Valérie Noël, head of trading, Syz Group
After years in the shadow of equities, bond trading is reclaiming its place at the heart of the market in 2026.
The return of real yields and a more balanced rate environment are redefining what it means to trade fixed income, not just to hold it.
Volatility has become manageable, spreads resilient and price discovery relevant again. This new landscape rewards judgment, execution skill, and an instinct for timing, qualities that define the art of the bond trader.
For trading desks, 2026 is not about chasing beta but mastering nuance: reading flows, interpreting policy shifts, and navigating liquidity with precision.
For private banks, the real opportunity lies in rebuilding the bridge between advisory and trading – helping clients capture fixed-income returns through active and risk-aware execution. An optimised mix of electronification and human expertise will be the key driver for this journey.
The bond trader is back – and so is the art of execution.
Chris Hollands, head of EMEA and US sales, TS Imagine
In 2026, we can expect trading technology to consolidate its position as a central pillar of success in fixed income trading.
Rapid electronification has been a constant over the past decades, but as the proliferation of electronic trading in bond markets reaches critical mass, sophisticated investors need to have the necessary tools to interface with an increasingly complex asset class.
We can therefore expect fixed income EMS’s that automate and simplify complex fixed income order workflows to play an increasingly important strategic role at buy-side firms. Desks need to work in unison, connecting across asset classes, while consuming vast swathes of data and plugging into emerging sub-asset classes like municipal bonds or loans.
As the buy-side consider their technology strategy for next year, the ability to handle standard and niche products with speed and precision whilst tapping into specialist expertise will be front of mind.
Modern EMS’s solve these problems in the immediate term by catering to the nuances of fixed income markets. In the longer term, they play into the needs of a new generation of traders who think across asset classes and gravitate toward unified, data-enabled platforms.
Michael Ruvo, chief executive, BondWave
As the fixed income industry – both market participants and vendors – races to apply AI, the focus will initially be on internal adoption to automate workflows, increase efficiencies, and create operational scale.
The ability to drive advanced insights quickly will enhance business intelligence, create new analytics, expand transparency, and automate trading activity.
Firms will also leverage AI to automate internal workflows – research, proposals, marketing, sales operations – to provide more operational scale as they attempt to grow their businesses and increase margins.
While early adopters will drive practical application of the technology in their businesses, many market participants will still need time to develop the proper strategy while learning from these early adopters.