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 tradingportfolio 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 record $7.0 billion, representing an increase of 119%.

May 2026 Variable Transaction Fees Per Million(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

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