MarketAxess Holdings Inc., the operator of a leading electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities, announced monthly trading volume and preliminary variable transaction fees per million (“FPM”) for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2023.¹

Chris Concannon, CEO of MarketAxess, commented:

“In the fourth quarter of 2023, total credit ADV increased approximately 9% compared to the prior year and increased 18% from 3Q23 levels, which benefited from record portfolio trading and record municipal bond trading volume. Client engagement with MarketAxess X-Pro, our unique proprietary data products and our automated solutions continues to build, and we believe that the strong market volumes in 4Q23 reflect an improving market backdrop as we begin 2024.”

Select 4Q23 highlights*

• Total credit average daily trading volume (“ADV”) of $13.1 billion, up 8.9% versus the prior year, and up 17.5% versus 3Q23 levels.
• U.S. high-grade ADV of $6.2billion, up 13.3% from the prior year,and up 20.0% versus 3Q23.Estimated market share of 20.9%, down slightly from 21.1% in the prior year, and up from 20.0% in 3Q23. U.S. high-grade estimated market ADV increased 13.9%, compared to the prior year, and was up 14.7% versus 3Q23.
• U.S. high-yield ADV of $1.7 billion, down 8.4% compared to the prior year, but up 27.8% from 3Q23 levels. Estimated market share of 17.2%, down from 20.5% in the prior year, but up from 16.1% in 3Q23. U.S. high-yield estimated market ADV increased 9.0% versus the prior year, and increased 19.4% compared to 3Q23. The decrease in U.S. high-yield estimated market share year-over-year was driven principally by an estimated 18.6% decrease in ETF market maker activity on the platform.
• Emerging markets ADV of $2.9 billion, up 9.8% from the prior year,and up 4.6% from 3Q23 levels. The year-over-year increase was principally due to a 25.6% increase in local currency trading ADV. Emerging markets estimated market ADV increased 12.1%, compared to the prior year, and increased 4.2% compared to 3Q23.²
• Eurobonds ADVof $1.8 billion, up 12.6% from the prior year, and up 19.1% from 3Q23.
• Record municipal bondADV of $539 million, up 7.8% from the prior year, and up 38.9% from 3Q23. Estimated market share of 5.8%, up from 5.0% in the prior year and in line with 3Q23 levels. Estimated market ADV down 7.0% compared to the prior year, but up 38.5% compared to 3Q23.
• AxessIQ, the order and execution workflow solution designed for wealth management and private banking clients, achieved record ADV of $140.6 million, up 67.0% from the prior year, and up 41.9% from 3Q23 levels.
• Record $41.8 billion intotal portfolio trading volume, up 35.8% fromthe prior year, and up 52.1% from 3Q23. Approximately $11.6 billion, or 30.3%, of our portfolio trading volume (in-competition only) was executed over MarketAxess X-Pro, our new trading platform, compared to approximately $4.8 billion, or 18.2%, in 3Q23.
• 36% Open Trading® share³ of total credit trading volume, down from 38% in the prior year, but up from 34% in 3Q23.
• Total rates ADV of $16.5 billion, down 10.1% versus the prior year, and down 8.8% from 3Q23 levels.
• The preliminary FPM¹ for total credit for 4Q23 was approximately $156, compared to $164 in the prior year, and $155 in 3Q23. The decline in total credit FPM compared to the prior year was due principally to product and protocol mix shift. The preliminary FPM for total rates was $4.50, compared to $4.16 in the prior year.

*All comparisons versus 4Q22 unless otherwise noted.

Table 1: December 2023 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
Dec-23	20/19	$26,994	$12,262	$6,133	$1,412	$2,649	$1,580	$480	$14,732	$14,380	$352
Dec-22	21/20	$27,191	$10,613	$5,069	$1,557	$2,148	$1,350	$473	$16,578	$16,235	$343
% Change		(1%)	16%	21%	(9%)	23%	17%	1%	(11%)	(11%)	3%

Table 1A: December 2023 estimated market share

	CREDIT						RATES
(unaudited)	High-Grade	High-Yield	High-Grade/High-Yield Combined	Eurobonds5	Composite Corporate Bond6	Municipals	US Govt. Bonds
Dec-23	22.1%	18.2%	21.3%	16.7%	20.8%	6.5%	2.0%
Dec-22	23.4%	21.4%	22.9%	19.6%	22.8%	5.5%	3.1%
Bps Change	(130) bps	(320) bps	(160) bps	(290) bps	(200) bps	+100 bps	(110) bps

Table 1B: 4Q23 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
4Q23	62/63	$29,641	$13,108	$6,215	$1,653	$2,927	$1,767	$539	$16,533	$16,106	$427
4Q22	61/63	$30,424	$12,042	$5,487	$1,805	$2,666	$1,569	$500	$18,382	$18,026	$356
% Change		(3%)	9%	13%	(8%)	10%	13%	8%	(10%)	(11%)	20%

Table 1C: 4Q23 estimated market share

	CREDIT						RATES
(unaudited)	High-Grade	High-Yield	High-Grade/High-Yield Combined	Eurobonds5	Composite Corporate Bond6	Municipals	US Govt. Bonds
4Q23	20.9%	17.2%	20.0%	15.7%	19.4%	5.8%	2.3%
4Q22	21.1%	20.5%	20.9%	18.2%	20.9%	5.0%	3.1%
Bps Change	(20) bps	(330) bps	(90) bps	(250) bps	(150) bps	+80 bps	(80) bps

1	The FPM for total credit and total rates for 4Q23 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	Emerging markets estimated market ADV is derived by combining MarketAxess TraX emerging markets trading volume (currently estimated to represent approximately 60% of total emerging markets) and FINRA TRACE-reportable emerging markets trading volume, principally U.S. dollar denominated corporates.
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.
5	Eurobonds estimated market ADV and estimated market share are derived from MarketAxess TraX data for Eurobonds and covered bonds market trading volume, which is currently estimated to represent approximately 80% of the total European market.
6	Composite corporate bond estimated market share is defined as combined estimated market share across U.S. high-grade (derived from FINRA TRACE reported data), U.S. high-yield (derived from FINRA TRACE reported data), emerging markets (derived from FINRA TRACE-reportable emerging markets volume, principally U.S. dollar denominated corporates) and Eurobonds (derived from MarketAxess TraX data which is currently estimated to represent approximately 70% of the total European market) product areas. Source: MarketAxess