August US equity trading dipped to the lowest level so far this year, while minor shifts occurred in venue market share.
Total trading in August sunk to $3.6 trillion, a shade lower than July’s $3.7 trillion but a far cry from August 2011’s giddy high of $7.2 trillion, according to figures from Thomson Reuters Market Share reporter.
Yet as volumes dropped, the BATS BYX exchange, which launched in October 2010, garnered its highest market share yet, capturing 3.49% for the month and nearly doubling its August 2011 1.8% share. The increase was also a significant rise on its July 2012 cut of 2.82% of the market.
Combined with BATS' other equity exchange – BATS BZX – the venue operator's total slice of the pie reached 13.82%, just below the August 2011 high of 13.96%.
Another notable shift in market share saw Nasdaq slip from 19.32% in July to 18.1% in August, their lowest position so far this year, while NYSE continued to lead the pack with 27% of the month's trading, down a third of a percentage point on the previous month.
Meanwhile, alternative trading system AX Trading Network recorded a record month of trading, reaching 3.5 million shares traded, more than double the 1.5 million traded in July.
Launched in July 2011, the AX has an average market cap of stocks put up for auction of $1.8 billion with average daily trading volume at 800,000 shares.
“August was a month of many firsts for the AX. We had our first million share day, our first multi-party auction and our first after-hours auction,” said AX Trading CEO Kevin Callahan.