There are three key trends we at Tradewell Technologies Inc are seeing in the corporate bond market:
- Dealers continue to shift market-making from voice to algo: Most large dealers have been operating corporate bond algos for the last ten years. What initially started as a client service - providing odd-lot electronic liquidity to clients - has evolved into a major component of dealer trading flows. Combined with portfolio trading and, in some cases, ETF arb, algo books control up to 50% of dealer liquid credit balance sheets. Algos are increasing responsible for large electronic trades and, in some cases, have been given primary market-making responsibilities for specific sectors.
- Bond liquidity fragmenting into “haves” and “have nots”:
The electronic market is bifurcating into trades that fit dealer algos by ticker and size and those that do not. Given the reduction in voice market-making by dealers, the bifurcation of the market means that orphaned bonds are harder to trade both voice and electronically. Buy-side traders unable to source voice liquidity are turning to electronic venues, but RFQs not handled by dealer algos see few or no responses. This creates an opening for the buy-side to provide liquidity in less-liquid bonds. Buy-side-to-buy-side trading, especially in less-liquid bonds, is only feasible with an algo trading system. We are increasingly seeing our clients being the sole quote on illiquid bond RFQs.
- Intense venue competition leading to fragmentation:
Electronic volumes have grown to almost 50% of the total and the three primary venues’ market shares have become more even. Venues are ramping up protocol experimentation as they look to support a world where buy-side algo trading is the norm. Each major venue has a distinct liquidity pool and unique trading protocols necessitating aggregation and standardization. Interacting with venue liquidity across established and emerging trading protocols requires a sophisticated, fast-evolving trading system.
These three trends make it essential for buy-side trading desks to evolve their execution strategies beyond relying exclusively on dealer voice liquidity. A technology trading solution that is comprehensive and cost-effective is becoming a must for large institutional trading desks. Please reach out to learn more about how Tradewell is redefining corporate bond trading.
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