Tradeweb just published its March 2019 Monthly Activity Report, which captures trading activity in fixed income, derivatives, and ETF markets.

 

This month’s report calls out a new one-month record, with average daily trading volume (ADV) exceeding $700 billion the first time ever. The surge was driven by record volumes in U.S. Treasuries, Mortgages, Interest Rate Derivatives, Credit Default Swaps, and European Government Bonds.

 

Key trends for the month include:

 

• Overall Volumes Rise 35.3% Year-Over-Year: Average daily volume (ADV) for Tradeweb Markets was $709.1 billion across rates, credit, money markets and equities during the month of March, an increase of 35.3% year-over-year and a new monthly volume record for Tradeweb.
• Record Volume in Global Government Bond Markets as Yields Plummet: U.S. Government bonds saw an ADV of $84.9 billion in March, an increase of 27.4% year-over-year, which set a new monthly record for total Treasury trading volume. Likewise, a record-breaking $24.8 billion in ADV was traded in European Government Bonds, driving the asset class up 20.1% year-over-year. During the month, the U.S. Treasury 10-year yield fell 29.75 basis points to close at 2.41%. In Europe, where the total pool of negative-yielding Eurozone government bonds climbed to nearly 47%, benchmark German and UK government bond yields fell more than 25 basis points.

 

• Record Derivatives Volume: Total ADV in Interest Rate Swaps and Swaptions set a new monthly record of $186.7 Billion, climbing 69.9% year-over-year. Likewise, record ADV in CDS of $19.0 billion exceeded the record high set a year ago by 16.6%.

 

• Post-Crisis Record in Repo Volume: ADV in repurchase agreements of $177.7 bn in March set a post-crisis record on further growth in bilateral electronic trading on the Tradeweb platform.

 

• MBS Volumes Surge as Uniform Mortgage-Backed Securities Take Root: MBS trading reached a record high ADV of $179.3 billion – up 39.2% year-over-year – as Tradeweb began forward trading in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s new uniform mortgage-backed securities (UMBS) for the first time.

The full Tradeweb Monthly Activity Report for March 2019 is available here: https://www.tradeweb.com/market_activity_reports/