EquiLend has reported new highs for trading activity on NGT platform, with 2.76 million trades executed against US$3.2 trillion in notional value. This represents an 8 per cent increase in trade volume year-on-year and an 18 per cent month-on-month increase on February volumes.
Mike Norwood, EquiLend director and global trading product owner, indicates that continued volatility in equity markets drove average daily notional value to a new record US$139 billion on the platform.
This was powered by a rise in non-GC activity, with 27,000 unique securities trading at a fee rate of 50bps or higher, constituting 19 per cent of all NGT trades for the period.
EMEA was a standout region for growth activity, experiencing 28 per cent YoY growth relative to March 2021 and a 14 per cent rise over February 2022.
For Swaptimization, EquiLend’s technology solution for total return swap workflow, Norwood reports that leverage has fallen in line with rate volatility in the market, resulting in lower notional for funding transactions in recent months.
The EquiLend Clearing Services (ECS) loan market — which provides direct connectivity to central counterparties (CCPs) to enable central clearing for securities finance trades — experienced strong activity in high-rate GC transactions and a pick up in trading activity linked to meme stocks, driving a robust performance for March, notwithstanding a parallel decline in special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) activity.
The New-York based securities finance trading, post-trade and market data specialist has reported new trading records on NGT for the second consecutive month. For February, EquiLend reported 2.34 million trades executed on the platform, with a total notional value of US$2.6 trillion.
This continued its record momentum during 2021, with its securities finance trading business returning double digit growth in volumes in all regions apart from APAC (which rose 7 per cent).
