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

Transition to Mandatory Central Clearing

US Treasury securities sit at the heart of global financial markets and serve as one of the primary forms of high-quality collateral across derivatives and securities financing markets. The transition to mandatory central clearing of US Treasuries therefore has implications...

ISDA Publishes Updated ISDA SIMM Governance

ISDA has published an updated version of the ISDA SIMM® Governance Framework, which sets out the principles under which the ISDA Standard Initial Margin Model® operates and the process through which it will be reviewed and amended on a consistent...

ISDA Response to PRA IMA Consultation

On September 18, ISDA, the Association for Financial Markets in Europe, the Institute of International Finance and UK Finance submitted a joint response to the UK Prudential Regulation Authority consultation on adjustments to the internal model approach (IMA) for the...

Calibration Test – IQ September 2026

Calibrating capital requirements is a highly complex undertaking and getting it wrong can have serious consequences. Too much lenience might lead to banks holding insufficient capital to mitigate their risks. But excess conservatism can put balance sheets under strain, forcing...