Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings are one of the largest drivers of US rates trading activity, according to Coalition Greenwich research, and are turning to alternative trading systems to act fast.
A recent report from the company notes that traders are turning to alternative trading system (ATS) counterparties to act quickly when new data is released, then broker-dealers.
“Dealer-to-customer trades don’t account for more than half of volume until light-years after
the announcement—or 13 minutes in this case,” report authors Kevin McPartland and Neha Jain observe.
In the latest FOMC meeting, held 28-29 July, minutes indicated that the market expects rates to remain stable before an early 2028 cut.
According to Coalition Greenwich, FINRA and CME Group data, 57% of US rates were traded electronically in July, up two percentage points year-on-year (YoY) and one percentage point month-on-month (MoM). Dealer-to-client e-trading rose three percentage points YoY and two percentage points MoM to represent 66% of activity, its highest share since 2025.
Average daily notional volume (ADNV) continued to rise in July, reaching US$1.085 trillion. At the same time, volatility kept dropping, with the Cboe Volatility Index hitting 90.76 – down 12% YoY and up 1.6% MoM.
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