MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: MKTX), an operator of electronic Trading Platform for fixed-income securities, has elected to expand its execution capabilities for municipal bonds, which includes its Muni Offerings, following strong growth and demand for the products, according to a MarketAxess statement.
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MarketAxess provides a number of market data and post-trade services for global fixed-income markets, with a wide range of bond offerings for venues and market participants. Its Muni Offerings allows individuals to have broader access and flexibility to municipal bonds, with the ability to post and engage on inquiries using MarketAxess’ Axe pages. In particular, users also will gain access to Single Request-for-Quote (RFQ) inquiries.
The platform and its expansion is important to market participants as it helps provide municipal bond traders with more streamlined capabilities and execution, as well as access to competitive markets in one cohesive platform. The expansion of capabilities for clients will build on MarketAxess’ existing trading structure protocols, including its bid wanted lists of up to 200 items, as well as the open trading and dealer inventory.
New Features
New features will also include customizable copy/paste items into a bid or offer list, with a revamped historical activity page that tracks trade activity over longer periods. Additionally, users will be able to trade a Single Muni, or initiate RFQs in an open trading environment.
According to John Gallagher, Municipal Bond and Investment Grade Credit Product Manager, in a recent statement on the expansion: “Recent growth in the municipal bond market to more than $3.6 trillion underscores the need among market participants for broader access to Liquidity , better price discovery and increased transparency in an easy to access platform.”
“More than 6,000 users log into MarketAxess’ electronic platform daily and it’s our goal to deliver a streamlined, systematic trading process that’s fully automated and driven by our clients’ specific needs,” he added.
