Tradeweb Exchange-Traded Funds Update – March 2021
The following data is derived from trading activity on the Tradeweb Markets institutional European- and U.S.-listed ETF platforms.
EUROPEAN-LISTED ETFs
Total traded volume
Trading activity on the Tradeweb European ETF marketplace reached EUR 57.3 billion in March, its second strongest month ever. The proportion of transactions completed via Tradeweb’s Automated Intelligent Execution (AiEX) tool was 73.2%.
Volume breakdown
Fixed income and commodity ETFs saw net selling for the second consecutive month. Activity in equity ETFs increased to 66% of the overall platform flow, with buys surpassing sells by 12 percentage points. North America Equities products saw more than EUR 13 billion in notional volume, while Emerging Markets Equities was the only shares-based ETF category to be sold during the month.
Adriano Pace, head of equities (Europe) at Tradeweb, said: “In March, there was a noticeable rotation out of fixed income ETFs and into equity-based instruments, which were mostly bought. This was true throughout the first quarter of 2021, the second-best performing one for our European ETF platform since its launch in October 2012.”
Top ten by traded notional volume
Equity products dominated March’s list of most actively-traded ETFs, which featured two thematic funds offering exposure to Energy and Financial Services stocks, respectively. The iShares Core S&P 500 UCITS ETF reclaimed the top spot after last occupying it in September 2020.
U.S.-LISTED ETFs
Total traded volume
Total consolidated U.S. ETF notional value traded in March 2021 amounted to USD 21.2 billion.
Volume breakdown
As a percentage of total notional value, equities accounted for 57% and fixed income for 32%, with the remainder comprising commodity and specialty ETFs. The proportion of U.S. ETF trades executed on the platform via the Tradeweb AiEX tool was 39.1%.
Adam Gould, head of U.S. equities at Tradeweb, said: “March capped off a record quarter for U.S. ETF trading on Tradeweb, with over USD 63 billion executed. That’s nearly USD 7 billion more than the notional volume traded in the second quarter of 2020, as global ETF flows continued to reach new heights this year.”
Top ten by traded notional volume
During the month, a record 951 unique tickers traded on the Tradeweb U.S. ETF platform. There were four fixed income products among the top ten by traded notional volume, with the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF ranked first. The fund, which tracks the performance of the Markit IBoxx USD Liquid High Yield Index, last topped the list in August 2020.