CDS Market Dynamics: Analyzing Trends in Single-name CDS and Index CDS Market Activity

This paper analyzes the credit default swaps (CDS) market from 2019 to the first half of 2024, focusing on trends in single-name CDS and index CDS market activity. Over this period, total CDS market activity reached a high point of $38.7 trillion in 2022, driven primarily by index CDS.

Single-name CDS activity was at its greatest in the first half of 2023, as market participants sought to manage specific credit exposures and protect against anticipated changes in the creditworthiness of individual entities, especially in the banking sector. Although it fell in the first half of 2024, single-name CDS activity remained above 2022 levels, reflecting sustained demand for credit risk protection.

Index CDS trading peaked in 2022 as market participants hedged against broader market instability during a period of heightened uncertainty. As macroeconomic conditions stabilized and central banks moderated their rate hikes, demand for index CDS declined in 2023 and the first half of 2024, but activity remained above 2021 levels.

Click on the attached PDF to read the full report.

Documents (1) for CDS Market Dynamics: Analyzing Trends in Single-name CDS and Index CDS Market Activity

Get Ready for the ISDA Notices Hub

No one wants to have to terminate a derivatives trading relationship – that usually means a counterparty has failed to make a payment or has become insolvent. At an already stressful time, the last thing anyone needs is to experience...

ISDA Publishes Paper on SFDR Review

On June 23, ISDA and the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) published a position paper on the review of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). The paper acknowledges that the SFDR needs to be revised in line with...