Interest rate derivatives (IRD) trading volumes increased in in the first quarter of 2020, driven largely by coronavirus-related market volatility. Despite this increase, however, the share of IRD block trades decreased, especially for fixed-for-floating interest rate swaps (IRS), indicating less liquidity for large-sized trades.

Total capped notional of fixed-for-floating IRS transactions decreased by 16.0% in the first quarter of 2020 versus the first quarter of 2019, while the number of trades with capped notional declined by 8.0% over the same period. The share of IRS trades with capped notional relative to total fixed-for-floating IRS transactions fell to 6.9% in the first quarter of 2020 from 9.5% in the first quarter of 2019.

This report uses data from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation swap data repository. It, therefore, only covers trades that are required to be disclosed under US regulations.

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