Tradeweb reports lower metrics for December, but 2021 ADV hits record
Tradeweb Markets, the online fixed-income trading platform, has posted a new record for average daily trading volumes for 2021, largely thanks to activity in the US and European government bond markets, along with a surge in stocks trading.
Tradeweb’s trading volumes hit $915.9 billion per day in December 2021, down from $1.18 trillion in aggregate for the month of November, but was higher year-over-year compared to the figures of December 2020.
In terms of total trading volume, Tradeweb in December 2021 failed to top its previous reading for monthly volumes, coming in at $20.0 trillion, down from $24.2 trillion in November.
Taking a quarterly perspective, Tradeweb reported total trading volume of $69.7 trillion for the fourth quarter of 2021. The company also disclosed a record ADV of $1.11 trillion for the quarter, which was up 24.1% YoY, with quarterly ADV records in U.S. government bonds. Preliminary average variable fees per million dollars of volume traded of were reported at $2.55 for the Q4 2021.
The Sep-Dec quarter capped off a record volume year for Tradeweb, with ADV for the full year exceeding $1 trillion and most product lines seeing record activity. The YoY gains at Tradeweb, which is majority-owned by Refinitiv, were also partly driven by its equities business.
Activity in US High Grade and European credit was driven by record turnover in portfolio trading, with over $300 billon exchanged hands in 2021. The New York-based company said the ADV metric was robust as client activity of sessions-based trading reached a monthly record and usage of streams liquidity was buoyed this year by the recently closed purchase of the Nasdaq Fixed Income business.
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Continued growth of institutional clients contributed to higher volumes. In the US, the strong growth in institutional trading more than offset declining wholesale activity as a result of waning equity market volatility.
Commenting on December trading volumes, Tradeweb CEO, Lee Olesky said: “Tradeweb facilitated record trading volume in 2021, exceeding $1 trillion in average daily volume and culminating with a record fourth quarter. This was a breakthrough year for us in credit, fueled by Tradeweb’s leadership in electronic portfolio trading and other innovations such as AiEX and sweep. In rates, we became the leading electronic trading platform for U.S. Treasuries, while interest rate volatility around the world contributed to higher volumes in government bonds and swaps globally. Looking across asset classes, trends in passive investing drove strong interest in our ETF and credit platforms, while increased automation played a powerful role in all of our markets. Most importantly, we believe 2021 represented a clear inflection point in the long-term trends towards more electronic trading.”
