | Emerging Markets |
Eurobonds | Municipal Bonds | Total Rates |
US Govt. Bonds |
Agcy./Other Govt. Bonds |
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Mar-24 |
20/20 |
$ |
31,831 |
|
$ |
14,814 |
|
$ |
7,233 |
|
$ |
1,361 |
|
$ |
3,533 |
|
$ |
2,255 |
|
$ |
417 |
|
$ |
17,017 |
|
$ |
16,450 |
|
$ |
567 |
|
|
| Mar-23 |
23/23 |
$ |
39,882 |
|
$ |
12,882 |
|
$ |
6,128 |
|
$ |
1,823 |
|
$ |
2,685 |
|
$ |
1,824 |
|
$ |
401 |
|
$ |
27,000 |
|
$ |
26,602 |
|
$ |
398 |
|
|
| % Change |
|
(20 |
%) |
|
15 |
% |
|
18 |
% |
|
(25 |
%) |
|
32 |
% |
|
24 |
% |
|
4 |
% |
|
(37 |
%) |
|
(38 |
%) |
|
42 |
% |
||
Table 1A: March 2024 estimated market share
| CREDIT | RATES | |||||||||
(unaudited) |
High-Grade | High-Yield | High-Grade/High-Yield Combined | Municipals2 | US Govt. Bonds2 |
|||||
| Mar-24 |
19.3 |
% |
12.7 |
% |
17.9 |
% |
6.6 |
% |
2.0 |
% |
| Mar-23 |
19.9 |
% |
18.9 |
% |
19.7 |
% |
5.6 |
% |
3.0 |
% |
| Bps Change |
(60) bps |
(620) bps |
(180) bps |
+100 bps |
(100) bps |
|||||
Table 1B: 1Q24 trading ADV
| CREDIT | RATES | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| $ in millions (unaudited) |
US/UK Trading Days4 | Total ADV |
Total Credit |
High-Grade | High-Yield | Emerging Markets |
Eurobonds | Municipal Bonds | Total Rates |
US Govt. Bonds |
Agcy./Other Govt. Bonds |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
1Q24 |
61/63 |
$ |
32,632 |
|
$ |
14,982 |
|
$ |
7,475 |
|
$ |
1,400 |
|
$ |
3,630 |
|
$ |
2,045 |
|
$ |
419 |
|
$ |
17,650 |
|
$ |
17,144 |
|
$ |
506 |
|
|
|
1Q23 |
62/64 |
$ |
38,202 |
|
$ |
13,721 |
|
$ |
6,334 |
|
$ |
1,982 |
|
$ |
3,094 |
|
$ |
1,849 |
|
$ |
447 |
|
$ |
24,481 |
|
$ |
24,053 |
|
$ |
428 |
|
|
| % Change |
|
(15 |
%) |
|
9 |
% |
|
18 |
% |
|
(29 |
%) |
|
17 |
% |
|
11 |
% |
|
(6 |
%) |
|
(28 |
%) |
|
(29 |
%) |
|
18 |
% |
||
Table 1C: 1Q24 estimated market share
| CREDIT | RATES | |||||||||
(unaudited) |
High-Grade | High-Yield | High-Grade/High-Yield Combined | Municipals2 | US Govt. Bonds2 |
|||||
|
1Q24 |
19.3 |
% |
12.9 |
% |
17.9 |
% |
6.5 |
% |
2.0 |
% |
|
1Q23 |
19.9 |
% |
18.3 |
% |
19.5 |
% |
5.7 |
% |
3.0 |
% |
| Bps Change |
(60) bps |
|
(540) bps |
(160) bps |
+80 bps |
(100) bps |
||||
1 The FPM for total credit and total rates for 1Q24 are preliminary and may be revised in subsequent updates and public filings. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any fee information in future press releases.
2 See “General Notes Regarding the Data Presented” below.
3 Open Trading share of total credit trading volume is derived by taking total Open Trading volume across all credit products where Open Trading is offered and dividing by total credit trading volume across all credit products where Open Trading is offered.
4 The number of U.S. trading days is based on the SIFMA holiday recommendation calendar and the number of U.K. trading days is based primarily on the U.K. Bank holiday schedule.
