US credit trading volumes were at their lowest year-to-date in May, but still showed considerable year-on-year (YoY) growth in both trade sizes and volumes.
Average trade sizes were up 12% YoY in investment grade (IG) bonds, reaching US$366,000 in May. In high yield (HY), a more muted 6% growth to US$684,000 was recorded. Coalition Greenwich notes that block trades are increasingly present in both markets.
Average daily notional volumes jumped nearly a quarter (23%) to US$53 billion across US credit over the year.
Electronic trading levels remained fairly stable, with investment grade inching up one percentage point to 49% of volumes and high yield falling one percentage point to 30%.
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