NASDAQ, Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ), one of the largest market operators in the US published its monthly trading volumes for June 2018 on Monday. Not only were June’s overall figures down month-on-month, but the results also show a definite slump in the second quarter of this year.
Equity derivatives
Looking at the equity derivatives segment, United States (US) equity options volume for June was 139 million contracts. This is down from 140 million from May this year, but slightly up from June’s 2017 figure by 1.4 percent.
The European options and futures volume for June 2018 follows a similar pattern. The month recorded 6.6 million contracts, down from May’s result of 7.6 million. However, last months figure is also down by 6% year-on-year.
Cash Equities
For the cash equities segment, the US matched equity volume shows is more positive. In June this year there were 29,818 million contracts, this is 8.2% up from May’s volumes and an increase of 1.2 percent from June 2017.
The European equity segment did not perform so well, total shares traded in June 2018 was $73 billion. This is less than $82 billion in May and $78 billion in June last year.
Fixed income and commodities
The US Fixed income segment was also down both year-on-year and month-on-month. The total value of shares traded in June was $1.312 billion, $268 billion less than May. The year-on-year difference is even larger, as June 2017 had a total share value of $1.62 billion - a $308 billion difference.
For NASDAQ, the European fixed income segment was the best performer in June 2018 as it saw both yearly and monthly gains. Total contracts for the month were 3 million contracts. This is an increase of 400,000 from May and 300,000 from June last year.
In addition, the European energy Clearing and trading were also year-on-year. In June 2018, 52 terawatt hours (TWh) were traded, and 106 TWh were cleared. Although this is a decrease from May, which saw 54 TWh traded and 114 TWh cleared, it is an increase year-on-year of 11.5 percent for traded volume and 14 percent for cleared volume.
Will the trend continue?
NASDAQ is the second-largest exchange in the world by market capitalization. The operator’s June results are not overly surprising, as they echo a monthly trend that has been seen across many exchanges and markets. Even further, the results from the US market operator show a lull in trading for the whole second quarter.
When looking at NASDAQ’s July 2017 results, where every single segment saw a loss compared to June 2017, it does not foster hope for an uptick in trading if this year's volumes are to follow a similar pattern.
