‘Buys’ exceeded ‘sells’ across all European-listed ETF asset classes, especially in equities and commodities, according to data.
Tradeweb Markets’ European ETF platform experienced significant trading activity in May, with total traded volume reaching €47.4 billion. Equity ETFs dominated the trading activity, accounting for 65% of the platform flow. Fixed income and commodities followed with 27% and 8%, respectively. North American Equities emerged as the most traded category, with a total notional volume of €10.2 billion.
Another highlight was the increased use of Tradeweb’s Automated Intelligent Execution tool, AiEX, which processed 88.6% of transactions. The proportion of volume handled by the tool stood at 24.5%, the second highest ever recorded on the platform.
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Adam Gould, head of equities at Tradeweb, commented: “Total traded volume on our European platform was up 5.8% year-over-year in May. We had another record-breaking month for automation adoption, with AiEX making it possible to move large volumes with no manual intervention, providing major strategic gains for our clients.”
Six of the top ten ETFs by traded notional volume were equity-based products. The iShares Core € Corporate Bond Ucits ETF maintained its leading position, while the UBS LFS MSCI Japan Ucits ETF ranked third, returning to the top five for the first time since May 2021.
The US ETF platform also saw robust trading activity in May, with total consolidated notional value traded reaching $46.8 billion.
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According to Gould: “Clients have continued to recognise the benefits, including better pricing, increased efficiency and immediate execution for traders, enabling straight-through processing, automated execution and list and portfolio trading capabilities.”
In the US category, equities comprised 56% of the total notional value, with fixed income ETFs accounting for 38%. The remaining volume comprised commodity and speciality ETFs.
Fixed income products dominated the US ETF top ten list in May. The Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond Index Fund ETF ranked first, while April’s leading product, the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF, moved down to the 4th place.
