MarketAxess has seen progress in US credit markets with record total credit ADV in January, driven by growth in all credit product areas, including a 50% increase in emerging markets business. Despite lower market share in US high grade, the turnover increased by 95% in January, the highest since 2011. New members joined the Board of Directors.
With experienced members like Doug Sifu and Ken Skijano joining the board, MarketAxess is enhancing its advantage in 2025. The company is seeing healthy growth rates reflecting the underlying health of its franchise, thanks to investments in new products and workflow tools. An overview of the company’s performance and long-term strategy execution was provided.
The company is addressing the need for attention and focus on US credit market share with a detailed plan embedded in their three-year targets. New initiatives across strategic channels, including automation suite growth, are yielding positive results. Block trading across US credit, emerging markets, and Eurobonds represents a third of credit ADV, signaling growth in electronic trading.
MarketAxess generated substantial growth in global portfolio trading ADV, with a 48% increase to a record $1.4 billion. The US credit portfolio trading market share saw a significant increase of 270 basis points in 2025. The company also saw a 126% increase in total portfolio trading ADV in January 2026, with a 620 basis point market share increase in US credit portfolio trading.
In the dealer-initiated channel, MarketAxess saw a 33% increase in dealer-initiated ADV for the year, with strong contribution from the new US credit MIDEX protocol generating over $3 billion in trading volume in December alone. The growth continued into January with a 13% increase in dealer-initiated ADV. Total Midex trading volume reached a record $7 billion, a 383% increase.
In the automation suite, MarketAxess experienced another strong year as clients leveraged automation for increased execution performance, with a significant rise in Adaptive Auto Ex algo trading volume in the fourth quarter. The Pragma acquisition, powering recent Algo success, added strategic value and contributed to growth in rates complex. The company’s top 25 clients drove growth in portfolio trading with an 85% increase in PT volume. Automated block trading volume from the top 20 clients increased by over 125%.
MarketAxess reported a 3.5% revenue growth to $209 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. The company delivered strong diluted earnings per share of $2.51, or $1.68 per share excluding notable items. Total commissions revenue increased by 4% to $181 million, while services revenue grew by 2% to $28 million. Information services revenue increased by 2% to $13 million, and post-trade services revenue increased by 1% to $11 million. Technology services revenue saw a 2% increase to $4 million, driven by higher license and connectivity fees.
MarketAxess generated record free cash flow of $347 million in 2025 and returned a total of $474 million to investors through share repurchases and dividends. The company repurchased 2 million shares for a total of $360 million in 2025, including open market repurchases and an accelerated share repurchase program. MarketAxess completed the ASR earlier in the week, repurchasing 1.7 million shares. As of January 31, 2026, $25 million remain on the share repurchase authorization.
MarketAxess provided guidance for 2026, expecting mid-single-digit growth in total services revenue, operating expenses in the range of $530 million to $545 million, and an effective tax rate between 24% to 26%. Capital expenditures are forecasted to be in the range of $65 million to $75 million, with a focus on capitalized software development costs for new protocols and trading platform enhancements. The company remains confident in its ability to execute its long-term strategy and focus on expense discipline to maximize shareholder value.
Read more at Yahoo Finance: MarketAxess (MKTX) Q4 2025 Earnings Transcript