Average daily notional volumes were up more than a quarter year-on-year (YoY) in US credit markets over April, reaching a record US$60 billion. A single-day record of US$92 billion was set on 30 April.
Average trade sizes spiked too, reaching US$426k across investment grade (IG) and high yield (HY) products. This marked a 13% YoY increase.
Electronic trading figures remained static from March, sticking at 33% for HY and tipping up 1% to 47% in IG.
Use of portfolio trading rose over the month, however, with Coalition Greenwich noting that 22.4% of IG and 15.9% of HY volumes were traded using the method on 30 April’s record trading day.
In a survey from Coalition Greenwich, buy-side corporate bond traders are keen for venues to invest in all-to-all trading solutions. Use of the channel rose by 5% YoY in April, accounting for 11% of total HY and IG trading.
However, voice trading remains the most popular trading method. Dealer-to-client voice/bilateral trading was used for 34% of April trading by notional value, and dealer-to-dealer voice trading a further 23%.
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