06.05.2026

MarketAxess Trading Volumes Rebound in May

06.05.2026
Monte Titoli Eyes Growth After T2S

MarketAxess Holdings Inc., the operator of a leading electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities, announced trading volume and preliminary variable transaction fees per million (“FPM”) for May 2026.1

Select May 2026 Highlights* (See tables 1-1C and table 2)

Trading volumes across most products, as well as U.S. high-grade estimated market share, rebounded in May from April levels. U.S. high-grade estimated market share increased approximately 100 basis points to 17.8%, driven by improved estimated market share in the client-initiated channel on our platform.

The Company estimates that duplicate trade reports inflated U.S. high-grade TRACE volumes by up to 8% in May 2026. Adjusting for these duplicates, consistent with FINRA’s recent proposal to suppress duplicate reporting, we believe our estimated U.S. high-grade market share would have been approximately 160 basis points higher, or approximately 19.5%, in May 2026.

With the improvement in estimated market share in the client-initiated channel in U.S. high-grade compared to April, we also continued to make progress with block trading, portfolio trading and dealer-initiated protocols across the platform. Growth in these protocols was a key driver of the month-over-month decline in total credit FPM.

Client-Initiated Channel

  • 17% increase in block trading ADV to $6.0 billion, with U.S. credit block ADV of $3.5 billion, up 14%, compared to a 16% increase in TRACE U.S. credit block ADV. Emerging markets block ADV of $2.0 billion increased 35% and eurobonds block ADV of $549 million decreased 14%.

Portfolio Trading Channel

  • 47% increase in total portfolio trading ADV to $2.1 billion, including record U.S. high-grade ADV of $1.4 billion up 68%, U.S. high-yield ADV of $412 million, up 172% and emerging markets ADV of $160 million, up 105%.
  • 22.0% estimated market share of U.S. credit portfolio trading, compared to 16.8% in the prior year.

Dealer-Initiated Channel

  • Dealer-initiated ADV of $1.8 billion was down slightly from the prior year. Record levels of emerging markets ADV (+35%) and eurobonds ADV (+35%) were offset by declines in U.S. high-grade ADV. Total Mid-X trading volume was a record $7.0 billion, representing an increase of 119%.

May 2026 Variable Transaction Fees Per Million1 (See table 1D)

  • The year-over-year and month-over-month declines in total credit FPM were driven by product and protocol mix.
  • The year-over-year and month-over-month increases in total rates FPM were driven by the impact of protocolmix.

*All comparisons versus May 2025 unless noted. Client-initiated block trading ADV may include some portfolio trading activity.

Source: MarketAxess

🏆 The 2026 Global Markets Choice Awards are here! 🌍 Nominations are officially OPEN for the celebration of excellence in global capital markets trading & technology. Nominate below:
https://www.jotform.com/form/260086385121150

Delaware Life Insurance Company is becoming the first insurance carrier to offer an index that contains cryptocurrency, adding the BlackRock U.S. Equity Bitcoin Balanced Risk 12% Index to its fixed index annuity (FIA) portfolio.

As the digital assets industry pushes toward

Franklin Templeton is expanding its tokenized fund suite, signaling growing institutional demand for blockchain-based fund infrastructure and regulated investment products moving onchain. Read the full article below:

$50 billion in active ETF inflows helped fuel a record year for @BlackRock 's iShares business, as investors continue to lean into active strategies.

Load More

Related articles

  1. From The Markets

    Tradeweb Enhances Ai-Price

    Corporate bond trading is shifting toward more electronic and automated execution.

  2. There is a wave of liquidity constantly coming onto the platform for the buy side.

  3. The firm has launched a local-to-local trading and post-trade workflow on its ATS in Saudi Arabia.

  4. Average daily volume for the month increased 13.7% year-on-year.

  5. Regulation and Liquidity Top Concerns in Fixed income

    This expands what can be achieved electronically for buy-side traders.