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Average daily volume across all asset classes was $815 billion
in the last quarter, a 53.3% increase from the same period a
year ago. The gains were partly driven by its interest rates
business, which was up 64.5% year over year.
Tradeweb is majority owned by Refinitiv. Thomson Reuters, the
parent of Reuters News, holds a stake in Refinitiv.
The other main fixed-income-only trading platform, MarketAxess <MKTX.O>,
earlier this month reported average daily trading volume of
$824.7 billion for the third quarter and $875.5 billion for
September, up 35% and 22.43% from the same period in 2018
respectively.
Trading desks are typically quieter in July and August as market
participants go on holiday. But this year the Federal Reserve
cut interest rates for the first time since 2008 in July, then
again in September; the U.S.-China trade war persisted and began
to weaken U.S. economic data; and political stability was
threatened from Hong Kong to Britain to Iran.
While trading volumes have been generally elevated this year,
the surge in the third quarter has been notable, said Kevin
McPartland, managing director, market structure and technology,
at Greenwich Associates.
"Volatility is effectively driving volume, which is driving
volatility," he said.
While other exchanges did not report overall monthly or
quarterly records, volumes still rose dramatically from prior
years. CME Group <CME.O> averaged 20.2 million contracts in all
asset classes per day in Q3, up 30% from a year ago.
Intercontinental Exchange <ICE.N> reported a 12% year-on-year
rise in average daily volume.
Top-line growth at companies like Tradeweb has surged as
fixed-income trading has begun to move online, a transition
equities traders made in the 1990s. Capitalizing in part on this
shift, Tradeweb went public in April of this year and its share
price has since risen 16%.
Tradeweb and MarketAxess have benefited from both the overall
rise in market trading volumes and the increased proportion that
is being conducted electronically.
"As recently as five years ago, when markets got volatile, the
buy side's inclination when executing a trade was to move away
from the screen and pick up the phone. That approach has shown
signs of reversing," said McPartland.
(Reporting by Kate Duguid; editing by Richard Pullin)
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