In the money markets segment, Tradeweb reported that repurchase agreement average daily volumes rose 41.9% year-on-year (YoY) to $343.8 billion. 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.
Total trading volume was at $20.4 trillion for February across its electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets. Average daily volume (ADV) for the month was a record $1.06tn, an increase of 19.9% year over year.
There were a number of record ADVs in US and European government bonds, US High Yield Credit, European Credit as well as repurchase agreements. This included a single-day volume record for US government bonds on February 26th, when more than $210 billion was facilitated on Tradeweb’s platforms, as well as $60bn of European government bonds. In credit, Tradeweb captured a record 7.3% of US High Yield TRACE share in February.
Lee Olesky, Tradeweb CEO, said in a statement: “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.”