Electronic bond trading platforms handled an estimated $750 billion a day in the United States and Europe this year, according to the Bond Market Association's annual electronic trading survey.
Of 48 platform vendors that responded to a question about trends, 18 said volume had increased at least 10% this year over last year, with 14 of those saying volume had risen more than 20%. Seventeen vendors said volume was up less than 10%, compared with last year, and 13 said volume was down this year.
In addition, of the 54 survey respondents, 27 allow users to view at least the last traded price for a security or product, and most of those allow users to view all recent transactions. Of the respondents that publish data on trades executed on their platforms, 20 make that data available to market participants that do not necessarily trade on the platform, and 26 make the data available to data vendors.
For 2006, many respondents expect continued development of electronic over-the-counter derivatives trading, particularly in credit default swaps, according to the Bond Market Association.
