Demand for enhanced sweeps session-based protocol for corporate bonds increases in Fourth Quarter

ATLANTA & NEW YORK: Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data, today announced record 2024 trading volume for corporate bonds, municipal bonds and agencies trading on ICE Bonds. ICE Bonds attributes this strong growth to increased usage of its corporate bond sweeps protocol and the expansion of its global liquidity network of traders and portfolio managers.

Trading on ICE Bonds reached record notional volume of $212 billion for corporate bonds in 2024, up 40% from 2023. Municipal bond trading reached record notional volume of $178 billion in 2024, up 5% from 2023, while Agencies, or bonds issued by government-sponsored enterprises or federal agencies, had record notional trading volume of $28 billion in 2024, up 20% from 2023.

“The volume growth we are experiencing is primarily driven by increased adoption of our trading protocols by a combination of retail-oriented brokerage firms and institutional investors,” said Peter Borstelmann, President of ICE Bonds. “Over the past year, we’ve made significant progress in expanding our customer network, expanding our execution protocols and workflows, and introducing our unique liquidity to a more diverse set of market participants, which is resulting in record transactional activity.”

ICE Bonds attributes its strong growth in corporate bond volumes to customer adoption of its enhanced sweeps session-based protocol called Risk Matching Auction (RMA). In the fourth quarter of 2024, RMA volumes increased by 100% from the prior quarter and were up over four-fold since the fourth quarter of 2023. ICE Bonds conducts multiple RMA sessions each week, with 50 registered firms and over 400 users participating.

The ICE Bonds RMA allows traders to efficiently upload their inventory of bonds and our proprietary algorithm then proposes potential matches between buyers and sellers of the same bond or list of bonds. The protocol leverages ICE’s Continuous Evaluated Pricing (CEP™) to propose a pricing level for the bonds, which traders can either affirm or reject on a line-item basis or in bulk. We believe that this process gives traders an efficient way to reduce risk exposure as they access a broadening pool of fixed income liquidity.

ICE Bonds offers deep liquidity pools that support multiple trading protocols including click-to-trade, sweeps, auctions and RFQ, with a vast breadth of fixed income data. Focused on execution efficiency, ICE Bonds enables both anonymous and disclosed counterparty interactions, and trading from odd-lots to blocks for Corporates, Municipals, Agencies, Treasuries and Certificates of Deposit.

For more information about ICE Bonds, please visit https://www.ice.com/fixed-income-data-services/fixed-income/ice-bonds.

About ICE Bonds

Trading and execution services are offered through ICE Bonds Securities Corporation or ICE Bonds, member FINRA , MSRB and SIPC . The information found herein, has been prepared solely for informational purposes and should not be considered investment advice, is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any financial product(s), is intended for institutional customers only and is not intended for retail customer use.

Continuous Evaluated Pricing (CEP™) are provided in the US through ICE Data Pricing & Reference Data, LLC and internationally through ICE Data Services entities in Europe and Asia Pacific. ICE Data Pricing & Reference Data, LLC is a registered investment adviser with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Additional information about ICE Data Pricing & Reference Data, LLC is available on the SEC’s website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.

About Intercontinental Exchange

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) is a Fortune 500 company that designs, builds, and operates digital networks that connect people to opportunity. We provide financial technology and data services across major asset classes helping our customers access mission-critical workflow tools that increase transparency and efficiency. ICE’s futures, equity, and options exchanges -- including the New York Stock Exchange -- and clearing houses help people invest, raise capital and manage risk. We offer some of the world’s largest markets to trade and clear energy and environmental products. Our fixed income, data services and execution capabilities provide information, analytics and platforms that help our customers streamline processes and capitalize on opportunities. At ICE Mortgage Technology, we are transforming U.S. housing finance, from initial consumer engagement through loan production, closing, registration and the long-term servicing relationship. Together, ICE transforms, streamlines, and automates industries to connect our customers to opportunity.

Trademarks of ICE and/or its affiliates include Intercontinental Exchange, ICE, ICE block design, NYSE and New York Stock Exchange. Information regarding additional trademarks and intellectual property rights of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. and/or its affiliates is located here. Key Information Documents for certain products covered by the EU Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products Regulation can be accessed on the relevant exchange website under the heading “Key Information Documents (KIDS).”

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 -- Statements in this press release regarding ICE's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, as filed with the SEC on February 6, 2025.

Category: Fixed Income and Data Services
SOURCE: Intercontinental Exchange
ICE-CORP

Fonte: Business Wire